New Year: Intentions vs. Resolutions
Mari
It’s time to create your resolutions! Just hit the "reset" button and start anew… again!
I’ll bet you’ve got at least one area of life you’re resolving to change, right? For most people, it’s lose weight. Then there’s get fit, find a mate, change careers, kick a bad habit, stay in touch with family more often, etc. etc. (Hi Mum! Lucky for me, my mom reads my blog posts!)
But, did you know, 90% of New Year’s Resolutions fall by the wayside by February? Such a shame.
Why is this? It’s because each of us intrinsically motivated in unique ways. We’d be far better served by first examining our reasons why we do the things we do, than to go cold turkey and try to change longtime habits.
My friend, Jackleen Holton, recently spoke about this very subject at the San Diego Power Team meeting in San Diego. She encouraged everyone to be an "extreme noticer" for a period of time. The objective is to surface your real reasons for certain behaviors.
For me, I intend to become more physically active. Since Ty and I began RVing fulltime, we’ve both noticed we do not get nearly as much exercise as we did beforehand. You’d think we’d go out for long walks and hikes. But, often, once we’ve explored (and photographed) a new location, it’s more fun to sit at the computer for hours on end, or cozy up in front of a good movie.
See, I’m not all that motivated to want to be active. (Low Physical Exercise on the Reiss Desire Profile). However, Ty and I treated ourselves to brand new bikes for Christmas in hopes we’ll encourage each other to cycle regularly. We also got a stationary trainer. (Ty was a religious exercise bike user for years, so he’ll probably drop right back into that habit).
Bottom line: there’s a difference between intending to do something and resolving to do it.
Intentions give us more choice, more freedom. If you screw up, or change your mind, or find something different to focus on - it’s not such a big deal.
But with resolutions, they tend to be more rigid. We set a goal and force ourselves to change, often overnight. I don’t recommend that approach. (Unless, that is, you’re giving up smoking! I confess, I’m an ex-smoker. Stopped back in the mid-90’s cold turkey and used a herbal plastic "ciggy" for three weeks with great success).
With intentions, you involve your thoughts, emotions, vibration. Everything is aligned energetically. You’re excited. If not, you should change your intention to something more energizing. Check out my top picks for more on this subject:
By the way, in Scotland, we call New Year’s Eve "Hogmanay" and celebrate like there’s no tomorrow! In fact, my home town of Edinburgh hosts one of the world’s largest street parties. What started as a gathering of young folk on a street corner (the "Tron" up the High Street) in the 80’s, grew to an entertainment extravaganza!
This year, Ty and I will celebrate at a big elegant private party in Encinitas (San Diego), CA. How are you celebrating? And do you have intentions (resolutions)? 
Posted on: Sunday, December 30, 2007 at 4:18 pm 
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How fun to “meet” RVers who live the principles of the Law of Attraction! Though my late husband and I used to travel full-time in our RV, we ended up with a home base in Pine AZ. When George and I are here (which isn’t much of the year), I do attend a group based on Excuse Me Your Life is Waiting and the Abraham books on Friday mornings. We just talked about our new year’s intentions. If you get to the mountains of Arizona, please join us!
The RV lifestyle is great. It has brought experiences I had never even dreamed of. We kayaked among porpoises and whales in Glacier Bay while working in Alaska. RVing opened up new opportunities and led to writing books and articles. My life is so different than it would have been had we stayed in the stick-house life.
Have fun and safe travels!
January 5th, 2008 at 8:01 amJaimie Hall-Bruzenak
Author of Support Your RV Lifestyle! and other RV books.
See our blog: RV Home Yet? at http://rvhometown.typepad.com
Great to meet you too Jaimie!! Oh, I love Lynn Grabhorn’s work as well .
And I just read Esther & Jerry are in San Diego again this weekend.
Ty and I would love to hook up; I’m adding you to our travel map and will stay in touch.
January 11th, 2008 at 1:00 pm