The New Year has set in. And, the common notion post-partying and excess food consumption are to turn healthy, mindful and start exercising from the next year. Right! Isn’t it?
And the best part about New Year resolutions is that they hardly move beyond the first week of the year! So how about something different this year?
Here I am to turn your attention to other things apart from food and exercising and suggest you some resolutions which will definitely help you be more peaceful, more mindful and most importantly will remind you to love yourself next year!
- De-clutter
This one tops my list in this blog. Minimize the stuff that you need on a daily basis. Some of you might have heard about the ‘Swedish Death cleaning’ trend and believe me its effective! The purpose is to remove the excess stuff that you own especially meaningless clutter that we have collected our entire lives. Having less and only useful stuff basically gives you more time as that means less stuff to organize and take care of. It makes your mind clear and is soothing to your mind and eye. Start off with simple things like clearing out one kitchen cabinet or one study drawer at a time. Probably remove any stuff that you haven’t used in the past year! Remember decluttering is different from organizing. It actually needs you to totally remove that stuff from your home/office. Down the unnecessary stuff!
- Turn off your smartphone
Another big step! haha! Yes, do give it a try. Our lives are revolving around this tiny gadget but making a huge impact on our socializing behaviour. Try and switch your smartphone off a bit more. Try to call up your friend to wish on a birthday rather than Facebooking them. Try to make small slots wherein you would not use your phone. Say post-dinner till you sleep. Or it could be as simple as not looking at the phone for 2 hours post you wake up and instead devote that time to actually read the newspaper (rather than reading news on the phone) and have breakfast with your family. This simple habit could actually make you feel very less stressed every day!
- Grow something to EAT
Yes, I rediscovered this passion last year and I thought of sharing my joy with you all. I taught my 4-year-old daughter to simply bury seeds any fruit that she eats. And she learnt very quickly. Now, we have 2 big guava plants, 5 Jamun (Indian Blackberry) plants and 2 orange plants in our balcony who made it to this year! We are waiting eagerly for them to start bearing fruits now. The happiness and content of seeing a bud push out of the earth is the best feeling and connects us back to the earth and our traditions. So why not try this and give back mother earth some of its goodness.
- Meet more People
When was the last time you visited an elderly relative?? Or a friend? I aim at spending at least 1 weekend every month to visit people whom I haven’t met in a long time. Being social is human nature and it’s been long that we have been missing on this innate nature and relying more on online ways to know more about people surrounding us. Let’s get back to the basics then this year and spread the laughter, joy and happiness of life!
- Donate:
We all have things that no longer fit or we just don’t wear. This stuff is meaningless to us but will make a big change in someone else’s life. It could be anything from clothes to utensils to toys! There are many charity organizations and old age homes/ orphanages who accept used or unused clothes stationary, food supplies. By donating you also help recycle which prevents some other unnecessary item from being produced, saving the resources and energy for something more useful. Giving is good for our health. Research has found generosity to be linked with better health and mental peace!
So this is a gist of my New Year resolution list and I hope some of these will top in your list too! Share your views in the comments section.
