Happy New Year, Happy 2021. How do you want your New Year to be? Do you want to make your life better in 2021? Of course, we all do! But sometimes life is still the same or even more challenging. Do you know why? Because life is determined by the thoughts that we have!

You have the wonderful gift of choosing your thoughts – uplifting, empowering, or thoughts that create fear, anger, anxiety. We have the power to choose what we think about. YOU are the creator. And this is the first habit that you can embrace in this New Year, which can be a game-changer: take control of your thoughts! 

What is stress? It is a fear of something. Stress is nothing but your thoughts. When it comes to good & bad news,  you are the author of your thoughts. You can choose to keep it if it is serving you, or you can change it and come up with new ones that can better serve you.

Find time every evening before going to bed to really reflect and experience your day: good, great, bad, ugly, and all that is in between. Reflect on it. Your quiet and intuitive mind will guide you and give you lots of wisdom. This one new habit will bring you a lot more clarity of mind and help you make better choices.

This second habit is – you must cultivate an antidote for anger, depression, frustration, and the sense of hopelessness. It is called developing the Attitude of Gratitude. 

Throw all the things in your life in one hat and pull them out one by one. When you really look at it, I would guess that about 90% of things happening in your life are good, and maybe 10% of it is creating all the stress you experience. But that it’s on that 10% you tend to focus on the most! What would happen if you focused on being grateful for all the things that are going well in your life?

The more you put your focus on what is good, the more good shows up in your life. This is a universal law. So the more thankful you are, the greater will be the things that will show up in your life! The more worried and stressed you are, the more you’ll see the bad and that’s where you will continue to focus, consequently, the worries will continue to show up.  

Take a Problem-Solving Attitude

A good strategy is to focus 10% of your energy on getting crystal clear about what the problems are, and then use 90% of your energy in finding solutions to resolve those problems. Usually, we spend 90% of our time focusing on the problem, and maybe 10% on resolving it. That doesn’t do us any good!

One way to change this is by creating a Gratitude Journal and writing down what you are grateful for every night before going to sleep. If you want more strategies on how to focus your mind, your energy, and mental health, see my last blog, which is all about Tips for a New You in the New Year. 

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and fulfilled 2021 that brings peace, harmony, and love!  

– Rajesh