Happy New Year!! Resolving Those Resolutions.

Yesterday I was listening to a group of people talking about New Years resolutions, and I was astounded but the things they were saying.

First I have to ask what exactly does it mean to make a New Years resolution?

A New Years Resolution is defined as: A commitment to a personal goal that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous normally to go into effect on New Year’s Day. Traditionally it is believed that this tradition spawns from secular religious traditions such as the catholic tradition of Lent, where one sacrifices for religious purposes, or in Judaism the period of the New Year, Rosh Hashanah through the high holy days ending with Yom Kippur, (the Day of Atonement) where one is to reflect upon one’s wrong doings over the year and both seek and offer forgiveness. What ever the circumstances, the concept remains to reflect upon the theme of self improvement.

Unfortunately most New Years resolutions are never truly realized by most that make them. A University of Washington study in 1997 found 47 percent of the 100 million adult Americans who make resolutions give up on their goals after two months. This figure has grown to 80 percent in the past decade, according to recent research completed at the University of Minnesota. Most would say that this unbelievably high rate of failure is due to the fact that people try to make resolutions that they never truly intend to live up to. But I believe it is much closer to the truth to say that the failure of most individuals to manifest the change in their lives they wish is that they devote years of repetition to the habit they wish to change, and only a few minutes to devise a plan to make a permanent change to what is most of the time is considered to be a major portion of their lives.
Let’s use as an example a couple of the common New Year’s resolutions just as an example to I illustrate how we could actually be setting ourselves up for outcomes that are less than successful.
Weight loss
Most people who decide to lose weight in the coming year start by setting their goal to lose weight and do not decide an actual ideal weight they wish to be, most will just say I want to lose weight with no goal in mind, and some might say somewhere between 10  to 40 pounds. Others even decide on a diet they want to try, but I ask you are these goals specific enough? Most would say yes, but the truth is that these goals are vaguely specific and truly do not send a clear enough signal to the unconscious to even begin to help you achieve your goals.

Smoking
I have hear many people talking about deciding that they would give up cigarettes as their new years resolution. The thing that got me the most was hearing their reasons for not quitting before 1/1/11.  Truth be told if you are already making allowances for delaying any improvement you wish to make to your life the chances your going to continue to make allowances after you have reached the time period you have allotted to make the change in your lifestyle are so astronomical that very few actually even begin to make any changes at all towards the cessation of smoking.

These are two of the biggest resolutions people speak about making, there are other I could list, but I believe with just these two you can get an idea of how we can sabotage our own best plans for making positive changes in our lives. But there is hope, aside from the benefits of using hypnosis to make these kinds of changes I would like to offer an idea of how you can make a positive plan of action to achieve these positive goals you have set for yourself in 2011.

First, make a detailed plan. How will you achieve this goal specifically, diets generally don't work because most people are too focused on making it to the end of their diet and how they can eat normally again that they actually morn the loss of the ability to eat certain foods. In the case of smoking, will power can only carry this decision so far, as we can keep ourselves free of the addiction to a habit via a conscious effort. Smoking is a habit just like brushing your teeth or washing your car, now if someone offered to wash your car for you every week would you morn the loss of having to do it? Of course not, and cigarettes are no different. Your internal dialog also can work against you, when you see someone light up instead of saying something like " oh god I want one, or don't think about a cigarette" how about "I am so glad I am free of that habit, my life is so much better since I have made this change in my life."  Focusing on our will power to stop us from repeating a habit keeps us defocused on the actual goal, instead first decide that you have made a lifestyle change and make that decision complete by making it an automatic change that your unconscious can really get behind. Because once you have the idea that made this change into you unconscious mind it will generate the new good habits as automatic as the sun rising every morning.

Remember you have all of the tools available to you to make any change that you would like. You are the master of your destiny and your body, what you will it to do will be yours if you simply make a decision and plan a new tomorrow not only for today but for the rest of your life.

You have the power to make a resolution that lasts, not only because a  New Year appeared on the calendar but because you wish to live a happier healthier lifestyle that finds you free of the from the bonds you have forged and imposed upon yourself for portions of your life, but since you hold those bonds in your own hands, you have the unmitigated ability to set yourself free.

Happy New Year, and Cheers to the New Lifestyle you make the decision to have now!