Resolutions: Who's Idea Was This Anyway?
by Ken Myrback
Certified Hypnotherapist and Energy Healer
Before I started this article I had never really thought about the origins of New Years Eve and resolutions all that much. Sure, I would make resolutions every year that, like most people would last about three days. Though after doing a little digging into the roots of the holiday, I have found out that the arrival of the new year has been celebrated in some form for thousands of years.
Though throughout most of recorded history the new year has been celebrated in the spring. With the warmer weather and the flowers blooming, new life springing up everywhere it was the perfect time for a celebration. January first is an arbitrary date with no astrological or agricultural significance.
I know resolutions sound like a good idea in theory; resolving to change your ways, turning over a new leaf, starting a new, starting with a clean slate. The problem is, this is not a magical new year. Its not as if we are starting with a truly clean slate. We have all the same habits and patterns we had last year and the year before and the year before that. You see, habits are harder to change than a simple resolution can really deal with.
Health clubs see the biggest increase in new memberships at the beginning of every January, but do you think they see a really big increase in usage after the first few weeks? Statistics show us that the answer is 'no'.
Though we have great intentions and make resolutions to fit those intentions, our habits are what end up winning out in the long run. The reason behind this is that our subconscious mind is where we store our habits and patterns, yet our willpower is a function of the conscious mind. Between this conflict and the knowledge that, as human beings, we are truly creatures of habit, it is not surprising that so many resolutions fail.
Now, if I were to ask you what percentage of your thoughts today were brand new, I will bet that you would be surprised to learn that less then 5% of the thoughts you have each day are new. 95% of what we think today are the same things we thought about yesterday.
Here is another way of thinking about it. I would like you to take a minute and really consider this question: Which is more powerful, willpower or imagination?
Many people would say willpower because they feel themselves to be strong-minded. However, if you ask those same people how last years New Year's resolutions are going, most of them probably wouldn't even be able to tell you what those resolutions were.
Using a process called "re-framing", if we were to ask those same people to think of a resolution and "imagine" themselves achieving that goal, I'd be willing to bet all of them would be able to imagine themselves achieving their goal.
Let's look at a popular resolution, " I want to loss X pounds in time for spring". Over the holidays our willpower is weak and instead of eating just one or two Christmas cookies we tend to eat the entire tin along with half a gallon of milk and the leftover pumpkin pie. I think it is safe to say that most people eat much more than they normally do and exercise much less over the holidays.
Since it takes a minimum of 21 days to change a habit and the holiday season is a little over a month in length, it's no wonder people have such a hard time with weight right after the holidays, It is difficult to go back to regular eating when you have acquired the 'habit' of holiday eating.
There IS hope for the resolution prone in all of us, however. Since imagination is far more powerful than willpower, hypnotherapy, which uses your imagination to help you change your subconscious habits, is a wonderful choice for those who truly want to change for the better.
Now, when we apply the concept of using imagination and the subconscious mind through hypnotherapy you can see that any habit or pattern can be changed for the better.
Ken Myrback and his wife Maria are Certified Hypnoterapists Their practice is located in Rowell, Ga. If you have any questions or would like to make an appointment, call 770-713-2804 or email Ken at healinglight@email.com