She wants to choose just one positive habit for the New Year

Dear Jan,
I have such a long time pattern of starting new things and dropping them after a while, and it's frustrating. I'm thinking about what I want in 2006, and I want to do something in the new year that will really make a difference in my life and that I will stick with. I usually get very scattered, going off in all kinds of directions, thinking that I need to do it ALL in order to change the things I want to change in my life. So I thought that if I could settle on just one thing to do consistently, that would be great.
I'd like to know, if you were going to choose only one thing to do every day for more joy, abundance, peace, etc., what would that be?

Thanks, and all the best for the new year to you!

M.E., New York


Dear M.E.,
Congratulations on your intention to be more focused and less scattered in the coming year. That alone is tremendous change and will serve you very well! Overwheming yourself with 'shoulds' leads to discouragement, and eventually, you give up trying to do what feels impossible. You want to be successful at what you say you are going to do, and cutting down your TO DO list will go a long way in helping you to keep your commitment to yourself b y making it more do-able.

If I were going to choose only one positive, daily habit for myself, it would definitely be to establish a habit of being grateful. Aligning ourselves with the energy of gratitude is the most transformative thing we can do for ourselves, in my opinion. Gratitude is such high vibration, that it automatically opens us to the other high vibrations we are aiming for: joy, love, peace, abundance. Check out the book The Hidden Messages In Water, by renowned Japanese researcher, Masaru Emoto to see what the energy of gratitude looks like in an ice crystal. Amazingly beautiful and powerfully transformative!

When we choose gratitude we are releasing resistance to what we don't want, we are focusing on what we truly want and love and appreciate, and we are softening our energies to allow more of what we want to manifest in our experience. So being grateful really aligns us with abundance of all kinds and makes us happy in the NOW. A pretty good deal, if you ask me!

Now, in order to establish this positive habit you might buy a beautiful journal and keep a written gratitude journal. Maybe you'll write five things you are grateful for every morning. Or you might write your gratitude list when you wake up in the morning and before you go to sleep at night. If you exercise during the day, walking, biking, jogging, etc., you might use that time to mentally list the things you are grateful for. Or you could do that while driving, while showering, while cooking, etc.

Choose the way you resonate with the most, the way you really like, and make it a daily practice. You might even choose a different way each day, depending on what you want to do, which is perfectly fine, as long as you practice daily gratitude somehow. It will take very little time to practice this gratitude habit, but the payoffs will be enormous! You may find as you do this, that you naturally reach for gratitude more and more throughout your days, since essentially you are grooving in a new habit of thought---a thought that feels very, very good. And we all want more of what feels good!

My very best wishes for you in 2006!

Warmly,
Jan

The Every Day Joy Coach
www.EveryDayJoy.com