simple things to add to Your life

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Happy 2018 — a new year with new beginnings and opportunities! Many people begin the new year by making new year’s resolutions. I first learned about making resolutions when I was eight years old. A friend told me that I would have a year of bad luck if I hadn’t penned my list by the stroke of midnight. I remember working hard on my list and asking my mother to review them before I pronounced them complete. I secured the ambitious list (for my age) under a lamb figurine on my bedside table, feeling quite accomplished and ready to take on the new year. However, by the end of January, the list was a distant memory and used as a bookmark for a book I read before going to sleep.

Since it is now the end of January and many resolutions are likely distant memories, I thought I would suggest another approach that I adopted a few years ago, one that may be easier to keep.

Each year, I make a list of three simple things to add to my life. I don’t share them with anyone else and I don’t list more than three. Examples include but are in no way limited to:
– Do something unexpected for one person each day
– Once a week, send a note to someone in your life and share why you are grateful for them
– Be extra kind to someone that seems to be having a bad day
– Smile when you don’t feel like it
– Take five minutes each day to take a mental break and “just be”
– Share a positive observation with someone each day
– Spend 30 minutes doing something completely fun every day
– At the beginning or end of each day, write down one thing in a journal or other special place for which you are truly grateful

I discovered this type of resolution was easy for me to keep and made me feel happier and more accomplished. Interestingly, the fact that I kept them to myself made them all the more fulfilling. In a way, it was like sharing an anonymous gift with others, and I liked that feeling.

By Guest Blogger Ellen Lloyd

Ellen Bryant Lloyd is the author of FRECKLES and FRECKLES and The Great Beach Rescue. Please visit www.funwithfreckles.com and www.facebook.com/funwithfreckles to learn more about Freckles. Ellen writes a blog about her perspectives on life and parenting at www.mindfulmom.wordpress.com and tweets at @EllenBLloyd. She lives in Greensboro with her husband and two children.