From all of us here at Brio, we wanted to wish you a Very Happy New Year, and hopefully you had some time off of work/school/daily routine, during the holiday's to spend with family, friends, children, pets or even just a good book!  Point being, we hope you had a bit of time to unhook from daily life for a few days and recharge and enjoy.

Start of the New Year is always synonymous with "new year resolutions".  We have all made them, we have all attempted them, and at one point or another, we have all likely failed at our resolution.

This year we have a suggestion.  A bit of homework to start the year on a different foot…a resolution to have no resolutions!

What is a resolution?  The word alone has many associations.  Below I’ve listed three words that come to my mind when I think of a resolution.  And below it, is an alternative to try.  Read the resolution, and then read the alternative and see how each one feels in your body as you read it.  What is your reaction? 

• Lack – removing or depriving from daily routine or diet.  What a way to start off the new year!  Judging ourselves for something we do, and forcing ourselves to take it out of our routine as it is deemed a bad “habit” or “trait”.  Pretty harsh! 
• Control – we assume we are always in the driver’s seat and with more mind energy we can make our lives better and healthier and happier.  Typing it out makes it seem even harsher than in our head.  Control my way to health and happiness…eek..I don’t think it works like that!!
• Timelines – a resolution insinuates that there is a start and stop point.  That this is just a finite change that needs to occur.  It also places a lot of pressure on our all ready packed lives.  Do we want to meet a timeline for the sake of meeting the timeline, or do we want to enhance the quality of our lives? 

·        Alternative:

• This year as an alternative, instead of taking OUT, how about putting IN things you love.  If you love to read and have no time, try setting aside half an hour a day to read; if you have always wanted to learn how to ski, how about setting an intention to go up to the mountain, and just allow it to happen.  It may even be next year that the plan is put into action.
• Over time you will find that with the more things you put INTO your life that you WANT to do, it edges out those things we are forcefully trying to stop.  For example, if we are busy doing things we love, it will eventually and naturally take the place of eating a bag of chips.  Cutting out chips as a resolution, is not a great resolution.  Think of something you have always wanted to try, and while you are doing that, you will not have time to eat chips.
• List any thing that you have wanted to do, but have not…make it realistic.  But try and brainstorm a list.  This is the fun part!
• Any thing that you have a deep desire to try…write it down on a piece of 8×11 paper and make a list.  The list could have 3 points or it could have 12 points…and more if need be!  After the list is written, fold it up and put it in an envelope and seal it.  Put it in a place where you won’t check for the next year.
• We encourage you to try this exercise and bring your sealed envelope to Brio, we will put it into your file for you and keep it there until Dec 2014.  At the end of December, you can pick it up and open it and see how much you have accomplished on that list, just by writing it down, and letting it go.  There is something magical about writing, forgetting about it, and letting it go.  It is similar to planting little seeds in your subconscious mind and you will find yourself in situations to make the list come true.  Such as randomly signing up for a class to learn how to make Kim Chi!  Come Dec 2014, you had forgotten it was on your list, yet you did it!!  This is a fulfilling, gentle way to start a year.  Natural, living from, “what makes me happy”.  And letting it go, letting go of timelines and control.
• Change does happen, but often the beauty in the change occurs when it is within the flow of life, and it may be a bit slower, but it feels more natural, and inevitably it will be a long lasting, fulfilling transition.
• Who is up for writing some letters!  Let us know your thoughts!

Cheers!

Dr.Neetu Dhiman, ND