We all have goals we want to accomplish in the new year, but how do we make them last beyond the first day of 2014? According to some experts, the secret may lie in making more mindful resolutions, rather than narrow and specific ones.
Gretchen Rubin, author of "The Happiness Project," said that in order to have a positive year, we need to focus on the greater picture of what makes us happy. Mindful resolutions, like making an effort to be more grateful, will help create more joy in our everyday lives.
"In everyday life it's so easy to lose track of what really you're happy about ... one of the great ways to be happier is just to think about what you already have," Rubin told HuffPost Live host Nancy Redd.
A common way to cultivate gratitude and express what you're thankful for is to keep a gratitude journal -- a method that doesn't work for Rubin. She says in order to really stick to new year's goals, we need to adopt habits that work for us and stop forcing what doesn't.
"It's absolutely true that feeling grateful is an extremely important aspect of having a happier life," she said. "I think sometimes if something doesn't specifically work for you ... say 'what am I trying to get at here and what's another way of doing it?' We really do have to know ourselves and what's true about ourselves, because if you try to adopt the resolutions that everyone else is adopting or you try to do what other people think is supposed to make you happy, it's not going to work unless you know what's really true for you."
If you find yourself still struggling to meet your goals -- whether it's trying to adopt a meditation practice or getting to the gym more -- Rubin advises mindfully rethinking your approach.
"If there's something you keep struggling with, if you keep trying and [just can't do it], maybe you need to back away," Rubin said. "Maybe [you] need to turn your attention to something else or try a very different approach to the same thing ... That feeling of failure, you don't want to have that -- you want to feel like you're moving forward. You want that atmosphere of growth that's so important for happiness."
Check out the video clip above for more on how to achieve a happier you in 2014, and watch the full segment on HuffPost Live.
For more on the Third Metric, click here.
from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/31/mindful-new-years-resolutions_n_4520602.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living&ir=Healthy+Living
via IFTTT
Gretchen Rubin, author of "The Happiness Project," said that in order to have a positive year, we need to focus on the greater picture of what makes us happy. Mindful resolutions, like making an effort to be more grateful, will help create more joy in our everyday lives.
"In everyday life it's so easy to lose track of what really you're happy about ... one of the great ways to be happier is just to think about what you already have," Rubin told HuffPost Live host Nancy Redd.
A common way to cultivate gratitude and express what you're thankful for is to keep a gratitude journal -- a method that doesn't work for Rubin. She says in order to really stick to new year's goals, we need to adopt habits that work for us and stop forcing what doesn't.
"It's absolutely true that feeling grateful is an extremely important aspect of having a happier life," she said. "I think sometimes if something doesn't specifically work for you ... say 'what am I trying to get at here and what's another way of doing it?' We really do have to know ourselves and what's true about ourselves, because if you try to adopt the resolutions that everyone else is adopting or you try to do what other people think is supposed to make you happy, it's not going to work unless you know what's really true for you."
If you find yourself still struggling to meet your goals -- whether it's trying to adopt a meditation practice or getting to the gym more -- Rubin advises mindfully rethinking your approach.
"If there's something you keep struggling with, if you keep trying and [just can't do it], maybe you need to back away," Rubin said. "Maybe [you] need to turn your attention to something else or try a very different approach to the same thing ... That feeling of failure, you don't want to have that -- you want to feel like you're moving forward. You want that atmosphere of growth that's so important for happiness."
Check out the video clip above for more on how to achieve a happier you in 2014, and watch the full segment on HuffPost Live.
For more on the Third Metric, click here.
from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/31/mindful-new-years-resolutions_n_4520602.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living&ir=Healthy+Living
via IFTTT
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