Warning! Don’t Make New Year’s Resolutions – Here Are 3 Things That Will Transform Your 2010

December 31, 2009

I no longer do new year’s resolutions. The feeling of failure when I inevitably blow it isn’t worth it!

As someone with a severe right brain bias I do have a form of goal setting (dislike that term) that really works for me. I’ll talk about that in a future post but regardless of what you want to achieve this year let me share some stuff that will get you there faster and more enjoyably.

I have identified a few things that really have a huge degree of leverage over the rest of my life. When I consistently apply these three things it significantly improves everything else – and I mean everything. And you know the great thing – they are really simple to implement.

So without further ado here are my 3 secrets for larger living:

1. Drink more water
2. Walk every day
3. Choose to be thankful

1. Drink.

I never cease to be amazed at how drinking more water affects my energy levels and mental clarity (and frankly I need all the help I can get sometimes!). Here’s my tip for making sure I get at least a litre of H2O consumed daily.

Get a 500ml bottle and fill it with tap water and drink it’s contents twice over the course of the day – simple as that.

BTW here’s a trick to improve the taste of ordinary tap water. Fill a jug and leave it in the fridge for an hour or two, the chlorine in the water evaporates leaving better tasting water. Use this water to fill your bottle.

2 Walk.

The simple act of going for a walk for 30 minutes has had a revolutionary effect on me.

Firstly the health benefits of fresh air and exercise should be obvious but it’s turned into a spiritual discipline. It’s great thinking prayer and worship time – it’s a sacred thing were the two way conversation between God and I comes into sharper focus, were distractions fall away and answers to stubborn problems appear, were creative ideas and strategies bubble up from within.

Mental health studies show that going for a walk is a proven mood lifter and even heads off the effects of depression and in particular going for a walk out in nature, in the country or at the coast, multiplies the effect.

Maybe it’s something to do with being out in the midst of creation that is constantly worshipping it’s creator. Worship after all is a contagious thing that effects everything in the atmosphere where it is going on – does that sound too new-agey? read Ps19.

3. Thank.

Be grateful… even if it’s a sacrifice!

This will turn your life upside down, or is that right side up? I’ll write more about this in future but here are a few tasters for choosing to be thankful.

•    It’s the gateway to His presence (Ps100:4)
•    Gratitude precedes miracles (every time Jesus publicly gave thanks an amazing miracle followed e.g. feeding thousands of people with a packed lunch, raising Lazarus from the dead etc)
•    It keeps you in the perfect will of God (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
•    It makes you a happier person (even science proves it: http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/labs/emmons/)
•    Being thankful in advance for things that you are believing for makes them happen faster!

There are many more benefits but that list should keep most of us in happy mode for a while!

If it helps keep a gratitude journal, write down stuff that you choose to be thankful for.

Two things happen when you do this. The process of writing engages your conscious and subconscious mental processes and reinforces the gratitude. Secondly the fact that you’ve documented your thoughts means you can remind yourself later of His goodness if you’re ever struggling to figure out how or what to be grateful for.

So there you go – transform your life with these 3 three ultra simple but profoundly effective disciplines.

Drink. Walk. Thank!

Drop me a comment below to let me know your experiences or other suggestions.

Oh, and THANK YOU for being a subscriber to my email newsletter and or this blog – it’s a pleasure to journey life together with like minded folks.

Happy new year!

Andy

P.S. Did you get your free download? House Concert Live Recording: Only In Your Love

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Posted by Andy | Filed Under General Musings