It’s quite natural as one year comes to an end and another is about to begin to think about the past year and what you would like to be different. And, while there are many things we can’t control in our lives, there may be specific actions or attitudes to adopt that could make a positive difference in your life.
I know a lot of us are sick of making resolutions that we fail at and just make us feel worse. “I resolve to go to the gym 3 days a week.” Yeah, sure. That lasts for about a month, unless you love it. If not, it’s just one more odious task added an already too full plate. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have resolutions that you look forward to doing because they bring you love and joy? And what if there were flower essences to help you shift attitudes that have been getting in the way of that?
I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I made a list of things I really enjoy doing and how often I do them (not anywhere near enough). I resolved to make at least a little time every day for adding those activities back in, and that has helped. But what I left out of that post was that the full exercise included making a list of my most common activities on my day job and at home and coloring each item with a color representing what I loved doing, what I liked doing, what was neutral, what I disliked, and what I hated. That was really illuminating. There was so much unhappiness indicated on my day job that I started to make notes in my journal about how I was feeling throughout the day and what I was doing at the time. Was it really the tasks themselves making me unhappy? Because when I saw my list of “odious tasks” it didn’t look a lot different than tasks I sometimes do for Mama Love, and I don’t hate them then.
Big surprise: telling myself sad stories about what I was doing was a much bigger indicator of dissatisfaction than the actual tasks themselves. As I learned to notice and interrupt the stories, the tasks shifted to “neutral” or even more surprising to “like.” So I pulled out a flower essence formula I call “Support for the Daily Grind” to help interrupt my internal complaining, negative storytelling, and resentfulness. And then I added another formula I call “Comfort and Joy” to my workspace to encourage what I want going forward: Larch for belief in a more positive outcome, Zinnia for bringing out more playfulness, humor and joy into my day, and Rock Water to help lighten up and be less hard on myself. It made a noticeable difference!
So my two main resolutions this coming year involve continuing with things I know make me feel happier: adding more of what I love back in, shifting my attitude about things I can’t control on my job and off, and using what I learn as a way to go forward.
What kind of help could you use to create a happier and, therefore, healthier life?