My New Year's Resolutions Explained!

(Just a picture of a tree I took last sunny Sunday on the way to London)

So it's that time of year again - New Year's Resolutions. It's a clean slate, a great opportunity to take on new challenges and it's the time of year that we all (not just the avid, daily goal-setters) take to setting goals and rules and new little tips to live our lives by in 2015...

Now, I wasn't going to write a post on this, as I'm quite unsure where this year will take me. But I thought that perhaps if I try and get things down on paper (or a page somewhere within the internet) then I might be clearer myself.

However... Firstly, I'd like to say that some of these aren't necessarily things that I've decided that I must start now and do every single day until the end of the year, but more where I'd like to be somewhere down the line of 2015. Part of setting goals I think, is being realistic and at least making these goals achievable within modern busy lives. There are two types of goals really; things we pledge to do, and things we pledge not to do. And as a rule of thumb, the things we pledge not to do, we should be stricter on, because these should in theory be easier. This is because obviously the things that we decide to do, there's always the problem of finding the time to do it. So that's why some of my New Year's Resolutions are slightly different.

1) Get to sleep earlier

Now this is one of those difficult ones, where I'd love to set myself a bed time of e.g 11pm, but that's simply unrealistic (especially considering I don't finish work until 00:00 on one night of the week). But, it's also one where I feel like I need structure or clear aim. So I've decided to set myself a 'bed time' of 11:45 (most of the time) which doesn't include reading time. I think that's more achievable. I know that this is something that I need to do in 2015, so that I can wake up early and make the most of the days. I hate sleeping in! I absolutely detest it, and it almost ruins my day where I'm so annoyed that I've wasted a great deal of it. Besides, everything is better after a good night's sleep. As well as this, in the summer, when the sun rises very early, unfortunately I naturally awake with it, meaning that if I sleep at 2am (which isn't unusual at the moment) I'll end up with only a few hours sleep which just isn't good enough!

2) Read. Every single day.

I love reading and recently I've read some really wonderfully posts which I mentioned in a post a few days ago. But when life get busy and I'm short of time, and don't get home and into bed until 1/2am, the tendency is to skip the reading. Which really is silly, because reading a chapter from an inspiring book for half an hour always helps me to have a much better quality night's sleep, free of REM sleep, in which case I probably wake up better rested, despite having 30 minutes less. So this is something I need to make time for. I'm a firm believer in this little motto that 'if you don't have time, make time'. Whether it's getting up 30 minutes earlier, spending 30 minutes less 'doodling' or killing two birds with one stone and for example reading on the train or over breakfast. When I'm in a good pattern of sleeping at a reasonable time and waking up early, I'll read over my coffee in the morning, sometimes for half an hour spare during the day, and then for about half an hour before bed, with a cup of camomile tea. But I wish to get to a place where I do this every single day without being 'too busy'.

3) Meditate and/or practice yoga every day

This one is very similar to that above. Taking the time to be in the present moment and be at peace, is worth every minute that you spend doing it and the benefits are simply indisputable. As Robin Sharma wrote in The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, saying that you're too busy to spend time improving yourself and your life, is as silly as saying 'you're too busy driving to stop and get gas'.

4) Food - Fight the impulse to finish everything on my plate, avoid refined sugars and no sweets whatsoever

This sounds like a bit of a silly one... But a lot of the time, I find myself trying really hard to finish what's on my plate, in somewhat of an obsessive compulsive way, when I don't want to finish it and certainly am not enjoying doing so. And I suppose what I mean by this, is I should 'listen to my body'. If I've had enough of a nice meal, I should stop. But similarly, if I'm really, really hungry one day, I should eat (healthy snacks at that) but I shouldn't feel compelled to 'wait until lunch' and so forth. I want to avoid refined sugars in things where I can as they're not at all needed in our diets, and only act as toxins which damage my teeth and hair, etc. So it goes without saying that I certainly shouldn't eat sweets, considering they're made up of mostly sugar, plus other completely unnatural nasties!

5) NO alcohol

Last, but certainly not least... The question of alcohol. This is one that I'm really stuck on (and would really love your opinions)! I would love to be completely t-total, I feel like it would be totally liberating to be able to say 'no thank you, I don't drink'. It would be wonderful to go to a party, or a night out and know that I can have a really great time without the need for any alcohol. And I could completely rid myself of the horrible hangovers, the negative health effects and everything else that comes with alcohol consumption. And as part of becoming Buddhist - and not seeking pleasure from external things, never mind the likes of drugs, alcohol, money, etc - it would be a big step in my self-discipline and in being more mindful. But then I think, a glass of wine with a meal is not only not bad for you, but can have positive health effects, so is it extreme and unnecessary to be completely t-total? At the moment, I've decided to do it, because in being completely t-total there's no room for loop holes and saying 'a few glasses is fine', etc. I'm just slightly undecided about whether or not being completely t-total is necessary.

P.S And please don't get the wrong idea - I rarely drink anyway, perhaps about 2-3 times a month!

Thank you for reading my New Year's Resolutions! And Happy New Year! I'd love to here what yours are, so leave them in the comments below, or leave a link if you've written your own post! Courtney :)