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<\/a><\/p>\nThis holiday is a bit different because it spans two days and two occasions. New Year\u2019s Eve is for looking back and celebrating the past, while New Year\u2019s Day is about launching into the next chapter of your life, often signified by writing New Year\u2019s resolutions. The great thing about New Year\u2019s Eve and Day is that it ties it all together. Here\u2019s what I mean:<\/p>\n
First, you look back at what happened in the past year, hopefully with a grateful heart. If you\u2019re grateful but also realistic, you\u2019ll find areas you\u2019d like to improve in. If you feel entitled, you\u2019ll probably just feel bitter which doesn\u2019t lead to growth, success, or progress. New Year\u2019s is the time to think about the future.<\/p>\n
While this article has been mostly positive and upbeat, there\u2019s something important to be said about failures and other unhappy occurrences that happen to all of us over the course of a year. If you look at a failure as a gift, you can be empowered to turn it around. The hardship you experience post-failure can be used to give you the power to make the changes that will prevent the same failure from occurring again.<\/p>\n
Some call it \u201chitting rock bottom\u201d or getting a \u201cwake up call\u201d, but in either case, failure becomes the turning point. It becomes the moment that you decide to make a change for the better and mean it. Over 2\/3 of New Year\u2019s resolutions are forgotten or abandoned within six weeks. Think of the typical stop smoking, eat better, save money, or work out more resolutions\u2014how many resolutions like these can you recall giving up on?.<\/p>\n
And what\u2019s the reason for our quick failure? Let\u2019s go back to who, what, where, and why. The most important question you should answer is almost always \u201cwhy\u201d. If you have a good \u201cwhy\u201d, you\u2019re more likely to commit to seeing your resolution succeed. Motivation, such as wanting six-pack abs, or fitting into a bikini, are really weak motivators. Wanting to feel good, being alive for your kids, going on a backpacking trip with your friends are much stronger \u201cwhys\u201d and much more likely to help you reach your goals. Actually being present and immersed in the pain and hardship of embarrassment or failure can help fuel your turnaround. I can tell you countless weight loss and health recovery stories that all started with something incredibly embarrassing, that compelled the individual to change for the better.<\/p>\n
One great example is Jacqueline Adan. Look her up on the Internet. She was at Disneyland when she got stuck in a turnstile. They had to get Disney employees to help extract her. When freed, she excused herself and went to the bathroom. What do you think she did in there? She cried. She was so humiliated. After that accident, she decided that she would never find herself in that situation again. The next morning she went to her doctor\u2019s office and weighed herself. She weighed in at 510 pounds. She was shocked, but not defeated. She took the energy and power of that incredibly embarrassing moment to drive her to lose 350 pounds! And really, it\u2019s not the weight that she lost, but the life that she gained. Now, she tells her story to everyone and anyone who will listen. She\u2019s no longer embarrassed but empowered to help others make the change to return to their uniquely purposeful lives. She was grateful<\/strong> for the chance to change her life, she was present<\/strong> in the moment to really feel what happened to her at Disneyland, and she made a choice<\/strong> to change.<\/p>\nThere\u2019s one exercise I\u2019d like to share with you, taken from Charles Dickens\u2019 A Christmas Story<\/em> but best applied to the New Year. It\u2019s an exercise that self-help guru Tony Robbins has his attendees do with him at his events, and it\u2019s really quite powerful. It\u2019s called \u201cThe Dickens Process\u201d. Before we get to that, though, we should take a moment to talk about opportunity costs. Yup, we\u2019re shifting into an economics lesson, but it\u2019ll be quick!<\/p>\nOpportunity costs are when you decide to invest time, energy, or money into a situation, thus limiting your options down the road. Suppose you have $10,000 and hear about a real estate deal that sounds really good but requires an $8,000 upfront investment. If you take it, you\u2019ll only have $2,000 left for any other deals that come up afterward, even if it\u2019s a much better one. You\u2019re limited by the investment you made in the real estate deal. This concept also applies to how you spend your time and energy, which also ties into being present as we talked about earlier in this article.<\/p>\n
So, back to the Dickens Process. Robbins asks the audience to think about their own beliefs, especially their negative self-beliefs. Then, he asks them to calculate what those beliefs have cost them in the past, present, and more importantly what they will cost you in the future.<\/p>\n
For example, let\u2019s say that your negative self-belief is that you\u2019ve always believed you\u2019re not smart.<\/strong> What has that belief cost you?<\/p>\n\n- PAST<\/strong>: Did you not try hard in school, thus getting poor grades, which hurt your self-esteem, which changed people\u2019s perceptions of you and relationships with you? Did the lower grades hurt your chances of getting into a better college and consequently, your job opportunities?<\/li>\n
- PRESENT<\/strong>: Did you not apply for a promotion you were qualified for? Did you decide not to try and tell that joke that you knew would get a laugh at dinner last night? At today\u2019s meeting, did you not answer even though you knew, and thus perpetuate the perception in others that you\u2019re not smart?<\/li>\n
- FUTURE<\/strong>: What opportunities are you going to let slip by? What jobs, friendships, relationships, and rewards are you going to miss out on? What limits are you setting for yourself? What ceilings have you set for yourself?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
That is just one common example, but take some time to think through the following:<\/p>\n
\n- I can\u2019t lose weight.<\/li>\n
- I can\u2019t get out of debt.<\/li>\n
- I\u2019ll never get married.<\/li>\n
- I can\u2019t forgive that person for what they did.<\/li>\n
- I can\u2019t be forgiven for what I did.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What have these thoughts cost you in the past, the present, and what will they cost you in your future?<\/p>\n
\u201cWatch your thoughts; for they become words.
\nWatch your words; for they become actions.
\nWatch your actions; for they become habits.
\nWatch your habits; for they become character.
\nWatch your character for it will become your destiny.\u201d<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\nThere\u2019s a lot here to digest, especially with all the real food we\u2019ll be eating during the holidays. So here\u2019s the whole article boiled down to some mantras to help you remember the main points:<\/p>\n
\n- On Thanksgiving, give thanks. Train your perspective into being a grateful one.<\/li>\n
- On Christmas don\u2019t think about the presents. Be present.<\/li>\n
- On New Year\u2019s, look at what your thoughts cost you. Change your thoughts to change your life.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
One last thing: These suggestions shouldn\u2019t be saved just for the holidays, but should and must be used every single day. Every night is an ending, but more importantly, every morning is a new chance to change your world for the better<\/p>\n
So, take it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How would you characterize the holiday season? Stressful? Fun? Both? Look closely, one more time. Each part of this chilly holiday season\u2014Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year\u2019s\u2014focuses on a specific part of your life that can be transformed; this holiday season can actually act as a springboard to the New Year. Let\u2019s see how. Thanksgiving: Have Some…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":12565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2,5],"tags":[516,182],"thb-sponsors":[],"yst_prominent_words":[2092,967,2090,2102,2097,2100,2098,2099,2096,2093,742,2103,2089,904,2091,2095,2101,867,2094,911],"class_list":["post-8209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emotional-health","category-lifestyle","category-relationships-community","tag-holidays","tag-mind-body-spirit","post_format-post-format-image"],"acf":[],"views":2799,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8209"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21262,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8209\/revisions\/21262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8209"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=8209"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=8209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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