Another year has started and to me January brings some type of excitement that no other month can bring. Every month has their place but January strikes up the feelings of newness and new beginnings.
I haven’t made a new year’s resolution in a long time. I never stick to them so why bother. But then I thought maybe I am approaching the whole resolution thing wrong. I mean nobody guides us in how to make resolutions we just kind of throw it out there and hope something will stick. But the truth is any time we want to make a change within ourselves it takes more effort than a wish and a new day. I wish everything changed for the better on January 1. That no matter what I wanted to change about myself…poof, it’s done. By January 2 I’m exactly who I want to be, but I know better than that. I’m sure we all know better than that and yet every year many of us have a list of resolutions we bring forward. I do know that often our conscious wants and desires and our subconscious wants, and desires can disagree. We want to lose weight, but we also want to eat cake. We want to go to the gym, but we also don’t like to exercise. We want to declutter, but we’re just too busy. Most of us walk around with what we consciously want but often what our subconscious wants, is what we get. It’s a normal thing, because no one has taught us any differently and so we just live our lives on auto pilot and do the same things day after day wishing things would change. So how do we change our subconscious mind and align it with what our conscious mind wants? One thing that that my research has shown me repeatedly, is that it’s better to stay present, to stay in the moment. I do know that when I am being present, I do think more clearly. That things are more vibrant that my life has more depth and richness. My mind is often in the past or in the future but when I do stay present, I’m not ruled by my subconscious mind. So, this year, my new year’s resolution is to be more present. So instead of being triggered by some past events, or mindlessly planning for some possible future happenings, staying present a lot of the time is the key to less emotional distress. It’s a way to think clearly and not react poorly. We’re all a work in progress but focusing on staying present seems to be, according to everything I’ve read, a good place to start.