New Year’s resolutions seem like a great idea amid the enthusiasm of a new year filled with potential. We want to do better and be better. However, those resolutions are notoriously difficult to keep and most of us fail despite our best intentions.
Resolutions often represent something else we need to “do”—more tasks requiring extra energy that we can barely find for the frenzied activities already demanded by daily living.
What if the failure to achieve New Year’s goals isn’t due to laziness, a lack of discipline, or a failing of moral character, but just poor timing?
Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living
Traditional Chinese culture revolved around harmonizing with the divine, in part through observing the divine’s manifestation in nature.
“People’s activities should be low-key and strenuous activities should be reduced as much as possible,” Jonathan Liu, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, told The Epoch Times.
In winter the earth’s energy pulls inward to consolidate and conserve in preparation for spring, they observed. That concept informs the idea that we should do the same—spending the winter months slowing down, going to bed earlier, getting up later, and conserving energy. Winter is a time to rest and recharge—a natural ending of the seasonal life cycle—a time to reflect on ourselves and the year that has passed.
That’s partly why we have such a hard time sticking to resolutions such as exercising regularly and starting new projects during the middle of winter. We are simply better suited to starting these types of activities a few months later—in spring—when our entire hemisphere is waking up and pushing forth with growth and activity. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of resolutions we can make in winter that could dramatically improve our lives.
Stress-Free Resolutions for 2024
An ancient Chinese concept that epitomizes the idea of doing less is “wu wei,” a term interpreted in several ways, including non-action, non-doing, and effortless action. Alan Watts, an English philosopher and self-proclaimed “spiritual entertainer,” describes wu wei as the principle of not forcing—in anything you do.A Quick Note on Dopamine
The brain rewards us with a surge of dopamine when it learns that a certain activity is pleasurable to us. Unfortunately, many dopamine-inducing activities have side effects like debt or addiction. Eating fatty sugary foods, for example, can deliver a rush of dopamine—as well as obesity, diabetes, and liver disease.Sleep on Impulse Purchases
Retailers are experts at enticing us to buy and, with the advent of online shopping, a spontaneous purchase is just a click away. We’re no longer limited by geography, store hours, or even selection—if we have an urge for something (anything) in the middle of the night, we can click and have it by morning. We don’t even have to have the money to pay for it—as long as we have room left on the credit card.
Stall the Scroll Through Social Media
Contrary to popular belief, social media isn’t improving our lives or helping to connect us. Instead, it’s leading to many of us feeling more anxious, depressed, and alone. One 2023 study found that “more time spent on social media was associated with higher levels of loneliness, in particular for people who used social media as a means for maintaining relationships.”“We need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post,” he said.
These little dopamine rushes can add up to an addiction.
So the next time you are tempted to see what your friends are doing or who “liked” your latest comment—don’t. This can be a powerful compulsion to resist, so to start, just tell yourself to wait a minute. Then make it 10 minutes. Choose specific times of day to intentionally check social media to break the habit of checking it compulsively. If cold turkey works better for you, post a status update noting you are checking out for a while—and log out.
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
This resolution pairs well with abstaining from social media since these platforms are a primary source of social comparison.As we all know, the lives we see on social media, or the new car our neighbor just bought, are not real reflections of how other people are living. Yet, that doesn’t stop us from comparing ourselves to others. Unfortunately, this leads to misery.
“When Facebook users upward compare themselves with others, it lowers their self-esteem which in turn reduces their life satisfaction,” the study said.
Skip the Complaints
Once you stop comparing yourself, you may also find you have less to complain about. Of course, you'll still have to overcome the habit of complaint-based conversations. People love to bond over a good gripe.The problem with complaining is it keeps us focused on the negative. Such negativity can make it hard to see all the good things in your life, things you might otherwise take for granted.
If you can catch yourself complaining, either out loud or just in your head, you can simply stop that process. If it’s a well-worn pattern, it will probably take some practice. Just see the complaint and let it go.
Ditch the Diet and Eat Mindfully
Dieting is a popular New Year’s resolution. As an increasingly obese country, we are understandably obsessed with dieting and losing weight. As a result, we have a complicated relationship with food. One way to shift that perspective is to think of food in the way it was originally intended—as nourishment and medicine. Food sustains us, heals illness, and keeps us healthy so we can avoid disease.Practice mindful eating. Instead of going on a specific diet, observe what you eat, how you feel as you eat it, and how your food makes you feel after eating it. Note how different foods energize you or leave you feeling heavy, tired, or uncomfortable.
Pay attention to what you are feeling when you reach for something you deem unhealthy. You may discover certain feelings linked to overeating or snacking on high-calorie, low-nutrient foods like chips and sugary snacks.
Mindless eating, eating out of boredom, or for a pleasurable hit of dopamine, are all key factors in overeating or eating food that doesn’t make us feel well.
When you focus on your food’s smell, taste, and texture—and how it makes you feel—you tend to eat slower and get more satisfaction out of your meal. This can lead to eating less and eating better quality foods.
Do Nothing for 15 Minutes a Day
Doing nothing is no more than a delicious prospect for most people—we usually have too many things to do and seemingly never enough time to do them. But, as we are accustomed to living lives of chaos and “busy-ness,” it can be challenging to do nothing—most of us are downright out of practice.
Remember wu wei. In a world where our minds are pulled in every direction in all our waking moments, we seldom get to “just be.” Setting aside 15 minutes each day to quietly sit or stand and do nothing can be a highly beneficial practice for our bodies, minds, and spirits.
Just Breathe
We often forget the benefits of taking a deep breath—something we may have been advised to do as children when we were overly excited. Many cultures–from the yogis of India to the martial artists of China and Japan—have used the power of the breath for millennia to heal from illness, fortify health, and aid in spiritual pursuits.
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