7 New Year Resolutions to Make 2016 Your ‘Personal Year of Health and Harmony’

7 Life-changing New Year Resolutions for a Happier and Healthier You

Chances are you make plenty of resolutions each year, but don’t stick to them for various reasons including that some of them are unrealistic or not in your capacity that year: resolutions are easily made and with good intentions too but not easily kept. This time around, why not make some healthy resolutions you can not only actually stick to, but that will also transform your life for the better? Choose what is suitable, but when you do, stick to it like your life depends on it: today that is not an understatement but a fact of life. Good health is equal to a good life. Here are a few gems towards that goal:

1. Include more healthy foods into your daily diet
How often do you find yourself munching on junk food compulsively, just because you are hungry? You may be fully aware of the fact that this affects your health adversely, but still are unable to change your habit. This new year, be strict with yourself and choose healthier options. Abstain from fast foods and have more home cooked meals containing colorful vegetables: the more colorful the better. Replace chips with fruits for snack time.


2. Increase your amount of water intake
Drinking about 8–10 glasses of water every day is necessary to cleanse and detoxify your body, but do you actually drink that much honestly? With the onset of the New Year, make it a habit to drink water instead of quenching your thirst with soda or any other artificially sweetened beverages. If you don’t like having water every time, you may opt for freshly squeezed fruit juices or healthy tender coconut water as well. When we want to wash our bodies externally, we take a bath. To bathe the body from the inside, we need to flush out our system drinking lots of water, everyday.


3. Ensure that your body gets some physical activity daily
You may have set unrealistic workout targets for yourself in the previous years, but this year set more achievable targets. Design a routine for yourself, which consists of some fun and easy physical activities like swimming, dancing, jogging or simply climbing the stairs instead of taking a lift, apart from joining the gym, which can be tedious for some. Do these simple things daily and watch the positive turn your health takes.


4. Stay away from multitasking - at least while eating
If you check your Smartphone while eating, make a resolution this year to never do it again. Abstain from multitasking at least while you are sitting with your family at the dining table. Studies suggest that people who observe their surroundings while eating rather than concentrating on their phone, tend to choose healthier food options and do not overfeed themselves. And people who are present with the food while eating are able to appreciate what they eat and eat just short of being full!


5. Pick up a new hobby
Your health depends on both your mental and physical well-being. So, it’s essential to ensure that you have a peaceful mind besides a fit body. This new year choose a hobby that makes you feel happy, fulfilling, productive, interesting, and fills up your leisure time. It can be anything like reading, singing, photography, blogging or travelling as long as it helps you de-stress. Too much of television wastes the mind by bombarding it with predigested mental foods that do not provoke it to think.

6. Express your feelings
Every feeling, without exception, must be expressed. Unexpressed feelings pick the most vulnerable organ and express themselves in that organ to either lead to malfunctioning or total dysfunction, resulting in your having to finally have the organ surgically removed! When emotions are vented out in appropriate ways, you will feel healthy and stress-free. In fact stress is nothing but the effect of bottled up emotions.

7. Relax, relax, relax
The paradox in life is that the easiest thing to do is to relax. We become tense for little or no reason and create a huge burden on our health. Meditation and deep breathing are the best aids to calm ourselves, and to be at harmony with our inner selves. And a strong connection with this health facet is to have a good night’s sleep and wake up by 6 AM irrespective of whatever time you go to sleep. Retiring to bed should ideally be at around 10.30 pm every night.

Besides considering all these resolutions, make up your mind to stay optimistic this coming year and distance yourself from all types of negativities. This will not only lead you towards happier times, but will also keep you in great health throughout the year.

Remember that in the past diseases chose people, today we chose our disease. The choice is really ours: chose good living over misery and suffering.

If you would like to consult with me privately, please click on 'Consult'.