Resolutions — Kept or broken?

We welcome the New Year 2016 with positive thoughts and resolutions. The New Year invites us to retrospect and evaluate our life choices. During the course of the year some people go through an automatic and routine physical growth while others make an effort to grow mentally and spiritually. An all round growth, by leaps and bounds, happens only with determination and hard work coupled with purposeful planning, self-discipline and endurance.

New Year resolutions are the perfect opportunity for all those who have failed to make the changes that they said they would make next week, next month, or next time and became a victim of procrastination! It is essential to make a list of important lifestyle changes and to live up to them so that life becomes worthwhile.

Procrastination is a major barrier that hinders people from achieving their goals. Giving in to the natural inclination to relax and to indulge in fun gradually weakens one’s willpower and ends up making one’s mind a workshop of the devil. Those who get used to procrastinating will find it awfully difficult to break out of it. Hence the need to be alert not to fall prey to it.

We need to make life and activities attractive and beneficial to everyone by involving in cultural and intellectual activities. Hornbill Festival of Nagaland, in the cover story, showcases the rich culture of Nagaland and explains how it can profit us. Like the State of Nagaland, in North East India, every state in India is very rich in culture and values. To excel in art and culture one needs various useful skills and to develop one’s power to concentrate which in turn will make one successful in other areas of life. Competence along with the capacity to concentrate will make a person self-confident and daring to dream high and achieve happiness and fulfilment.

Another important factor in our resolutions is the need to stay fit and healthy through proper diet and exercise. Sticking to a healthy diet, in modern times, can be very challenging when we are surrounded by tempting junk food. Often it leads to obesity, diabetes and depression; besides they are calorie-dense and poor in nutrients. Andrew Smith says hormonal changes at puberty make teens more susceptible to mood and behavioural swings. A healthy diet plays an important part in keeping hormone levels on an even, while a diet high in junk food falls short of these requirements. Trans fats, saturated fats and processed food are associated with the increased risk of depression.

We need to make good promises and resolutions as we usher in the New Year 2016 and let us be alive and kicking with great vigour and resolve. We shall make resolutions we can keep and keep the resolutions we make.