|
|
| Happy People Win Newsletter |
Volume 6, Issue 2
February 2012 | |
| NOTE: if you are using Outlook to view this and it has strange spaces, please click on "click here to view it in Web browser" at the top and it will look as it was intended to look. ☺ Thanks!! |
| |
 Happy New Year my friends!
Wait. What?
Well, you've heard of black being the new white? 50 being the new 40? So, according to me February 1st is the new January 1st. Ergo Happy New Year!
By the time February rolls around, most people are already feeling discouraged or worse, have given up completely on their New Year's resolutions. However, there is more of a reason behind this quick failing then just simply laziness. When you start your New Year's resolution could make all the difference in staying committed and succeeding in your goals for 2012, which is why I start my New Year in February. Why start your resolutions in February and not on January 1st, isn't that cheating? No. The fact is most people are way too exhausted after the holiday season and need rest before they jump into new projects, new changes, a new life. Beginning in November, almost all of us have been running frantically around trying to get everything done for the holidays and by the time New Year's Eve hits we're on burn out.
According to Mike Vardy from Lifehack, "you try to take on new habits, attempt to abolish bad ones and tackle projects while not giving yourself the time to recharge your batteries and really reflect on the year that has just passed you by". Instead I choose to take January to relax, regroup, and plan my resolutions. This way I start off my new year on the right foot, ready to hit the ground running. Spend January planning your attack on your New Year's resolutions and preparing yourself, your body, and your mind so that you can succeed. This will give you a better chance of making 2012 your best year yet.
January was a fabulous month for me, I did some speaking at College of Marin, an amazing institution with a dedicated, fun staff (and a President who asks everyone to call him by his first name AND introduced me as Queen Jean).
The BEST part of January was hiring Amanda to create a new website and logo for me. I love, love, love it. So check it out! You can find archived newsletters, a free download a month and other cool stuff.
Keep smiling!!
| | |
|
Breaking Bad Habits
- National Health Institute -
If you know something's bad for you, why can't you just stop? About 70% of smokers say they would like to quit. Drug and alcohol abusers struggle to give up addictions that hurt their bodies and tear apart families and friendships. And many of us have unhealthy excess weight that we could lose if only we would eat right and exercise more. So why don't we do it?
NIH-funded scientists have been searching for answers. They've studied what happens in our brains as habits form. They've found clues to why bad habits, once established, are so difficult to kick. And they're developing strategies to help us make the changes we'd like to make.
 One approach is to focus on becoming more aware of your unhealthy habits. Then develop strategies to counteract them. For example, habits can be linked in our minds to certain places and activities. You could develop a plan, say, to avoid walking down the hall where there's a candy machine. Resolve to avoid going places where you've usually smoked. Stay away from friends and situations linked to problem drinking or drug use.
Another helpful technique is to visualize yourself in a tempting situation. "Mentally practice the good behavior over the bad," Poldrack says. "If you'll be at a party and want to eat vegetables instead of fattening foods, then mentally visualize yourself doing that. It's not guaranteed to work, but it certainly can help."
 One way to kick bad habits is to actively replace unhealthy routines with new, healthy ones. Some people find they can replace a bad habit, even drug addiction, with another behavior, like exercising. "It doesn't work for everyone. But certain groups of patients who have a history of serious addictions can engage in certain behaviors that are ritualistic and in a way compulsive-such as marathon running-and it helps them stay away from drugs. These alternative behaviors can counteract the urges to repeat a behavior to take a drug." |
| |
|
Harvard Business Review
Think Creatively by Using Both Sides of the Brain
Creativity is not genetically encoded. Anyone can learn to think creatively. The key is to use both the left and right hemispheres of the brain: logical and intuitive, respectively. Start by immersing yourself in a problem. Use the logical left side of your brain to understand what you know about the topic. Then switch to the right side by distancing yourself from the issue and mulling over the information.
Exercise is a good way to access the visual nature of the right hemisphere. It often leads to an "ah-ha moment" where you see a new solution. Then switch back to the left hemisphere to challenge your creative breakthrough with rational thinking.
|
| |
|
|
Quotes
-Optimism-
The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser - in case you thought optimism was dead. ~ Robert Brault
Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~ Gil Stern
An optimist is the human personification of spring. ~ Susan J. Bissonette
In the long run the pessimist may be proved right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip. ~ Daniel L. Reardon
After 5000 years of recorded human history, you wonder, What part of 2,000,000 sunrises doesn't a pessimist understand? ~ Robert Brault
|
| |
|
WELLNESS TIP
Free yourself from negative people. - Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and likeminded. Relationships should help you, not hurt you. Surround yourself with people who reflect the person you want to be. Choose friends who you are proud to know, people you admire, who love and respect you - people who make your day a little brighter simply by being in it. Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. When you free yourself from negative people, you free yourself to be YOU - and being YOU is the only way to truly live.
|
| |
|
Random Acts of Kindness
As I mentioned, I was privileged to speak at the College of Marin in January. One of the gals I met took an idea I shared and ran with it. She is a crafter and decided to make little handmade cards to randomly share with her co-workers. She wrote about it (and me ☺) here:
Last time I was at Ikea, I bought two dozen small vases. This Valentine's Day I am going to put some flowers in them, and then leave them at the doors at a local senior trailer park.
Won't change the world but will make a difference to a few. Which reminds me of one of my very favorite stories:
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, "What are you doing?" The youth replied, "Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them back, they'll die."
"Son," the man said, "don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can't make a difference!"
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said, "I made a difference for that one."
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Webinars!
Our webinars were such a success that we are expanding our offerings! This year in addition to our BUSINESS webinars, we will be adding PERSONAL webinars. 
AND adding industry specific: Animal Caregivers, 
Dentists, 
as well as continuing our Long Term Care series.
E-mail us: e-mail us for dates, check our Facebook page for updates or go Our Website in a couple of weeks for more information!
|
| |
|
|
|
|
