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Chinese New Year Resolutions: Modern Psychology for Success

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Gung Hoi Fat Choi – Happy Chinese New Year

oragami dragon
Chinese New Year Resolutions. Re-energize your resolutions and Feng Shui intentions

Use Chinese New Year for a fresh start.

Chinese New Year is a time to feast on traditional foods. Chinese New Year Resolutions is an opportunity to re-energize and re-formulate those January 1st resolutions that are running out of steam. New Years is also a great time to review and renew your Feng Shui intentions.

Because Feng Shui is an ever-growing art and science we can use the insights of modern psychology and philosophy to make more effective intentions. Richard Holton, a philosopher at MIT with more than a decade studying choices, decisions and willpower has the following insights:

Tips for Powerful, Effective Resolutions:

  • Making resolutions without specific actions will make you feel good about yourself, but will not change your behavior or give you the outcomes you desire.

    Make resolutions that are specific, with positive do-able action steps that can become part of your routine. And then do them.  Instead of saying “I will lose weight this year.” say “I will eat no more than X grams of carbs a day for healthy weight loss” or, “I will exercise x times a week to achieve a healthy weight of XXX pounds.”

  • Once made, don’t overthink your resolutions.

    “You can sabotage even the most effective resolution by indulging your thinking mind and rethinking it too soon and too often.” says Holton.

    A good resolution is a rule we make for ourselves and follow. It is a choice made that eliminates other choices,

    and the chances to talk yourself out of doing something. If you are on a low-carb diet overthinking can lead you to rationalizing a pasta dinner to yourself with “it won’t ruin my diet.”

  • If a resolution is difficult to keep ask yourself what is getting in the way.

    Look deeper into your motives, emotions and rationalizations. You can gain some positive learning from a “failed” resolution. If you can’t stick to a low-carb diet ask yourself what is preventing this? Do carbs boost your mood? Do you crave sweet carbs? Is this the right diet for you? Are you really motivated to lose weight at this time?

Learn more about psychology and resolutions and intentions with Why Your Subconscious Sabotages You & How to Use Psychology to Craft Successful Resolutions.

Celebrate the New Year with Traditional Foods

Eat a juicy orange-color citrus fruit (orange, tangerine, or clementine). The orange color of the fruit symbolizes gold which represents wealth. The sweetness of the fruit establishes a sweet year for you. If you are on that low-carb diet, eat fish, which symbolizes prosperity.

If you want to learn how to use Feng Shui Intentions to improve your life, contact me for a personal consultation.

photo by Brett Jordan

Feng Shui Chinese New Year: 5 Steps for a Second Chance at New Beginnings

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Are your New Year’s Resolutions fading fast? Give yourself another chance by creating space that makes those resolutions part of your life.  Chinese New Year is traditionally a time to clean out the old and set the stage for Good Luck in the New Year. How about borrowing the date and the tradition?

three spherical candles, Chinese new years cleansing

A great way to succeed with new beginnings is to create spaces that support new habits, routines and activities. When you have a beautiful, balanced and organized space, acting on your goals is easier and more enjoyable.

Tips from Linda for creating space for your life goals:

Clear out the old

This is more than just cleaning, you are creating space for positive changes: healthy eating, exercise, meditation, projects, better record keeping, simple self-indulgences, etc. Just as decluttering gets rid of “stuff”, it gets rid of old energy in your space, energy that makes you feel stuck in your life.

Ask yourself:

“Have I used it in the last year?” (This allows for seasons and holidays.) If “no”, then your chances of using it this coming year are low to none. Let it go.

“How do I feel when I am wearing this?” “Fantastic”, “OK” or “uncomfortable” (it doesn’t fit or I don’t feel my best). Give it away to a charity or friend who will really love it and use it.

“If I were moving instead of just cleaning, would I take this with me?”  Release the old, what does not represent and support who you are now and who you want to become.

Set up space to support your resolutions:

If your goal is healthy eating, throw out or give to a food pantry all no-no foods. Get rid of temptation. Make space for the healthy foods that you want to enjoy. Put your vegetable steamer, new herbs and spices, and countertop electric grill in easy to use places. Keep those new recipes handy.

If your goal is home exercise: create a space for your workouts.  Clear out a space for your yoga mat in a quiet corner.  Change your treadmill from a clothes rack to ready-to-use exercise machine.   For yoga or mediation set out aromatherapy candles or incense. Music – have a CD player or iPod handy – mellow for yoga or tai chi, upbeat for aerobics. Adjustable lighting (no one wants to spend time in a dark corner) – lower for mediation or yoga; brighter for more vigorous exercise. Hang an inspiring picture where you can see it. Set up a designated place for clean exercise clothes in your closet or bureau.  Now you can “just do it.”

If going to a gym is part of your New Beginning, then make a handy space for your gym bag near the door. Restock it with clean clothes and fresh water every time you come home from the gym.

If your goal is making more time for projects, writing, or crafts; then create an organized space for the tools that you will need to do this.  Set up a table or desk, comfortable chair, good lighting and storage for your supplies when you are not working on them. Move beyond “making do.”

