Make 2013 a Resolution FREE New Year

What?!! Has Al gone completely mad. The fitness industry pushes people to make this the best year by making resolutions. Commercials are harping on the importance of making and keeping promises to yourself. Even Dr. Oz makes claims that the New Year is the best time to make resolutions. Well I am here to tell ya to cover your ears, close your eyes and repeat after me, 'Blah, Blah, Blah...I'm not gonna listen to you...Blah, Blah, Blah....go away now!' Seriously. Do this exercise. I guarantee you'll feel much better. I see. You still think I have gone off the deep end. Yes, I am founder of a personal training studio where goals are created and met. And one needs to make a conscious committment and be resolute in oneself. Wait a minute! Doesn't committment and being resolute constitute a resolution? NO! And I'll explain myself and show you that the industry has been leading you to the water when they have the keys to the reservoir. Let's set the record straight!

AH, A NEW YEAR

The beauty of a new day is the beauty of renewal. Every day is a re-birth. We pin so much of our hopes and dreams to the new day that we are overwhelmed with the idea that today will be different. For most of us, we live in the future, so to speak. You ever listen to others or even yourself proclaiming that tomorrow or a bunch of tomorrows will be the key to your success? We say things like: 'Just wait until tomorrow. That's when I'll really start'.  Or, 'Once I'm done with this, I'll start tomorrow'. Yes we've all spoke of our futures in this or other ways. But there might be a problem in all this.

We are so hell-bent on tomorrow that we exclude or ignore where we are, the present. When it comes to diet or exercise the tomorrows are given priority. But we need to ask ourselves a very important question: What can I do right now that will give me the bridge for tomorrow? What step can I take right now that will enable tomorrows hope & dreams a reality?

Health, fitness & wellness are never linear. Meaning, they are always ongoing, transitory and filled with 1-step-forward-2-steps-back. There is a reason why stairs are designed the way they are, steps, because if not, stairs would just be a straight line where we have no traction and would constantly slip down. So every Jan 1st, we make resolutions, promises to ourselves that this year will different. Do you ever wonder where this resolution stuff start? Well allow me to brief you on the true purpose of resolutions.

HISTORY LESSON

In started back in Roman times when resolutions had a moral flavor: mostly to be good to others. It was in honor of the god Janus, where the word January is derived. Then when Christianity became the state religion, it meant a time for prayers and fasting. Fast forward many centuries later, the Puritans avoided the indulgences associated with New Years and other holidays and instead spend time reflecting on the past year and contemplate the year to come. This meant to better employ their talents, treat their neighbors with charity, and avoid their habitual sins. They even avoided the name January due to its pagan origins and just called it the 1st month. Then the great theologian, Jonathan Edwards compiled about 70 resolutions on various aspects which he committed to review every week.

Here are 3:

• Resolved, in narrations never to speak anything but the pure and simple verity.
• Resolved, never to speak evil of any, except I have some particular good call for it.
• Resolved, always to do what I can towards making, maintaining and establishing peace, when it can be without over-balancing detriment in other respects.

Yeah this guy knew what really mattered. Didn't he?

BACK TO REALITY

And this brings me back to making 2013 a Resolution-Free year. Abandon the notion of external resolutions like losing weight, fitting into your skinny jeans or losing your beer belly. Making these severely misses the point.

Be resolute in all you do. To be resolute is to be admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering to first yourself and others. And that means today, now, in the present. Review every week. This is an ongoing process. Try to not set yourself up for failures by making the same resolutions you have made in your adult life. Its like ground-hog day, the movie; same sh**t, different day.

I know for myself, this isn't easy. But it does provide clarity. Once I begin to focus on what is important then other aspects of health & wellness kinda naturally takes its course. There isn't a do or die mentality to achieving these goals and there is definitely less stress.

So for 2013:

1. I resolve to speak the pure and simple truth.
2. I resolve to never speak evil of any
3. I resolve to do what I can towards making, maintaining, and establishing peace

.....and these acts of resolve are towards me, myself and I. For it all begins with the self.

Have a Wonderful & Prosperous 2013!!!

P.S. I got the history lesson from http://billpetro.com/history-of-new-years-resolutions