Start the New Year right!

Now that the holiday season is over, many people find themselves facing their New Year’s Resolutions head-on. This is not always an easy task, because sometimes these resolutions cause an “internal conflict”, with the brain saying one thing and the “mind” saying another.

The brain is the main command center of the body that regulates your body temperature, hunger, and movement.  It is composed of about 100 billion neurons..  But, there is something else that is needed to run the body.

It’s called the MIND (we call it the Manager). Without it, none of the machines in the control room would work right.

Your brain says, “I need to lose a few lbs.”

Your mind responds, ” Yah right, who are you trying to fool – you know you always go off the program in 2 days.”

Your brain says, “I am going to start working out everyday”… but your mind says, “You hate exercise and you’ll never look good in tights, your thighs are the size of a line backer so just go out for the Packers!”

Your brain contains all the facts, but your mind is the observer who is always there to ‘comment’ by either cheering you up or dragging you down. It is your job to create a place where your mind becomes your best friend, supporting what your brain says in harmony to empower you to reach your goals. Remember your mind that tells your brain how to respond.

Try to clean out your ‘mental storage cabinet’ and keep the thoughts and memories that you  like, and throw out the rest.

Emotions that are pent-up always have a way of re-surfacing as depression or some self-destructive behavior. You should learn to ‘acknowledge’ these old feelings, but not hang onto them. They usually have nothing to do with what is really going on right now.

Your brain determines what you are going to do, or say, or feel every single day.  Unless you make it a conscious effort, your negative “old” thoughts will try to take over the positive “new” thoughts. 

If you have ever cried during a movie, you understand the physical responses your body has to images that aren’t even real to you.  If your brain and body can react to these unreal movie images, you can also program it to react in a positive way to those situations that are real.

You can choose to just quit replaying those old sad memories…and only go to the new happy ones.  You still know the bad memories exist, but you just don’t let them in.

So, let’s start the new year off with a positive mind-set! Hey, it can’t hurt, and can actually help make the days seem a bit brighter!