How to Keep Your New Year's Resolutions

Out with the old. . . in with the new! Wipe the slate clean. What's done is done. Making resolutions is about new beginnings. It's about starting over. Many people make them, but few stay true to their resolutions.

Resolution: (1) the process of resolving, (2) firmness of purpose, and (3) statement of the opinion, will, or intent of a person.

Can you live up to your stand to do things differently in the New Year? Of course you can. AND it will require loads of self-discipline. One of the keys is to make "reasonable" resolutions.

It's hard not to get the resolution urge on New Year's Eve. There's that sense of renewal, of rebirth, and the guilty awareness that you ate your own weight in chocolate during the holidays. Sure, last year's resolutions didn't make it past the fifth of January, but hey, this year's going to be different, right?

Here are a few ideas to consider when making resolutions:

1. Set realistic resolutions. It is not wise to resolve to run a marathon if you've never jogged around the block.
2. Take a stand for your resolutions. Endorse resolutions you know you can get excited about; make them your own. Never make a resolution because you think someone else wants you to.
3. Take baby steps. Incremental goals work best. Instead of resolving to shed 60 pounds, go for 10. When you reach that goal, set another.
4. Make a written plan. Be specific as to what you want, then set a deadline. When you reach your goal, reward yourself.
5. Develop a support network. Tell a trusted friend what your intentions are; someone who will encourage you to continue and complete your goal.
6. Reward yourself. A periodic pat on the back (when you deserve it) as you accomplish your resolves will keep you motivated.
7. Think: Long term. Everyone slips up once-in-awhile. Resolutions are goals, not rigid absolutes. If you slip, don't call it off, recommit. Dust yourself off and get going again.

Go to www.How-to-Keep-Your-New-Years-Resolution.com to learn more-than-you-will-ever-need-to-know about making New Year's resolutions.

Keep your resolutions this year! Sign up for a FREE monthly Resolution Reminder e-mail that will be sent to you throughout the entire year - full of helpful tips and internet links to hopefully encourage you to succeed in meeting your personal goals.

Larry's "Instant Relationship Resolution" Maker

The New Year symbolizes a fresh start and a new beginning. We encourage you to make a New Year "Relationship" Resolution. It is the promise to do something to better oneself, the relationship or to get something accomplished.

It isn't easy to always pick a resolution and stick to it. Larry James offers his "Instant Relationship Resolution" maker to help make the struggle of deciding go away and to assist you in having a "healthy" love relationship.

If you must make resolutions, make some worth keeping. (Thanks to my good friend, Maggie Galbraith for passing along this list.)

Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her.
Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop," the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
Enjoy the simple things. When the children are young, that is all that you can afford. When they are in college, that is all that you can afford. When you are on retirement, that is all that you can afford!
Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. Laugh so much that you can be tracked in the store by your distinctive laughter.
The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be alive while you are alive, don't put out a mailbox on the highway of death and just wait in residence for your mail.
Surround yourself with what you love, whether it is family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
Cherish your health. If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
Don't take guilt trips. Go to the mall, the next county, a foreign country, but not to guilt country.
Tell the people you love, that you love them, at every opportunity.

Always remember: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Recipe For A Happy New Year
Author Unknown

To leave the old with a burst of song
To recall the right and forgive the wrong;
To forget the thing that binds you fast
To the vain regrets of the year that's past;
To have the strength to let go your hold
Of the not worthwhile of the days grown old,
To dare to go forth with a purpose true,
To the unknown task of the year that's new;
To help your brother along the road
To do his work and lift his load;
To add your gift to the world's good cheer,
Is to have and to give a Happy New Year.

Here are a couple of excellent additions to your book collection, both designed to help you in the New Year.

The Art of the Fresh Start: How to Make and Keep Your New Year's Resolutions for a Lifetime - Glenna Salsbury - Packed with the tools you need to uncover the values that guide you, and lead you to discover what you want to achieve and how to get there through internal motivation.
Larry's Review: Dreading New Beginnings? Don't! It's one thing to get started. It's quite another to stay that way. To build a successful life you begin with a strong foundation. That is only one of the keys. Glenna teaches you how. She knows. How wonderful to be touched by this angel with words. I loved this book because it made me think!

Resolutions: Four Inspiring Novellas Show a Loving Way to Make a Fresh Start - Carol Cox, Peggy Darty, Yvonnne Lehman & Pamela Kaye Tracy - Reflect on the anticipation of entering a new year -- new calendar, new goals to accomplish, and a new chance at love. Rejoice in the transformation of a young woman in Remaking Meridith by Carol Cox. Throughout Beginnings, Peggy Darty will have you laughing and crying as two lonely adults are laid up in the hospital over the holiday season. Then, discover how setting goals brings together a church singles' class and sparks the flame of love in Never Say Never by Yvonne Lehman. Finally, in Letters to Timothy, see how author Pamela Kaye Tracy unites five needy people with one pen pal letter.

Send someone you love a FREE e-New Year's Day card. . .

Too much of a "Happy New Year?" Read: A Sure Cure for a Hangover.

Got the "holiday blues?" Read: Rx for the "holiday blues".

Need someone to talk with because of the "holiday blues?" Phone a friend.

Follow the links at the bottom right of each page to complete our New Year's tour.

Visit Larry's Book Store for a large selection of "relationship" books, music and more.

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