When we make New Year’s Resolutions, we are limited by our prior history and imagination. What if we make un-resolutions instead?

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On This Episode

Rhythm of Life – Happy New Year!!!
Tune-up Tip – Sugar & Spice and Everything Not So Nice
Random Riffs – Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Feature Segment – Join the Anti-Resolution Revolution

Rhythm of Life – Happy New Year!!!!

What do you think of when the new year rolls around? What do you do to kick off the new year?

One thing I do is come up with one word that will serve as my theme for the year.  I also clear out old stuff, whether a huge purge or just the past year’s calendar.  It makes me feel like I’m starting the year off lighter, less encumbered, and with a fresh start.

I also spend time planning for the new year. Not detailed planning, but getting a sense of where I want to go.  I use my one word as a guide.

What do you do at the beginning of the year? Do you have any special, fun, or meaningful rituals you practice every year?  Let me know by leaving a comment below or on my Facebook page.  I might be able to add something to my New Year’s practice.

Tune-Up Tip – Sugar & Spice and Everything Not So Nice

As I’ve discussed on previous episodes, I’ve been on a nutrition plan without sweetener since mid-2011. It’s made a huge difference in my energy, sleep, and weight maintenance.

There is real evidence of the damage sugar does when eaten in large quantities. (See articles by: Huffington Post, Dr. Mercola, and Harvard Health Letter.)

The main problem isn’t the sugar we put on food or in coffee. It’s the sugar that’s in EVERYTHING.  Today, 80% of the foods sold in supermarkets have sugar added.  The average amount of sugar we consume daily is 40 tsp, which is 78% more than we should be consuming.

Sugar emits dopamine which makes it so addictive and difficult to give up. In fact, studies show that sugar is even more addicting than cocaine.  Sugar is perfect for our instant-results society, as it offers instant gratification. It hits the same pleasure centers as not only drugs, but also love.  Love without the work.

And, what we’ve been told about calories is wrong.  All calories are not equal.  The type of calorie matters.  Sugar calories are different from other calories in that they contribute to fat growth in the abdomen and the liver.  Sugar also affects our taste buds and brains as we expect everything to taste sweet.  It’s hard to get our taste buds back so things taste as they should.

What should you do? Look at labels on the foods you buy, and read the grams of sugar to see how much you are eating every day then find ways to reduce it.  You don’t have to be an anti-sugar crusader.  You do want to start the year off with the best shot at health you can.

Still not convinced? Watch “That Sugar Film”.  Leave a comment belowand let me know what you think.

Random Riffs – Baby, It’s Cold Outside

January is usually the coldest month where I live in the Northeast. It got me to thinking about the many different ways you can say “It’s cold”. A Google search brought up a list of phrases in over 80 languages.  Listen to the episode to hear a sampling.

If you live somewhere warm, consider yourself fortunate. If you live somewhere cold, now you can describe the weather in several different languages.

Feature Segment – Join the Anti-Resolution Revolution

Have you ever noticed that we are more often better at knowing what we don't want than what we do. If you ask someone what they want, and they can't tell you.  But if you ask what they don’t want, or don’t like, or what is wrong, you get a pretty direct response. Most people anyway.  We tend to not see much beyond what we know or we’ve experienced.

Given that tendency, what makes us think we can set New Years resolutions?  Based on the truth above, it's likely our present view will limit our ability to design or imagine a different path.  Again, we bump up against the limits of our imagination.

So what if we turned the whole thing on its head?  What if we said what we are NOT going to do in 2016? What we didn't like about 2015?

This is purely an experiment.  I have no idea if this will work or not.  So let's give it a try and see what we think.

Start with categories of activities you dislike or don’t want to do.  For instance types of jobs, sporting activities, health and wellness, business.

Now I’m going to put my list into big themes.  What themes can you find in your pain points?  Your dislikes?  How strongly do you feel about them?

So let's try and design some goals, and see what comes out.  Use the positive themes as well as your listed dislikes:

Determine whether they are goals or visions.  Goals are specific, measurable, and short-term.  Do they really matter to you?  If they don’t, you may not pursue them and then they are just another unsuccessful resolution.  Listen to the episode for the details of how I did this.

If you try it, let me know how it works.  See if you think this is an idea worth spreading. The New Year’s Anti-Resolution Revolution.

Don't Forget!!!  Take my 2016 Reader Survey and let your voice be heard.  It closes on January 8th.  I'll write a summary in a future blog post.