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| Photo courtesy of Microsoft Bing |
On December 31
of every year, a lot of us make a New Year’s Eve resolution (or several). Lose
weight. Stop smoking. Try something new or travel to another country. Find new
love or reconcile differences with a current romantic partner. The list goes
on. Many people achieve these goals; many do not. Does it matter whether these
goals are actually achieved? That depends who you ask and what the resolution
was.
People typically
set their New Year’s Eve resolutions late at night, typically while drinking or
after having imbibed alcohol. They may or may not have eaten solid, nutritious
food during the evening. These factors, combined with excitement about the holiday
plus the body naturally starting to get tired at that late hour, create a state
of hyper-suggestibility. When we are so caught up in party revelry it is easy
to over- or under-estimate what we can reasonable expect to accomplish the next
day, let alone over the course of twelve months.
I do not mean to
sound like I am disparaging New Year’s Resolutions, because I absolutely am not. New Year’s Eve resolutions are
intended to motivate and inspire us to step out of our usual habits and improve
ourselves in some way. However, more often than not they become a source of
great anxiety and consternation. My greatest concern is the amount of distress,
frustration and pressure they put on people during the course of the year can
actually cause the individual to not only revert to but even exaggerate previous,
unhealthy behaviors they wanted to change.
As we begin
2015, spend a few minutes taking stock of the goals and resolutions you have
set for this year. Remember, many of the unwanted (“bad”) habits we want to
change did not start overnight. If you have been smoking two packs of cigarettes
each day for the past 25 years, your plan to quit smoking will likely be more
effective if you gradually wean
yourself off the tobacco. I offer a smoking-cessation program that enables
people to gain more control over their smoking habit and overcome the addiction
to tobacco over the course of six weeks, at which time they become a permanent
non-smoker. If you want to take off some extra pounds, consider how long you
have been at your current weight compared to your ideal weight. How long did it
take to get where you are today? The safest and healthiest way to lose weight
is gradually. It takes time to
permanently change unhealthy eating habits, incorporate exercise into a regular
routine and increase self-confidence about how you look and improve your body
image at each stage of your weight-loss journey. The same is true about getting
rid of just about any other negative behavior or habit/attitude that you want
to change.
Patience, perseverance
and an abiding belief in your ability to fulfill that New Year’s Eve resolution
can bring you the success you desire. You just need to relax and remember that you can control and are in control of why
(motivation), when (timing) and method of achieving it. For more information
about how hypnotherapy and therapeutic-guided imagery can further facilitate
this success, please visit my web-site at www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com
or call (661) 433-9430.
Happy New Year!
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a
certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with
honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more
information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®
and to set up an appointment, please
visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
