Resolutions are for the birds......

Well, here we are. It is the final day of 2013. As the clock strikes midnight tonight, we usher in the year 2014. It is with mixed emotions that I say farewell to 2013. It hasn't been a horrible year, but then again, it hasn't been the YEAR of all YEARS for me either. I count my blessings and I realize that I definitely have more to be thankful for than to bitch about, so I guess, in the end, 2013 wasn't as bad as it could have been.

As I was trying to find a fitting quote, relevant to my thoughts, I found this gem: “If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results.” ~Jack Dixon 

WOW! How true this is!!!! Far too often when we look at the New Year and prepare to declare our New Year Resolutions, we focus so much on the results. I believe this is why I found 2013 to be a not so bad year for me. I spent my time focusing on the CHANGE and therefore I see all the results unfolding before me. I embraced a lot of things that truly made me unhappy and rather than complain about them, I tried to see the lesson that I was being taught through it.  In focusing on CHANGE, I was able to better my life. 

I don't believe in declaring my New Year's Resolutions to the world. I don't even believe in making or setting any. Resolutions are simply calendar-driven obligations; and they often address the symptoms, not the cause of our unhappiness, because really, isn't the reason we create these resolutions because we are unhappy with something in our lives. Think of the top resolutions people make: weight loss; money related; spending more time with family; new job. All these resolutions deal with the fact that these areas of our lives make us unhappy. 

Don’t get me wrong…..some resolutions are smart for our physical and emotional health and well-being. Quitting smoking, losing weight, managing stress better—they are all healthy things. But if we don’t address what creates our need to light up, our need to order double bacon cheeseburgers, and our need to worry ourselves into frenzies, will it really help, on one selectively chosen day, to give up everything that helps us pretend we’re fine? It’s almost like we set ourselves up for failure to avoid addressing the messy stuff, the real reason we are unhappy.

Perhaps the best resolution we can make each New Year’s Eve has nothing to do with giving up all those unhealthy things and everything to do with adopting a new mindset that will make it less tempting to turn to them. Adopt the idea of CHANGE. Change your thoughts. Change your behaviors. Change all the negatives into positives. We all have the power to do this.

Rather than focus on what has us down and out, why not take an inventory of what makes us SMILE? What makes us HAPPY? Focus on that and slowly let the all the things that make you unhappy become out of focus. It is the same principal as living more positively. Living more thankfully. It all seems to come together when we want to make CHANGES to our lives.

Don't pick one day of the year to START your journey to a more thankful heart, to a more positive way of living. Make it an ongoing process. Happiness is a journey and not a destination. It is a daily journey and it takes effort every single day. When we start to focus on all the good things we are blessed with, we can no longer stand to be around the negative. It is like a horrible odor you do not wish to smell, a horrible taste you do not want to eat, a horrible sound you do not wish to hear, a horrible vision you do not wish to see, the caustic material you do not wish to touch. Negativity becomes a poisonous toxin in your life that you no longer wish to deal with. Resolve today to become a happier person because of the changes you will make every single day of the rest of your life.

On this New Year's I am simply looking with eager anticipation at what 2014 has in store for me. I know it will be great, because I will not accept anything less. I deserve greatness and greatness I will receive. That is my daily affirmation. It really should be yours, too!!

Until tomorrow, my friends.....See you next year!

Think Thankfully!!!

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