Healthy Resolutions?

Happy New Year! It's another new year's day (or as someone I know put it, arbitrary Gregorian boundary condition) and hosts of people are beginning to work on their resolutions in order to achieve their most desired wishes. This is a good way to take care of yourself right?

I'm afraid that I stopped making resolutions long ago. Like so many others, I found that I would start something on January 1st and quickly give up, most of the time before the end of January. I have thought about resolutions a lot and I figure that, overall but with some definite exceptions, they tend to be bad for your health. I certainly don't mean that the intention behind the resolutions are unhealthy - quite the contrary, so many resolutions are implemented in hopes of losing weight or being happier. But the results of resolutions are so often far from the intended gains.

Say you intend to lose a few Christmas pounds and you resolve to join a gym and go every week, three times a week. Week 1 is great, week 2 is tolerable, you drop to twice a week in week 3 (it's cold out), and so on and so forth until your gym membership is relegated to the bottom of your wallet and never seen or heard from again. At least you exercised for a few weeks right? On the other hand, what about the money you invested? And how do you feel about letting yourself down, and keeping every one of those Christmas pounds? You've just paid a high price for a good intention. It doesn't matter what the intention or resolution is, the price of "failure" is often too high.

Of course, I am not saying that you shouldn't try to get healthier or happier, I'm just saying that resolutions put into effect on an "arbitrary" date may not be the best way of going about it. Instead of focusing on resolutions, it is probably more useful to focus on your intentions. Be really clear, and really specific about what it is you want. Remember that this is quite different than being clear and specific about what it is you don't want. What will your target look like? What will you feel when you achieve it? What will you be thinking at that time? What will the repercussions be throughout your life and those around you? This might be a good time to get out a pen and paper and write it all down. Stick to one "target" at a time, since things get a little more confusing otherwise.

Just this process of setting clear and specific intentions will help you get what you want, but most of us need a little more of an action plan. What replaces the resolution? Goal-setting. Did I just lose you there? Goal-setting seems to have a reputation with some people as a dull and meaningless task, but done right, it can be one of the most useful tools you learn in your life. There's a lot to good goal-setting so I'll save that for another time.

If your resolution involves setting a good goal for a well-thought out intention which you decide to put it into place on January 1st, it might be healthy. Otherwise, success might be a matter of luck or will-power, and who enjoys relying on will-power?