“ We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
The New Year. A celebration of the past year in preparation for the future. And when the champagne and confetti festivities subside, the focus turns to making the upcoming year the best one yet.
We start out excited. Off to the gym! Preparing healthy snack ideas! Armed with smoking cessation strategies and sticking to a smartly drafted budget. Making time for yourself. These steps are critical to your new year. You are going to be better, stronger, smarter and you have a fresh start as motivation.
But inevitably, the excitement of the change subsides. Our interest wanes. What's left is the will to continue transformation, and for many reasons, the will is weak.
How familiar are these excuses mid-January?
- I'm late for yoga, might as well skip it
- I've already had a piece of candy, might as well have a cupcake
- When I have time, I'll start
It is easy to miss the knowledge of transformation being a spiral staircase and not an actual end result.
The University of Scranton studied this at length and found that only 8% of people who make resolutions actually achieve their goal. When looking closer, this stems from setting goals that are too far from where we start.
We don't have to be part of the 92% that give up. These three lessons will help you continue transforming throughout the year.
- Exercise: Work smarter, not harder.
"If I had more time, I'd be able to exercise more!" Sound familiar? When transformation becomes harder, the thought of spending time at the gym becomes nearly impossible. If you don't have an hour to commit, it's easy to talk yourself out of it. But don't make the excuse of "I don't have enough time!" Exercising more efficiently will help with a time crunch.
Use Aston Arcing to neutralize your body before and after exercising in order to maximize your workout.
- Meditation: Save your body to help focus your mind.
Sitting in the lotus position is common for meditation, but may be too challenging for your body. It's also not the only way to practice mindfulness/"body"fullness.
Consider meditation in a bath and focus on breath and buoyancy.
- Expression: Being kind to yourself in order to be kind to others
Changes that involve facing fears, stress or discipline requires you to think about your body expression. Start with matching what is to see what evolves from your own body. Having an awareness of your body is the best start to any transformation.
Find neutral before entering a historically stressful situation, such as a presentation at work, rush hour traffic or busy shopping center so you don't take on other peoples' stress.
Transformation is a continuing process. Transformation is not about "achieving" a goal as once that goal is reached, another chapter of self-improvement reveals itself. True commitment is about self: knowing what you need and how to get it.
Don't be the 92%. Practice these three concepts at length to discover tools for keeping your resolution. Judith Aston's "Mindful/'Body'ful" videos are now available to help deepen your understanding of these concepts. A preview is available with additional videos for purchase by clicking "Get Started" below.
What holds you back from achieving your New Years Resolutions?