Happy New Year’s Eve!
Are you celebrating at home or going out tonight? If you go out, drive safely, or UBER!
Ned and I are celebrating at home with grilled lobsters, asparagus, and our favorite champagne! Our intention is for 2020 to be the best year ever! We’re planning more travel, more boating, more hiking, more visiting with friends and family far and near, and we’ll be getting back to our little “half adventures”!
It’s been a few years since we’ve gone on an adventure weekend, and we miss those! In the past, some of our “half adventures” were: kayaking out from Woods Hole to Martha’s Vineyard, visiting friends there, and then taking the ferry back; ferrying out to Monhegan Island in Maine and kayaking back (a ten mile ocean paddle). You get the idea. Big adventures, cut in half, so that we can get it done in a weekend.
On the Monhegan Island trip, we met some pretty high waves when we started our paddle, so after about a mile, Ned asked if I wanted to go back – I did, so we turned around. This ended up adding an additional adventure to our trip when we entered a cove with hundreds of seals! One bright eyed youngster was so fascinated with Ned’s kayak that I thought he might try to jump on! We played there with the seals for a while, and then I realized that there was no reason for Ned not to kayak back to the mainland; I could get to the ferry myself from there. So we moved all the emergency equipment onto Ned’s boat and he went off into those rough waves while I went back to shore and dragged my boat back to the ferry dock. I met some lovely people on the ferry ride, and Ned made it back to the mainland before the rest of us did!
Looking forward to the fun we’ll have this year planning more of these trips.
What would you love to bring into your life in 2020?
More outdoor exercise? Better meal planning? More time with family/friends? More travel?
Let’s not call these “resolutions” anymore. The word resolutions, sends your brain automatically onto the same path it’s been down before, and, I know you want better results and more fun this time. Sometimes even the word “goal” can bring to mind past goals that were not met. Let’s call these new plans “intentions.”
We can learn a lot about changing old patterns/habits from new brain science. Many of the changes we can make, to get better results with our goals or intentions, are simple. For instance, just changing the word “resolution,” to “intention,” as in the example above. Another simple change would be to phrase your intention in a positive way. You may think that a goal of losing ten pounds sounds positive, but your brain doesn’t see it that way. If you phrase your intention “I am so excited about Mary and I taking this new dance class at the community center. We’ll have such fun!” Now, your brain doesn’t recognize this as the same old goal to lose ten pounds, and, BONUS – you’re adding a positive emotion, which makes your NEW pathway even stronger! Since you truly will be having fun in your dance class with your friend, the endorphin hit you’ll get helps you to stay on track as well! Do you begin to see how this works?
Maybe you’d really love to declutter your home? You’ve been watching Marie Kondo and she’s inspired you. Your “resolution” of “declutter one room a month” may be setting yourself up for failure, as that seems like a lot in a month. Instead, you could make your intention, “I’m excited to be spending 15 minutes, twice a week, decluttering the living room.” In the second scenario, you not only set up a reasonable goal for yourself, but leave space so it can still get done if something comes up. Believe me, something always comes up! For instance, you decide that Tuesday and Thursday are good days to make that fifteen minute appointment with your living room, but during your second week, your check engine light comes on and Tuesday you have to bring it in to your mechanic and wait while they fix it. By the time you get home, you’re late making dinner, and thinking about that large expense for getting the car repaired, etc. It’s OK. No need to stress. Take a deep breath. You can switch your appointment to declutter to Wednesday or Friday. Simple, huh?
Simple changes can make a huge difference.
If you’d like to learn more about how new brain science can help you meet all your intentions in 2020, click HERE! My course, “A New Season, A New YOU,” will be starting on Jan 21st, and I can teach you many, many more tools and techniques for using a combination of new brain science and ancient practices to transform your life! This course has a 95% success rate! Make the rest of your life the best of your life!
Best of Health,
Kathi
