Holistic Health and Wealth: A Rich New Year's Resolution

How many New Year's resolutions have you made from one year to the next? Have you succeeded in keeping all of them?

Like many people I know, I've made my fair share of New Year's resolutions. After all, what better time to make positive and desired changes than when one year ends and another fresh, new one begins? I've also made some common and popular New Year's resolutions over the years that have had to do with making more money, starting or changing careers or jobs, losing weight, quitting smoking, and other challenges. But like many people I know, I've also broken many New Year's resolutions, even though I initially made them with the sincerest intentions to honor them throughout the year.

A good friend of mine recently commented that so many New Year's resolutions get broken because, "..after all, they are meant to be broken." I have heard this said before, but the sad truth is that other personal commitments we make to ourselves at any time of the year, not just New Year's resolutions, end up getting broken. A good example is the weight loss resolution. People commit to losing unwanted pounds and inches, and they start in January, February, March, or any other month of the year. But whether we look at the statistics on permanent weight loss, or simply think about how many people we know of who have experienced failed diet or other weight loss attempts, or we look at all the new diet products and weight loss programs flooding the market each year, we realize that many of such weight loss promises are broken.

This year, I'd like my New Year's resolution to be different. While I have been successful at achieving some of my past resolutions, and I no longer desire to quit smoking, a New Year's resolution that I broke for two years but succeeded in accomplishing at another time in my life, I also have other goals that I still would like to accomplish one day. Additionally, I am sure that I will have new goals that I may decide upon and undertake in the future. I would like to make a New Year's resolution that could help me develop what I need in order to be successful in reaching more goals and making any dream I may have come true, regardless of whether it is now, next year, or at any time after that.

For this reason, my New Year's resolution will be to utilize a more holistic approach to obtaining what I need or desire, especially with focus on creating a foundation for spiritual wealth by nurturing the third part of my being. Obviously, this is not a popular or common type of New Year's resolution.

Spiritual wealth obviously goes beyond money and material assets alone. After all, people can be quite affluent but have illness or unhealthy lifestyles that eventually can deplete their material wealth, or they may lack real friendships and other supports that make life joyful and meaningful.

A true holistic approach to life involves feeding and caring for the soul as well as the physical body and the mind. Too often, my own failures to reach goals or make dreams come true have had more to do with not giving enough attention to nurturing and developing the spiritual part of me. It is just much easier and more pleasurable, for example, to feed or nurture our bodies and our minds through foods, thought, knowledge and education than it is to feed and nurture our spiritual side through self-discipline, courage, patience, tolerance, compassion, and other spiritual foods.

Here are some ways I plan to utilize a more holistic approach to achieving desired goals as well as build a foundation for spiritual wealth:

1. Continue to maintain or improve current health practices. I tend to practice good to excellent health habits in some areas but fair to even very poor ones in others. My biggest challenge at the moment is in getting enough sleep and relaxation. I am notorious for going long periods on just five hours of sleep a night and for working long hours without taking breaks. I usually reach a point, however, when I pay for these actions by not feeling well or catching some cold or other illness going around, feeling more irritable and less my usual positive self, and by feeling less motivated and less enthusiastic. I also find that I get stressed more easily and then tend to overeat, a non-productive response to my feelings of being overwhelmed or not being in control.

2. Continue to use my mind to reach goals and enhance my life. Reaching any goal I may desire to achieve depends also on mental functions, including maintaining positive attitudes toward myself and the world around me. Reaching a goal also depends on planning, organizing, developing strategies, implementing, and evaluating progress. Additionally, it may require gaining more knowledge by reading books and magazines, talking to experts, and by accessing other resources. It may also involve gathering support and partnering with others who can help me rather than my trying to do everything alone. I usually do well in some of these functions but could improve in others, especially in areas of gathering more support from others and developing more strategies or options to overcome undesirable behaviors or to remove obstacles that prevent me from reaching goals.

3. Keep a weekly journal. I would like to keep a weekly journal for reflecting on my holistic experiences. I will write in this journal or personal notebook at least twice a week, reflecting on what has been happening during the day and week. I will also write about my feelings and other things of physical, mental, and spiritual importance to me, both positive and negative. In this way, I can note my progress, challenge myself to improve where needed or desired, affirm my successes, and ultimately build on the successes.

4. Keep a daily spiritual "deposit" journal. I will keep a separate notebook and record in it each day at least three things that I liked about myself that can serve to build my foundation of spiritual wealth. For example, these could include situations in which I exercise self-discipline by doing something beneficial or needed that I do not want to do, tend to not enjoy doing, or tend to avoid or procrastinate over. This could also include any times I persevere rather than give up, or exercise patience and good attitudes despite facing obstacle after obstacle or setback after setback. It could also include any times I display tolerance and good will toward very difficult or annoying individuals I may have to interact with.

5. Set time aside for daily meditation. Meditation is an excellent way to take time to relax, regroup, and listen to our inner voices. An increasing number of people seek answers from psychics and others when the answers each one of us really needs lies right within each of us, if only we take the time to listen. Meditation also has other health benefits, including relaxing and healing influences. While I realize and desire the benefits of meditation and have studied enough about it to know how to do it, I simply have not applied the self-discipline to make use of this knowledge. Over the course of the next year, I will make time for meditation in my daily routine, practicing it twice daily for twenty to thirty minutes each session, starting with only ten to fifteen minutes and building from that point on. I will also record in my spiritual "deposit" journal the successes I experience in applying self-discipline as I practice meditation and it becomes a daily habit.

The above represents some ways by which I intend to implement my New Year's resolution for improving my holistic health and creating a foundation for spiritual-and true and lasting-wealth. Physical body, mind, and spirit all require adequate feeding and care and interact together to create real success. However, it is much more pleasurable and certainly less difficult to address the needs of the body and mind. Yet, even saving to buy a new car, for example, or starting a new business, or trying to stop smoking are goals that require more than physical actions, physical and mental stamina, or the acquisition of certain knowledge and resources. These goals also require self-discipline, patience, and courage to let go of old behaviors and try the new, the unexplored, and the uncertain. As I use a more holistic approach that includes more attention to nurturing and developing my spiritual assets, any goals and dreams I try to accomplish in the present or future will certainly have increasingly better chances of succeeding. Sometimes the best things in life are not the most popular. Sometimes, too, the journey along a road less traveled can overcome the seemingly impossible, move mountains, and lead to a place where not only goals, but larger and more fantastic dreams, can surely come true.