Choose or Change

"What you are not changing you are choosing." -Laurie Buchanan, holistic health practitioner and author.

Before break we talked about not setting New Years Resolutions but rather examining our year of 2024 and deciding what to take in to 2025 and what we might want to change/let go/keep as is/or set a goal around.

This week, as we came back to work on Monday I wondered what I could say as a good follow up. Then on Tuesday I found the quote at the top of the page.

This thought was exactly what I needed to read for myself and to help me focus on how to come back to all of you with a new way to look at the new year.

What you are not changing, you are choosing....

.....if I do not change a habit, I am choosing the habit

.....if I do not change a thought pattern, I am choosing a thought pattern

......if I do not change an outlook, I am choosing that outlook

Without making you go back and reread the last blog here is a quick list of the things we talked about reviewing at the end of a year.

1. Health and Fitness

2. Intellectual Life

3. Emotional Life

4. Character

5. Spiritual Life

6. Love Relationships

7. Parenting Vision

8. Social Life

9. Financial Life

10. Career

11. Quality of Life

12. Life Vision

If you did a 2024 recap and review of these 12 items did you take time to figure out which you are choosing and which you would like to change?

If I do not want to choose something I need to spend time changing it.

According to Harvard Business Review, Changes takes deliberate effort.

We need to, increase self-awareness, make a commitment, overcome interference and then practice.

Successful change requires our trail and error. It requires us making a commitment and telling others to hold us accountable. It requires us quieting thoughts such as "will it really matter if I make this change?"  

The website mindjournals.com shares a list of 27 things related to how we can make positive changes. I thought some of them were very helpful and very mindful. I will share the list and expand on a few to help us work on changing what we do not want to choose in 2025.

1. Practice Gratitude. 

     Take time to be grateful for what is going well and what you have in life. Gratitude changes our brains, training them to be more positive. 

2. Show Kindness

    Did you know that attitudes and moods are contagious? Negative moods and attitudes are more easily "caught" than positive ones. We have to intentionally work on our kindness to help others with theirs. 

3. Buffer Yourself with Positive Emotions

    One study found that if you practice positive emotions for just a little each day you can increase your overall life satisfaction.

 4. Plan Ahead

    A study recently found that those who plan ahead are happier in their relationships, financial security, and are less stressed at work.

5. Schedule Things to Look Forward to

    If something exciting is on your calendar you are more likely to feel a sense of direction, optimism, and hope.

6. Take Care of Your Body

    Regular exercise can help prevent or alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression.

7. Keep Learning 

    Evidence shows that continued learning drives our wellbeing and creativity.

8. Connect with Your Neighbors (or Colleagues)

    Strong interpersonal relationships make up happier and healthier.

9. Be a Force for Happiness

    Harvard Medicine has discovered happiness is contagious (but remember so are other moods too, choose wisely). 

10. Celebrate Wins

    Harvard Business Review states that celebrating small wins can significantly affect how happy and fulfilled you feel at work. 

11. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

12. Focus on What to Look Forward to Today

13. Acknowledge Your Feelings

14. Be Open to Collaboration

    If you begin to look on the bright side of life you will be more willing to collaborate and will be able to trust others more. 

15. Be Present

    Studies show regular mindfulness practices can reverse the effects of chronic stress in the brain.

16. Look at the Bigger Picture

17. Accept What You Cannot Change

    How we see yourself  significantly impacts our happiness and resilience.

18. Share Happiness

19. Take that First Step

    Take time to write down one action that you can complete today.

20. Schedule Time for You

21. Show Your Appreciation

22. Rework Boundaries

23. Ignore Expectations

    Ask yourself who you are living for, is the answer you?

24. Reward Yourself

    Small rewards help motivate us to go the extra mile

25. Volunteer

    This has been proven to alleviate feelings of loneliness.

26. Keep a Journal

    Studies show writing and working thorough emotions help you handle those emotions better than those who do not journal.

27. Set Goals

    Keep them small. Keep them simple. Small goals mean that you will "win" quicker and more easily. Then you can go back to number 24 and reward yourself, and go back to number 10 and celebrate a win.

What will you choose in 2025? What will you change? What will you change and how? Will you keep a journal, share happiness, look at the bigger picture, or maybe will you do more mindfulness?

A new year isn't about resolutions you might not keep. 

Did you know that the second Friday in January is known as Quitters Day? 

As I send out this blog, today is officially quitters day (if you read after Friday just know we already had quitters day). Have you set a resolution and quit? 

Why not try a 2024 reflection and evaluate what you will choose and what you will change for 2025.