5 New Year’s Resolutions for your Mind & Brain:

As 2017 approaches, are you thinking about your annual New Year’s Resolutions?  

Most people think of New Year’s Resolutions to start dieting or exercising, but there are plenty of other options as well.   A friend of mine who had not been very good at staying at touch, recently apologized and told me that his New Year’s resolution was to be a better friend.   I was deeply touched.   So in honor of his creative New Year’s resolution, I present his, and a few more ideas that that you may not have considered.

1. Expand your palate

A lot of my friends are picky eaters. They won’t eat garlic or onions, or mushrooms, kale or cauliflower.   I admit, the idea has always baffled me. As a child, I didn’t have the option of being a picky eater. You ate what you were given, unless you had an allergy.   Given that I lived in Hong Kong for awhile, I had to eat all kinds of unusual foods, from chicken feat, the 1000-year old eggs, bird’s nest soup, and a variety of vegetables I can no longer name.   Many of the new things I tried I ended up liking, others not so much.

I remember when I first learned Kale was a superfood. It was important for me to get the nutrients it provided, but it was not my favorite food!  It was a too bitter and I liked more tender vegetables.  But I took eating kale on as a personal challenge.  I started using it in a variety of ways. I started with baby kale, which was more like other lettuces.   I then tried kale chips, and then kale in smoothies, and once in awhile, someone would make a delicious kale salad.  And now, kale is a staple part of my diet, and I enjoy it as much as any other food.

Do you drink coffee or beer?   Think back to the first time you tried them. Were they too bitter or weird tasting? You might have thought so, but you kept drinking them because others were saying they were good.   And eventually, as you kept drinking them, your taste buds changed, and you enjoyed it.

What happened with my kale eating habit or your coffee or beer drinking?   How did our tastes change?   Its via a process called metabolic programming. Metabolic programming is the idea that our tastes can change as we change our diet.  

So I challenge you… if there is a food that you don’t like, (especially a food where the nutrients are not easily found in other foods), to try eating just a little bit at a time.  Experiment to find a way to make the food palatable, and your tastebuds will change.

If eating 3-5 servings of a variety of fruits and vegetables feels overwhelming to you, then one way to start with programming your tastes is getting what you need from Juice Plus. Not only do you need the minerals and nutrients, but you need the phytonutrients found in the colors of the foods.   Juice Plus sells a huge variety of fruits and vegetables in the form of pills or gummy bears.   If that interests you, feel free to reach out to my Juice Plus contact, Jeremy Johnson.

2.  Expand your mind

One of the best ways to prevent dementia is to keep your mind active.   The more we stretch our brain in a variety of ways, the more resilience we will have against cognitive decline.

So for 2017, try a new activity you’ve never done before.   Two years ago, I tried an Improv class, last year I tried acting, this year I’m going to try making useful items from plastic trash.   I regularly enjoy playing new games.

3.  Expand your circle of friends

While some people regularly expand their social circle, people who consider themselves more introverted may struggle with this.  I spent most of my life too insecure to make new friends.   But now there is an easy way to find people who enjoy doing things you do. You can find a huge variety of activity groups on meetup.com.   Want a fun way to meet people interested in a healthy lifestyle? Join us at the Healthy Mind Meetup.

4.  Build bridges

Our nation is more divided than ever.   But the more we focus on blaming each other for our voting decisions, the less we will be able to work together.   We no longer live in a true Democracy, and much of what happened was controlled by the elite.   The elite benefit when we fight between ourselves, as it distracts us from what they are doing with our laws and our tax dollars.

So lets start by forgiving ourselves and each other, and lets start finding ways we can work together!    

5.   Expand your compassion for yourself

I was working on releasing my own tendency to be judgmental, when I was told by my subconscious that to do so, I needed to exercise more self-compassion. This realization made so much sense, given that I had grown up with a very critical father. Not having had the luxury of experiencing another perspective, it was eye opening to realize how critical I had been of myself.   No wonder I struggled with stepping into the lime-light or challenging myself in a new way!   Because if I did and it didn’t go so well, I could be unrelenting in my self criticisms.

After releasing subconscious barriers to self-compassion, I had a great opportunity to test the effects of my work.   I attended a workshop at this year’s Annual Salsa Congress where we learned new choreography, and performed it on the last night of the Congress. It was challenging, and I worked hard, and did pretty well, considering. But I did make mistakes. I realized the biggest difference between this performance and others in the past, was that I focused on what went well, rather than what went wrong.   My self-compassion made the whole experience much more enjoyable and satisfying!

Other benefits to self-compassion include “greater emotional resilience, more accurate self-concepts, more caring relationship behavior, as well as less narcissism and reactive anger.”  Since self-hatred often causes us to escape them with addictions, using self compassion can help relieve the need to engage in such behaviors.

So will 2017 be your year of self-compassion?

Warning: Side effects could include more compassion towards others.

Do you have any unusual New Year’s Resolutions?   Please share them below!

If you want to ensure that you meet those New Year’s Resolutions, releasing subconscious barriers can make change easy!   Why use up all your will power and make life harder for yourself when there is an easier way!   If you would like to learn more, you can listen to my interview Releasing Subconscious Barriers: The Key to Health and Happiness and call me at 1 855 ENERJOY for a complimentary consultation.

 

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