3 Simple New Years Resolutions Worth Making and Keeping

Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and author, Ellen Goodman, says, “We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives … not looking for flaws, but for potential.”

I can’t think of a better, or more inspirational plan for the new year.

Yes, we all have our lists of faults and flaws we believe (often rightly) that we need to correct, but like Ms. Goodman suggests, perhaps the reason we so often fail to keep our New Year’s resolutions is because they focus on that which is negative in our selves.

This year, why not try a different tactic?

Instead of promising ourselves we will get up an hour earlier to jog in the morning cold, that we will forego that slice of cheesecake or spend more time doing some other task we don’t do now, because we don’t like to do it, let’s go for the positive approach.

Here are 3 simple resolutions that you can make, and likely keep, because the very act of doing them is self-rewarding:

1. Resolve to belly laugh more often in 2012 than you did in 2011. How you accomplish this is up to you. Maybe you’ll watch a few more mindless television comedies or share a round of drinks more often with you funniest friends. Maybe your route to tear-inspiring laughter will come by spending more time with your kids or your grandkids acting ridiculous and goofy. Pick your best approach; just aim to laugh until your sides hurt on a far more regular basis than you have done in the past.

2. Resolve to spend more time doing nothing at all. Stare out the window at the clouds, soak in the bathtub (bubbles are optional), or try my favorite, put the top down and drive a convertible to no particular destination. It’s amazing how these moments of mental vacation can clear your head and refresh your spirit.

3. Resolve to vacation more and vacation better. Like the first two resolutions, increasing your vacation time and enhancing your leisure experiences is amazingly beneficial to your physical and mental health and well-being. And you don’t necessarily have to break the bank to do it. Take advantage of a discount vacation rental or treat yourself to a top-of-the-line experience. Enjoy a two-day getaway or a month long retreat. Do whatever you can, just find a way to do more of it than you have been doing in the past.

All of us at Sell My Timeshare NOW and Timeshare Broker Services join in wishing you a bright and prosperous 2012. But above all else, we wish you peace of mind and a happy heart. And as Ellen Goodman suggests, reflect as this new year dawns by walking through the rooms of your life. But for a change, try not to be a critical inspector, but instead, to view yourself kindly, enthusiastically as a work in progress, and to head into 2012 determined to take better care of your most valuable asset—YOU!