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New Year Resolutions
It's here -- a brand new year -- 2010!Gone are the trials and the triumphs, the tears and the laughter of the old year.
The slate has been symbolically wiped clean and we have already embarked on the adventure and the mystery of this fresh New Year.
For thousands of years, and in civilisations from the Sumerians to the Romans, people have seen each New Year as an opportunity, a powerful time in which to take stock of their lives, resolving to amend old habits and make positive changes.
And so, in the best of traditions and with the best of intentions, we make our New Year resolutions.
The problem is, of course, that so many of the resolutions that we make end in failure. But why is this?
Well, in order to understand why, we need to look first at a few hard, cold facts.
The most recent research into New Year resolutions and why they succeed or fail has been carried out by Professor Richard Wiseman of Hertfordshire University. Wiseman followed seven hundred people who had made New Year resolutions and found that almost 80% (78% to be exact) failed to achieve their goals.
Their goals were similar to many -- losing weight, stopping to smoke, starting a better relationship, saving more money.
When Professor Wiseman and his team came to analyse that majority who had failed to keep their resolutions, they found that most had focused on the negative aspects of not achieving their goals -- on what would happen if they failed.
Many had attempted to suppress their cravings using will power alone and most had simply fantasised about being successful.
But they had not done what was necessary in order to actually succeed. They were depending on their conscious logical mind alone without real regard for their subconscious, feeling mind.
To quote the good professor: 'If you are trying to lose weight, it's not enough to stick a picture of a model on your fridge or fantasise about being slimmer...'
Well, how about dieting then? Unfortunately, there's a problem here too.
No-one disputes that going on a diet will work in the short term, but what happens when you come off the diet? You guessed it: the weight goes right back on -- together with a sense of failure and guilt for having failed yet again.
In fact, according to Global Health & Fitness Magazine (USA), 95% of all diets fail.
What the Hertfordshire University research did show, however, is that those people who kept their New Year resolutions usually broke their goals down into smaller chunks or steps and then they rewarded themselves when they achieved each step.
Those who were successful also tended to tell their friends and family about their goals, thereby gaining their support and increasing their motivation to succeed. They focused on the positive benefits of success and many kept a record or diary of their progress.
Other things that assisted people in achieving their resolutions and goals included making a single resolution and viewing occasional slips as simply temporary setbacks and not the end of the world.
Yet, as the research demonstrated, the great majority did depend on nothing more than will power and wishful thinking.
The problem is, of course, that feelings just don't have a great deal of respect for will power; they don't really care about logic. How many times have your feelings simply overruled your logic, compelling you to eat or smoke or act in a way that you just knew didn't make any real rational sense at all?
How many times have you said: 'To hell with it, I know I shouldn't, but...'?
With hypnosis we can align the conscious, logical mind with the subconscious, feeling mind so that they work with and not against each other. We can reach down and realign the subconscious beliefs and drivers, modifying even deeply entrenched behaviours and bringing about real change.
Working with your subconscious mind you really can change your life.
Why not resolve to do that now -- there really is no better time.
Wishing you all a wonderful New Year and a shining 2010!
' In this New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, and never in want. '
Traditional Irish Toast
Traditional Irish Toast Copyright © 2010 Peter Field - All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any form is prohibited
Reproduction in any form is prohibited
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