Kick a new start

Begin New Year with a sound resolution:

With the dawn of a brand new year, brimming with excitement and hope let us bid goodbye to the Year 2008 to welcome the year ahead with some New Year resolutions. Here are a few resolutions that you could make in the coming year 2009.

The resolution which tops the list is to correct the mistakes we have done in the past and make sure that we don’t repeat them in the future. The next resolution is to build courage to fight obstacles. Keeping ourselves healthy by workouts, exercises, yoga and meditation can be a good resolution for everyone, beyond any doubt.

For students, studying with enthusiasm can be a good resolution.

Quitting the habits like smoking, alcohol can be a resolution. For short tempered persons, taking the things calmly can be a good resolution, this will surely help in improving past relationships.

To spend money judicially in limits can be a resolution. Those who have faced failures in the past, starting their life with new courage and spirit is a good resolution.

These are a very few resolutions which can be helpful in your life. You can add your own resolutions to this list. The resolutions are invain unless and until they are implemented for the cause of good.

According to a CNN health article titled “How to make those New Year resolutions stick,” four out of five Americans do not stick with their resolutions. The article recommended that if someone wanted to stick with their new year’s resolution, they have to develop a plan.

This survey found that more than half of the respondents listed getting out of debt or saving money in their top three New Year’s resolutions. It also found that today’s economic trouble will influence nearly 90 per cent of respondents to set finance-specific New Year’s resolutions. Examples include:

* 56 percent will set a New Year’s resolution to eliminate debt

* 51 percent will set a New Year’s resolution to save for the future

* 42 percent will set a New Year’s resolution to reduce their household expenses

* 38 percent will set a New Year’s resolution to create and stick to a budget

* 26 percent will set a New Year’s resolution to seek additional sources of income in 2009

* 24 percent will set a New Year’s resolution to discontinue using credit cards.

It’s easy to say after the holiday season is over that one will quit eating all that junk food, stick to a healthier diet and start exercising more. But how often do people stick to their resolutions?

The Fourth Annual New Year’s Resolutions Survey taken by FranklinCovey Products reveals the top New Year’s resolutions for 2009. They are:

* Get out of debt or save money.

* Lose weight.

* Develop a healthy habit (healthy eating, exercise).

* Get organised.

* Spend more time with family and friends.

* Develop a new skill or talent.

* Work less, play more.

* Other.

* Break an unhealthy habit (smoking, alcohol, overeating).

* Change employment.

How can you make resolutions work?

In private, with no one else looking on, write down the issues in your life that you think you need to tune up. Write them on a scrap piece of paper because you will shortly be throwing it away.

Once you’re done, pick one or two (no more) from the list of what you believe you ‘really want’ to accomplish.

You will need to do this for yourself with your own list of goals.

Let’s take two of the resolutions seen most often: losing weight and working out. Some love to workout and lift weights. Losing weight means not having as much food as you’d like. It means skipping the favourites and comfort foods as you’ve enjoyed them in the past. It means the added work of planning your eating, which is never easy. So it needs a bit of hardwork and sacrifice. It all depends how you approach it.

Epilogue

As with all of life’s endeavors, ‘you aren’t defeated until you quit.’ So, DON’T QUIT.

Changing behaviour is the greatest challenge. How often are crack-heads successful at becoming clean? How often are gun-toting, gang-member, street thugs able to join the bright side of society? Do not underestimate the enormity of the challenge this will be for you.

Keep the list of changes very short. Make them based on something you want. On Valentine’s Day you can witness young guys lined up to spend thousands of rupees for a dozen roses. Do you think even one of them actually wants flowers?

Many times in life, we must pay a price, endure a burden, or do something we’d rather not in order to get what we really want. So it is with roses on Valentine’s Day. Diet and exercise may be the path you need to travel to stand out.

How hard are you willing to work to get that? Think about it.

Stay focused on a short list. Write the goals down. Put the other items aside to tackle later.

Make resolutions actionable in short, clear, precise terms so you will know when you are done.

Celebrate every success. Manufacture one, if needed. Feeling successful feeds the mind and the motivation. Feeling successful is probably the most important component of maintaining the new behaviour on the long term.

As you move the process, you will be tempted. “Would you like fries with that, Maam?” can be mentally compared to how it will feel when a friend says, “You’ve been working out, haven’t you?” You can then choose whichever one you want the most at the moment.

Life becomes very livable when at each turn, you are getting what you want the most. Think about it.

Courtesy: Officer.com

Let the hands work

The initial signs of ageing appear on the hands, hence they require special care. The skin on the hand is exposed to the environment and the sun everyday causing the skin to become thinner and age more quickly than the other parts of the body.

Whether you have wrinkles, brown spots, dry or transparent thin skin, and bulging veins these can all be corrected with appropriate treatment. It is always better to start taking care of our skin on a regular basis before the signs and symptoms of ageing set in.

Drinking at least eight to 10 glasses of water a day, exercising regularly, following a good skin care routine, and a healthy diet will ensure that your skin glows.

A deep cleansing treatment followed by nourishing masks containing evening primrose and rosemary oil will help a lot. Along with daily sunscreen, use a rich moisturiser before applying the sunscreen. Use a night cream to help renew and replenish you skin while you sleep.

A wide range of peels are available which help to remove the tan, rejuvenate the skin and help to reduce the pigmentation and age spots with a couple of sessions. However. it is advised to stick to medical advise if you are seeking more advanced treatments.

Deccan Chronicle