How to meet your good resolutions for the New Year

Happy 2013! New year, new life. With the start of a new year many of us tend to take stock of the previous year and even bookmark our list of purposes and resolutions for in the coming year and, sometimes, even we are sad to think about what we missed last year. Our psychologist Noelia Aguirre helps us to understand a little better these feelings and encourages us to propose attainable goals, being very clear about our resolutions for the new year and how to achieve them.

“One can not be deeply responsive to the world without feeling sad often”, said the great social psychologist Erich Fromm. And it’s true. Probably he is also right when he says that “the physical survival of the human being depends on a radical change of the human heart”. Too drastic or idealistic for these times? Maybe… But we must do something. It seems clear that reality needs changes, but also that we, more or less anonymous human beings, have very limited power in this regard. At least, we can improve ourselves. This would be the best of our purposes for the new year.

The first thing to do to accomplish this is to define exactly what we want: what details of my conduct or my personality will change, and in what sense. We will have to establish successive steps, a sequence of actions, a plan. It will be convenient to predict the time required for this gradual process, and assess its compliance periodically. You can change habits, attitudes, moods, thinking styles, etc. You can learn to control impulses, tolerating frustration, be more rational, more positive, more creative, relate better to others… All this is in our hands, up to us. As a poet said: “Every second your pulse is causing the world pulse”.

Clearly, all these thing that Noelia suggests are very personal things to do individually. However, opening the way to go, we will suggest this little list of resolutions for the new year to follow a healthy lifestyle that respects the environment.

Our resolutions for 2013

• Take care of what we eat. As you know,to follow a healthy nutrition is essential for us. That does not mean we can not give any whim occasionally, but always being aware of it.
• Try our bedding and our clothing closest to the skin are made of cotton. We will be taking care of both the planet and our health and our skin.
• Let us ensure that cosmetic products we use are natural and organic.
• Let’s do some exercise each day, even from home. Perform regular stretching is beneficial for flexibility and other activities such as yoga, martial arts or dance, they also contribute to improve our health.
• Let’s spend a few minutes a day to reflect and meditate on our own life, always looking for positive aspects and being optimistic.
• And above all, try to be happy every day and make the best of ourselves with every step we take.

And you, which are your New Year’s resolutions?