Your Cheat-Sheet for Some Life-giving New Year's Resolutions

Tuesday, January 13, 2015 @ 3:51 PM

It's time to move past the no-brainer New Year's resolutions whether it's quit smoking, or lose ten pounds or some other deprivation-based resolution. My gift to you is a cheat-sheet of some resolutions that are more  'Yes' than 'No', and will improve your happiness, instead of making you grumpy and irritable. Here you go.

1. Take more risks. Yes. Being controlled by fear and anxiety is not life! Get out there and get messy, and make mistakes. Fail a few times. Learn from the failure and grow in character through the process. 

2. Slow down and smell the coffee or the roses or whatever you find. 
Stop being too busy to taste the flavors in your food, to hear yourself think, to watch the sunset or to listen to the words of your favorite song. Adrenaline addiction is a thing - and not a good thing.

3. Be honest and open with yourself.
Taking some time to have an honest heart-to-heart with yourself about what do you really want in life is a good thing.Are you heading in the right direction? Or have you been pulled along with the current of other's expectations and good ideas? 

4. Say 'No' to time-sucks. 
Time is the one non-renewable resource, so don't squander it. That doesn't mean packing your days to the max. That means making intentional choices, saying Yes intentionally and sometimes saying No to time-sucks intentionally.

5. Assess your 'people'.
Are your relationships life-giving? Hopefully most of your people are giving you life. Of course, we also need to be giving sometimes to others. Are you engaging with people intentionally, or because you don't know how to extricate yourself from them? It is key to be receiving from others and giving to others - intentionally.
6. Accept the past.
Seriously. The past is not going to change by ruminating over it some more. It didn't work out for a reason. Take the lesson from it and find comfort in knowing that you are a wiser person for the things that were difficult.

7. Stop making excuses for not living out your dream.
You've read about, maybe you know personally people who just went for it and pursued their dream. Make sure you won't be upset and disappointed with yourself a few years from now for all the time you wasted and find yourself stuck dwelling on what could have been.

8. Share others' good fortune.
When life goes well for someone around you, enter into their joy instead of being jealous or envious. Genuinely be happy for others' success because you'll want them to be happy for you when you share your good news.

9. Pay positive emotion forward.
If you're seeking compassion, show it to others. What goes around, always comes back around.

10 Find the time to help someone in need. 
At your discretion, be that supportive, empathetic person to another who needs it.You'll feel better about yourself as a result.

11. Validate yourself.
Live before an audience of one. You get to decide who will be your judge. Don't worry about what others think or don't think of you. Think highly of yourself and give yourself permission to be great.

12. Respect your private property.
Your emotions and your inner experience are yours- they are your property. You may share your property with others. However, not everyone needs to know every detail about your life, your relationship or whatever else is going on for you. Savor certain moments by yourself as precious.

Donald Russell