New Years Resolutions 2024: The Road Ahead
A Few Axioms To Keep In Mind Throughout The New Year
January 1, 2024 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Holidays / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.
For all of us, today starts the beginning of a new year. It's an opportunity to start anew. And even if we don't fulfill our highest expectations, moving the needle in the right direction, is always a good thing.
The rest of this report is about some of the things you can do personally to make 2024 a better year for you.
- CLICK here to read the rest of our report on New Years Resolutions 2024 - The Road Ahead.
New Years Resolutions 2024: The Road Ahead
A Few Axioms To Keep In Mind Throughout The New Year
January 1, 2024 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Holidays / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC. Continued.
New Years Guidelines for 2024
I used to make new years resolutions that generally lasted a few days or few weeks. Over time I've given that up and have focused on a few guiding principles that I work toward throughout the entire year, every year.
1. The first guidepost is to keep things as simple as possible by letting things go, so you can change and evolve who you are. Over time it's important to learn to let go of the past which includes letting many of the people, projects and things - once so meaningful and relevant - to fade away with time. This process involves discarding much of what one collects, in order to open up space in your life to make room for new possibilities.
2. The second guidepost is to take care of the vessel that carries one's being - meaning take care of your health, because you only get one body, and it has to last an entire lifetime. This means consuming the foods that will enable the body to function properly and ward off disease, while recognizing that satisfying the mind is important too, as it's a part of the body. There are three elements to this guideline.
a _ Try to maximize consumption of natural foods while managing / minimalizing consumption of the tasty treat processed foods that come in packages. Read package container nutrition labels which indicate the amount of fat, sugar, sodium and cholesterol consumed per serving. You can manage the balance of natural and processed foods depending on what's going on in life, meaning leaning toward natural foods to take care of the body, and leaning toward tasty processed foods to treat your mind.
b _ Reduce consumption of toxins by first paying attention to the quantities consumed of them, and then by substituting the toxins with healthier choices. For example dilute a soft drink with seltzer water [cuts sugar], or swap in a lemonade for a beer [cuts alcohol], or swap in pretzels for potato chips [cuts salt and fat]. Over the years these little substitutions can add up to some fair measure of weight loss or stability, and can aid in maintaining generally good health. But it's also important not to deprive oneself, too much, of some of the simple pleasures in life that keep one going - experience tells us not to be too draconian, or you can expect a subconscious rebellion, and then your program won't work.
c _ The third element of this guidepost is to try to walk and bike whenever possible. It's a good way to kill two birds with one stone, as it enables getting somewhere, while also getting some exercise. And be sure to carve out enough time each night, for a proper rest.
3. The third guidepost is to try to move your life in the direction of your interests. This will likely take a great many years, as well as needing to make a good number of economic and other lifestyle trade offs. But if successful, you can then spend most of your time doing the things that totally engage you. It's said that "when someone is doing something they truly love, they'll never have to work another day in their life."
4. The fourth guidepost is to keep on learning, because "luck is when preparation meets opportunity". So the more you learn, and the more experience you get, the better prepared you'll be ... come what may.
May your new year be filled with promise and possibilities. Best wishes for a happy and successful 2024.
