Promises Remembered

Fulfill Last Year's Resolutions Before the New Year Begins

By Debbie Mandel

The years are cycling faster than I can remember. This year's holidays are looming larger than life, and with them, a new year is almost thrust upon us. A new year means a fresh beginning and a well-intentioned promise to change for the better.

But what happens to last year's promises? Is the slate wiped clean without accountability? You know what they say about the road to hell it is paved with good intentions but there is still time to implement this year's resolutions.

Don't wait for Jan. 1 to change for the better; there is no time like the present. Lasting change happens gradually, one step at a time, like a journey of a thousand miles that begins with the first step. Anyway, no one is perfect as in my favorite Zen quote: Water which is too pure has no fish. Let's examine the most common resolutions and how to quickly fulfill those wishes.

The most common resolution concerns a better diet. I can make a change right now, this very minute, even though I just ate dinner. When I get hungry a couple of hours later while I watch TV, I'll have a cup of herbal tea as a treat. If I'm hungrier than that, I will eat some fresh fruit like an apple that is in season and that will fill me up with fiber, good flavor and nutrition, but few calories. Even though I don't like drinking water, I can drink more water. I can drink a glass tonight.

There, I don't have to change everything about my diet just one or two little things. Next week I will make another dietary change. Perhaps, I will eat one-third less of the food on my plate, or perhaps I'll eat more vegetables.

Next in popularity ranks exercise, hailed the panacea of our times for mind and body, perfect for everything from Alzheimer's to cancer to diabetes. Yet, Americans have become increasingly more sedentary, claiming to be "too tired."

I don't have to wait until January to put on a pair of comfortable shoes and walk out the door, do I? I don't need a stair-stepper either. I can go to the mall and walk up the stairs instead of the escalator. I can allocate 20 minutes a day: 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the late afternoon to walk or do some calisthenics in my house. If I need additional motivation, I can enlist a friend to walk with me or go to exercise class with me. Then I will honor time and place.

Surely, I can find some fun physical activity to do maybe I will do it with my children whom I have noticed sitting on the couch and watching TV just like me.

Want to see more?

• Holiday Headquarters
• Healthy Habits: Resolutions for the New Year
• A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place: Tools and Techniques to Attack Home Organization
• It's Your Inner Brat: Why New Year's Resolutions Fizzle
• Talk about it!