Tool For Tuesday: Toss Out the New Year’s Resolution.

Toss out that New Year’s Resolution. Start with today. What can we do for ourselves today?

There are 525,600 minutes in the coming year. As my friend, John Chancellor, points out on his blog, we can set aside 10 minutes each morning—just 10 minutes—to focus on our day and what we want to accomplish.

We can’t change the whole world in 10 minutes, but we can focus on altering one small behavior that does change our world.

Things we can do each day:

We can get stronger, more centered, quieter.

We don’t have to explain our decisions or defend ourselves if someone doesn’t like what we decide. Above all, we don’t have to complain. Complaining means sitting in that boat of misery and finding someone to share the “aint it awful” stories. We can find someone who will help us focus on what we can do to make things better.

Each day, we can accomplish the 4 Fundamentals: Taking care of ourselves emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually.

We can be content with the smaller, less glittery prizes in life. (Because those are the things that endure.)

We can keep gratitude in our attitude for what we have and what we had until we lost it. And we can remember that love never dies; it’s just transformed.

Happy and healthy 2014.

Oh, speaking of happy, I got a great review on amazon about The Mom Who Took Off On Her Motorcycle:

“Diana Bletter has written a masterpiece !! Ok I am a 46 year old guy who has ridden Motorcycles all of my life, I have had my own adventures in the Yukon… So why couldn’t I put this book down ? Diana has a story within an adventure, and as I read it I felt as though I was part of the journey !! It was certainly not what I expected when I purchased the book… but it turned out to be so much more !! –Brian Drake

So, if you haven’t had a chance to leave a customer review on amazon, please do so! Just click on “Create Your Own Review” under the book title. It means a lot to me and helps so much with book placement. I thank you in advance!

How do we live our best chapter? As Martha Washington said, “I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.”

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/marthawash160612.html#09v2IrFiSmWmHIHW.99

Unknown's avatar

About dianabletter

Diana Bletter is the author of several books including The Invisible Thread: A Portrait of Jewish American Women (with photographs by Lori Grinker), shortlisted for a National Jewish Book Award, a novel, A Remarkable Kindness, (HarperCollins), a memoir, The Mom Who Took of on her Motorcycle, and The Loving Yourself Book for Women: A Practical Guide to Boost Self-Esteem, Heal Your Inner Child, and Celebrate the Woman You Are, an Amazon top-seller in several categories, and The Loving Yourself Workbook for Girls. She is the First Prize Winner of Moment Magazine's 2019 Fiction Contest. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, tabletmag, Glamour, The Forward, The North American Review and is currently a reporter for The Times of Israel. Diana and her husband have six children and an unofficially-adopted daughter from Ethiopia. They live in a small village on the Mediterranean Sea in northern Israel.
This entry was posted in Acceptance, Your Best Chapter and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

9 Responses to Tool For Tuesday: Toss Out the New Year’s Resolution.

  1. Diana, I love your “we can’t change the world in 10 minutes but we can change our own world. That is the only world we have control over. Thanks for being such a friend and inspiration throughout the year and a very Happy and Prosperous New Year to you and your family.

    • dianabletter's avatar dianabletter says:

      Thanks, John. You got that right, our inner world is the only world we have control over. We’re powerless over everything else. Happy new year with good health!

  2. HeidiBarr's avatar juliabarrett says:

    I just sort of look at every day as an opportunity for reflection. Yom Kippur is a continual New Year for me. Therefore no resolutions. 🙂

  3. 10 minutes each morning is workable, a good way to focus on the needs and opportunities of the new day. Certainly beats the list of resolutions I made may years ago.

  4. Diana, great advice and great review on your book.
    Happy New Year. 🙂

Leave a reply to Tracy Campbell Cancel reply