Gracey Holistic Health

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How to set a healthy resolution

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We’ve all had the best intentions January 1st—to go to the gym, to stop eating sweets, to mediate more, to learn a new language, to spend more time with the family. But for many of us, that resolution doesn’t make it to December 31st. We’re only human, after all!

So how can you keep the momentum going with your New Year’s resolution this year?

Focus on what to do, not what you want

If your resolution is to “get healthier,” great! But that’s not very specific. To get started:

  1. Clarify what the resolution means. Maybe that involves improving your mood, losing weight, or cutting the junk food, or all three!
  2. Find the actions that you can take. Perhaps that means getting your baseline health measurements. Perhaps it’s reading a nutrition book. Or maybe it’s going to the gym three times a week. Once you find a way to turn your resolution into behaviors or actions steps, you’ll find it’s (a little) easier to hold yourself accountable.

Short-term process over long-term progress

Thinking of that big end goal can be very daunting. That can lead to stress and anxiety, which oftentimes sets us back from our goal instead of helping us move forward!

Focus on the process and steps required to get to where you want to go, instead of on the goal itself. For example, it’s far easier (and more self-affirming) to focus and congratulate yourself for going to the gym three times a week than by focusing on your target goal weight or the vague concept of “healthier.”

When you can break your behavior down into smaller chunks of time and be present to the process of what your doing, you’ll feel more empowered while still making progress and likely enjoying the challenge.

Check-in constantly

The best way to evaluate whether your process is working or not is to keep track. Perhaps you find that you don’t get to the gym as much as you’d like because you sleep in frequently. Once you know what’s making your process (and progress) difficult to achieve, you can adjust either the process or your routine to keep yourself on track.

In this example, maybe that means getting to bed earlier.

How Gracey Holistic Health can help

While we can’t help you with every New Year’s resolution, the most popular resolutions focus on health and well-being. Gracey Holistic Health focuses on healing the body, mind, and spirit. With health and lifestyle coaching, we can help you plan out how to reach that resolution. And with offices in Belmont and Brookline, we’re always close by if you need help getting back and staying on track.

Treat yourself this holiday season

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Just because it’s the most wonderful time of the year, doesn’t mean that the holiday season is all holly and lights. Holidays provide an easy way to see how our lives have changed (or haven’t changed) from year to year. They can stir up feelings of sadness, loneliness,  stuckness, and anger. Sometimes, they’re just downright stressful. And that takes a toll on your mental and physical health.

That’s why the greatest gift you can receive this year can’t be wrapped in a bow or put under a tree. But it is one you can give to yourself.

Treat yourself to self-care.

What is self-care?

As we discussed in the last blog post on holistic health, a more comprehensive view of health care should address the whole person – body, mind, and spirit. Self-care is a mode of healing that you can provide to yourself and that can improve your health holistically.

Self-care is about knowing what you need and taking the time to do those things that provide you with meaning, comfort, or joy. It’s about taking care of yourself and being as giving to yourself as you are with others (especially this time of year!). It’s truly about self-empowerment!

Need a list to check twice? Here are some ideas and habits for treating yourself this holiday season.

Start a mindfulness routine

The mental and physical benefits of a mindfulness routine are well documented. New research supported by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health and published in the journal Spine even shows that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) can be a cost-effective treatment for chronic low-back pain.

Starting your routine is as easy as taking a deep breath. Then taking another. Then doing that for 1 minute. I teach all my patients a qigong breathing exercise that brings this to light and serves as a reset for all mind-body systems.

If you want to get more serious about mindfulness, there are a lot of really good mindfulness tools out there. Here are just a few:

Choose who you spend time with

You can’t pick your family, but you do hopefully have control over who you spend time with. Take the opportunity to grab a cup of joe or tea with an old friend or go for a walk with a close family member. Perhaps you even choose to spend some quality time with yourself!

Find your escape

This doesn’t have to be to the beaches of Tahiti. Perhaps it’s into a really cute cat video on YouTube or into a good book.

Listen to your body

Sometimes our bodies need rest, sometimes our bodies need movement. Take a moment to reconnect with your body and find out what it needs. A really great workout at the gym or even a 20-minute moderately fast paced walk can be just as rejuvenating as an extra hour of sleep.

And if you feel like you need a little extra help, we’re open for business until December 23rd and reopen December 27th. Acupuncture can help treat stress as well as pain.

But if we don’t see you until the new year, from our practice, happy holidays to you and yours!