Health & Wellness: Top 5 Personal Health New Year’s Resolutions

With the New Year just around the corner, my goal is to start 2012 on a healthy note. Usually I overwhelm myself with too many resolutions. This year, I’ve decided to streamline life and to modify the list. I’ve made five personal New Year’s resolutions that are designed to insure well-being by focusing on the essentials in life through an all-around healthier life-style.

Emotional well-being: A true sense of health and wellness comes through an appreciation for life’s simple pleasures. We live in an amazingly world. Everywhere we turn there are the crystals in snowflakes, beautiful green trees, brightly colored flowers, not to mention the smiling faces of children and the thoughtful words of our neighbors. We’ve been blessed with spouses, children, relatives, and friends.

A truly healthy emotional state comes through recognizing and appreciating these relationships. We’re able to connect with those we hold dearest whether they live right down the street on the other side of the ocean. When we take our focus away from the material and place it on the spiritual we can see that there’s a higher power at work and we are able to concentrate on what truly matters!

Healthy Eating: When we’re in an emotionally healthy place, food becomes less of an obsession. Water, clean and fresh, is a life sustaining force. Drinking at least 8 cups of water, while cutting out soda and sugary juice drinks, helps cleanse the body. We plan to drink a variety of herbal teas as well.

(Our favorite is olive leaf tea, a wonderful antioxidant, made with leaves that are gathered from the trees in our home town!)

My husband and I both love sweets, especially chocolate. We’re planning to cut back on sugary desserts, fatty foods, and eat more seasonal fruit, high-fiber foods, fresh vegetables, and lean meat and fish. We find if we don’t have unhealthy foods in our home that we are more likely to eat the right foods. It’s a matter of developing and sticking with good eating habits!

Exercise: My New Year’s resolution includes walking every day. I plan to add in dance, swimming, and hiking, but for now it’s at least 20-30 minutes of walking daily. It’s easy. There’s no investment. And walking gives me time to clear my mind, think about all that I have to be grateful for, and breathe in the beauty around me. I’ve never been a smoker, yet there’s much more to breathing than quitting smoking. I plan to start the day meditating and concentrating on deep, thoughtful breathing. This allows me to adjust and regulate my response to stressful situations throughout the day.

Simplifying Life: My goal in 2012 is to simplify life! I want to take a look at what we really need and clear clutter. Organizing and simplifying are at the top of my list! If we haven’t used something in the past year, out it goes. Instead of spending time taking care of things we don’t need and use, I want to spend my time with others.

Helping Others: Emotional well-being includes an awareness of everyone around us. By opening up our hearts and homes to others, we truly help to make the world a better place! There are many organizations that need donations, and there are many people within our communities who benefit from the gift of our time and friendship.

This year, I plan to keep things simple…to take better care of myself and, in turn, take better care of my family, friends, and community.


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