Focus on your goals – While you are clearing out, cleaning and setting up, keep in mind what you want to do, how good you will feel doing them and the benefits you will get. Picture how you want the space to look. You are creating space for the new you, a new present and new future.

Clear your space – A clearing ritual can energize your new space.  Try one of the traditional rituals. Open a window. Clear with a sage or cedar smudge stick. Or use incense. Scatter salt in the corners of the room. Burn candles. Or place a small bowl of water in the center of the room. Choose whichever ritual feels right for you.  As you do it think of the old stale energy leaving the space.  Picture your old ways of doing (or not doing) things leaving too. When you are finished, close the window.

Celebrate your new beginning! Say a prayer or intention asking for support in your new endeavors.  You can place fresh flowers in the room. Take an indulgent aromatherapy bath with candles and music. Or order-in some Chinese food (from the healthy food part of the menu). Finish with a tender tangerine; a traditional Chinese New Year treat associated with good luck.

Good Luck to you and all of your New Beginnings.

photo by Kevin Hutchinson

Feng Shui New Years: Discover Your Potentials, Let Go of Your “Shoulds”

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 “We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives…not looking for flaws, but for potential.” —Ellen Goodman

New Year’s resolutions tend to be lists of new or re-newed efforts to improve the perceived flaws in ourselves and our lives. You know that intentions work best when they are positively stated. Wouldn’t it be interesting to have a year of positive intentions to make the most of who we are and what we want (not should) to do.

group exercising
Keep Fit; Be Happy

Instead of resolving to loose weight – how about a goal of having more energy to be able to dance, hike, keep up with your kids/grandkids. To do those enjoyable activities you know you need to exercise regularly for more stamina and eat healthy to maintain a healthy body. Do you have a place for exercise? Hint: your stationary bicycle is not meant to be a clothes rack. Declutter your kitchen. Get rid or those tempting fattening foods (Give them to a local food pantry.) Make room for the healthy foods that make you feel good. Isn’t that much better than the mind set of deprivation for the goal of seeing a lower number on your scale?

Instead of a goal of reading all the books you got in the last year. Declutter your bookshelves. Let go of the books you feel obligated to read because they were a gift, will improve you as a human being or are supposed to improve your work skills/knowledge. Reading is a pleasure, not a duty.  Now you can focus on the books you want to read.

Is your hobby or craft space cluttered with projects you are no longer interested in? Instead of gritting your teeth and getting it done, or not doing it and feeling guilty Donate it to a charity. Make the space support what you are interested in now.

Make room for what you want to do. Make room for your potential in your thinking and in your home.

Best wishes for your potential, for growth and fun in the new year.

picture by Kevin Dooley

Feng Shui and Wealth: Start the New Year with a Feng Shui Boost

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There are two ways you can use Feng Shui to maximize your chances for wealth: make the most of the Chi in your space and enhance the Wealth area of the Ba-gua.

The Chi that enters your home or workspace brings life energy to you. Chi flow brings luck, opportunity and prosperity. Chi flow can equal money flow. To help with this be sure that the area around your front door – where Chi enters – is clear of clutter. Clutter can literally slow down or block the flow of Chi to your home. Clutter also depletes Chi energy, which is one reason why you feel so tired in a cluttered space. Then enhance the Chi-attracting qualities of your front door with color, plantings or appropriate decoration.

drain
Is your chi flowing down the drain?

The Wealth area of your space is in the back left hand third of your home or office.  Take a look at what is there. If there is any clutter – clear it out and organize it. If there are any sinks, toilets or drains in that area – like a bathroom or kitchen – then cover the drains when not in use – this includes keeping the toilet cover down. Place a potted plant on your vanity or toilet tank or on your kitchen counter near the sink. Plants have Chi energy and like attracts like. Therefore plants will attract Chi and less of it will go down the drains.

Once the Wealth area is cleared and prepared then you can add the cure of your choice: an aquarium or re-circulating water fountain, a picture of your dream vacation or dream house; or a photo to the people you love most – your non- material treasures. You can also use plants, flowers, a lamp, crystal, a stained glass suncatcher, wind chime or music.

Start with one simple cure for Wealth – less is truly more.

Horoscope: 2009 Year of the Ox

Chinese New Year is January 26, 2009, ushering in the year of the Ox. The Ox signifies new beginnings and slow but sure action while building things that last. That which is begun now is likely to have long term consequences.

Like last year (2008), this is an Earth year, but it is likely to be less tumultuous. On a personal level, better results are more likely to be achieved by going with the flow rather than aggressively charging forward and initiating a lot of action.

The combination of Earth and Ox is primarily characteristic of durability. It suggests an environment dominated by cautious pragmatism rather than quixotic dreaming. Things will get done. You will have the greatest success if you focus on just a few, long term projects. It also suggests proceeding in a cautious yet determined manner. Avoid taking unnecessary risks and yielding to the temptation to seek short term gains.

The year 2009 will be a period of lasting accomplishments. The big challenge everyone faces is to generate the enthusiasm and desire to act. Those individuals and organizations that do will create enduring benefits for themselves and the world.

photo by David Blackwell