By Dr Andree Swanson Another new year and guess what I received in the mail? Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, 24-hour Fitness and a whole slew of advertisements that weigh in on (no pun intended) those people who believe in the power of the New Year’s Resolution. While surfing Facebook, a family member posted that she had to park a mile away from the gym. In a month, parking will return to normal. To affect change, you must change your behavior. Norcross, Ratzin, and Payne (1989) conducted a study on 213 adults who made New Year’s resolutions. “Successful resolvers were also found to report employing significantly more behavioral strategies and less self-blame and wishful thinking than unsuccessful resolvers” (Norcross, Ratzin, & Payne, 1989, Abstract). Consider creating a vision board, instead of making New Year’s resolutions. This is not only fun to make, but can be a constant reminder of your focus for the year. (I used to do this on a large post-it note
The blog discusses current affairs and development of national economic and social health through unique idea generation. Consider the blog a type of thought experiment where ideas are generated to be pondered but should never be considered definitive as a final conclusion. It is just a pathway to understanding and one may equally reject as accept ideas as theoretical dribble. New perspectives, new opportunities, for a new generation. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”—Thomas Jefferson