When you are walking, how often do you look down as you walk? Three or four days each week, I walk at least five miles a day. I love to walk (exercise is my all time 'top' Daily Resolve and favorite New Year Resolution, which I make and faithfully keep). I also adore being outdoors, so I think about this quite often. I typically look down, so I can make sure my feet land on unobstructed pavement, which is natural. I don't want to fall. But it is easy to just keep 'looking down' even when you don't need to and not up at the sky, or the tree tops, or at fabulous flowers, smiling faces, and all the wonderful sights along favorite walking routes.
I have learned in my seven year journey to learn the 'best practices for making and keeping New Year Resoltuions - when you are alert and mindful, focusing on what you are doing in each given moment, all of your senses are heightened, including sight. Rather than sleepwalking throuh each day, I try to be alert not only to what I am doing and how I am feeling, but also observant of all that is going on around me. It lends itself to a much more joyful experience each day and doesn't cost a dime.
This photo, above, was taken in the Caribbean (St. Thomas) on a recent vacation. This woman was probably living in her own moment feeling the water, enjoying the sunshine and the soft breezes (that is what I was doing as I captured this shot, so I can only imagine that she was enjoying the same). She could only have caught this 'magnificant surprise' - the beautiful, soaring creature that passed so close to her head - if she had eyes in the back of her head! But I captured the shot and it (and many others) made my day because I was living in the moment!
With that in mind, I intend to 'Stay Alert For Life's Magnificant Surprises', as part of my Third Annual I Resolve To . . . Challenge: 365 Resolutions For Health & Happiness. Why not join me? The objective is very simple: Do at least one thing each and every day to promote health and happiness for 'YOU'. Banish the 'Someday, Someday, Someday Syndrome'. Instead, make every day New Year's Day. Make every day count with 'daily resolves'. The list of possibilities is infinite and can be tailored to your own dreams, resolutions and daily goals. If you need some help - a little nudge, a bit of inspiration, tips, advice, and news about the best ways to make resolutions a reality - please use IResolveTo.Com as one of your resources. To see my personal 'Health & Happiness Tapestry', click through my 2009-2011 Photo-Resolutions, each one documents my journey toward greater health and happiness! Resolve365 in 2011.
To better organize myself, each weekend I am posting a Daily Resolve 'To Do List' - at least seven resolutions from my 'Health & Happiness Tapestry' that I plan to achieve, and I will undoubtedly throw in some new ones along the way. My Daily Resolve 'To Do List' is one more way to focus and track the small daily steps that I take toward health and happiness. For decades, I have tracked my dreams, resolutions and daily resolves in my journal and on my calendars with colorful stars. Here are the 'Daily Resolve' highlights for the week:
I RESOLVE TO . . .
- Lift free weights (check).
- Enjoy the creative process - write (check)!
- Take my daily vitamins - especially Vitamin 'D' (check).
- Walk my favorite 3.5 mile route in Fredericksburg (check).
- Live in the moment and use all of my senses to experience greater joy (check).
- Have a ball riding my mower and getting my hands dirty doing yard work (check).
- Plan and implement a very successful work party, and savor the feeling of a job well done (check)!
The whole purpose of Daily Resolves is to mindfully inject a small bits of joy and healthy habits into each and every day. The small daily steps do add up to big results over time because they are concrete and manageable (which helps to eliminate the fear factor and sense of being overwhelmed). That said, what is really important is 'right now' - enjoying each and every moment of the journey toward health, happiness and making dreams a reality!
Remember: I Resolve To . . . Achieve My New Year Resolutions, One Resolution, One Day At A Time For One Year. It's your choice. Do it today. Turn your resolution into reality in five simple, common sense steps: Dare To Dream, Decide, Define, Develop A Plan, and Do It Daily. Make your resolution a permanent Lifetime Resolution, something that's with you for good! Above all, Be A Resolutionista, someone who makes resolutions, keeps resolutions, and enjoys the journey! Let's Go For It!
Need More Inspiration? Wear Your Resolution By Visiting The I Resolve To . . . Shop At CafePress: IResolve To . . . Resolutionista Gear And By Joining The Official I Resolve To . . . Group At Gather.Com. Get going on your 2011 New Year Resolutions with the I Resolve To . . . Worksheet 2011. View my 2009-2011 Health & Happiness Tapestry by clicking through Daily Resolve Photo-Resolutions.
Kim M. Simpson - April 3, 2011
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