Why Make
New Year's Resolutions?
by Barbara D. Allan
Author of Conquering Arthritis
Healing
from arthritis often takes great resolve. Making resolutions
is one way to strengthen that resolve and to clarify exactly
what your new course of action will be. Taking action
then creates new habits. If well chosen, these new habits
can lead to deep healing. Here are a couple of my favorite
quotes on the topic.
“Choose always the way that seems the best,
however rough it may be. Custom will soon render it
easy and agreeable.”--Pythagoras
“Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit,
and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you
reap a destiny.” --Charles Reade
Making Resolutions That
Work
Say you resolve to heal your arthritis this year. Great
resolution, but how are you going to move from just
saying it to actually achieving it? The answer: create
positive achievable goals.
Positive achievable goals are realistic and they keep
your eyes on the prize. Goals that use negative words
or focus on limitations are depressing--you want inspiration!
For example, this is a positive achievable goal:
“Every Thursday I will investigate one new recipe
using an alternative flour (such as quinoa, millet,
amaranth, teff, milo, barley, rye or yam), until I find
several types of baked goods that I enjoy making and
eating.”
That's much more useful than saying something like:
“I will not eat bread, pasta, pastries, cookies
or any other baked goods because wheat flour makes me
ill.”
Formulating very specific goals also helps. Vague goals
like “I will only eat foods that are healthy for
my body,” are not as effective as stating “On
Saturday I will purchase and/or prepare enough healthy
snack food to last the whole week, including wheat-free
baked goods, fresh fruit, and fresh vegetables.”
In his book, Awaken
the Giant Within, Anthony Robbins
does a great job addressing how to set effective goals.
This book is an excellent resource for anyone wishing
to make positive life changes.
Identify Precise Next Steps
Even great goals that you fully believe in can get overwhelming.
One way to get unstuck is by breaking a goal into precise
next steps. Each precise next step should be small enough
that you can complete it with a single effort.
For example, to achieve the goal of learning to cook
with alternative flours, precise next steps might be:
- Check your local library for cookbooks with recipes
for baked goods made from alternative flours.
- Pick three recipes you would like to try.*
- Look up the numbers of any local health food stores
in the phone book.
- Call to see what alternative flours they carry.
- Get store hours and exact directions to the store.
- Go to the health food store and purchase several
of these flours and any additional ingredients you
need for the recipes you have chosen.
- Clear two hours on your schedule when you can make
one of the recipes.
* You may also find recipes in the book section of
the health food store and on product packaging.
Depending on your life circumstances, it may take you
a couple of weeks just to take care of these preliminary
steps. But each step moves you closer to your goal.
They put you on the success track.
Eliminating Wheat
When this article was first published in my Conquering
Arthritis newsletter, a brand new reader mistakenly
thought that because I was using eliminating wheat as
an example of how to make a change, that wheat bothers
everyone who has arthritis.
I want to clear up that misconception. Food sensitivities
are a major underlying cause of many cases of arthritis.
However, problem foods are very individual. Many people
have a problem with wheat, which is why I used that
as an example in my newsletter. However, for people
who have no problem with wheat, cutting out wheat will
make
no difference.
Because of this, it is best to first test for food
sensitivities. Then you only need to eliminate foods
that are a problem for You.
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