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Health & Fitness

Keeping Your Resolutions for 2012

Are you ready for a healthier 2012? What is the key to making and keeping your new years health goals?

The New Year is well under way and I continue to hear people share their desire to be healthier.

I've heard their resolutions and have already seen many of them fall apart by now. I truly believe everyone on the planet shares this fundamental desire to be healthy. So what stops some of us from really achieving it? 

The first thing that holds many of us back is the failure to act "proactively." What does this even mean?

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Day in and day out we are constantly making choices. How we make those choices is the difference between living proactively or reactively. Are we consciously making choices based on our core life values, or are we merely reacting to situations while feeling like we have no choice, like we are a slave to our environment?

To be proactive we must take responsibility for our own lives. 

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Proactive people recognize they have the ability to choose their reactions and responses in all situations of life. They understand that the life they have right now is the direct result of the choices they have made in the past. They know if they want something different then they need to make different choices.

People who live reactively believe they are a slave to their circumstance and environment. They do not believe that they have choices. Reactive people will blame outside factors for the life problems they have. However, by living this way, they are in fact making a choice to empower their circumstances or environment to have control over them. This is a choice, a choice to give up control and accept the way things are. The danger here is when we accept the way things are, our situation will either stagnate or worsen. If we live life from this standpoint we will never get better. 

Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." If we want something different we must make different choices.

In one of my all time favorite books, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey writes about being proactive. In fact, it’s the first habit in the book.  Covey writes “until a person can say deeply and honestly, ‘I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,’ that person cannot say, ‘I choose otherwise.’” In other words, you cannot choose to be proactive until you take responsibility for the choices you have made in the past that have brought you to this point.

If you are ready to make a change, observe your self-talk and communications with others. How often do you make excuses (to other people or just in your mind) for why you can't do something? How often do you use reactive language such as "I can't..."   "If only..."   "I have to..."  We all do it. You are not alone. However, recognizing when you are acting reactively and consciously making a shift to respond more proactively is a powerful tool in taking back responsibility for your life. 

If you are ready for a healthier 2012 then take back your power! Start acting proactively, revisit your goals for 2012 and get back on track with your resolutions!

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