Well, another year has come and gone. Was this a good year for your heart’s health? It’s not always easy to tell, is it?
Let me ask another question. Did you make a consistent effort all year to….
1. Eat a healthy diet?
2. Get regular exercise?
3. Take your vitamins regularly?
4. Do something each day to reduce your stress levels?
5. Cut out smoking once and for all?
If you can’t say yes to all of these, that’s OK. A new year is almost here and it’s a great time to start over with a fresh slate. This year though, try to take a different approach to your New Year’s Revolutions. No, that’s not a typo! The problem for most of us is that the phrase “New Year’s Resolutions” has become something we start off with having good intentions, but soon drop.
This year, create “New Year’s Revolutions” instead. According to dictionary.com, a revolution is “a sudden, complete or marked change in something”. Here, the word we’re looking for is “change”. You want to do something a lot different and a lot better than you have done in the past.
Go into your 2008 Goal setting for your health with the attitude that these changes are permanent - not something you’ll drop in a month. Don’t allow yourself to think anything else. Visualize yourself doing or being what your goal is. Feel as if you have already attained your goal. If necessary, find a picture of what you want to do, have, or become, and put in on your desk so you see it every day. Make your goals real to your subconcious mind.
So, getting back to your heart’s health in 2008, here are some possible things to think about when setting your “New Year’s Revolutions”:
1. Try to make goals specific and with a time frame in mind. For, instance, attaining a weight of X by such and such a date.
2. Phrase your revolutions in the present tense as if you you have already attained them. Here’s an example: “I am happy and grateful to be at my ideal weight of Y lbs.”.
3. Say your revolutions and goals out loud each day in the morning and just before going to bed at night. Also, create an image in your mind for each revolution if possible, and see that image when you say it out loud. This will reinforce it in your mind.
4. If necessary, go to your doctor to get a blood test and weight measurement. So, if your cholesterol is say 225, you can create a goal of lowering it to 180 by a certain date. Also, tell your doctor what your health goals are. This will give you some degree of accountability - especially if you agree to come back to see him/her at the end of the year to report on how you did.
5. Similarly to the above, find a partner to share goals with - this will give you more accountability.
Hope all this helps you attain a heart health revolution in 2008 ! See you next year! I look forward to helping you in any way I can.
