Resolutions and “best of “
lists are common topics as the year wraps up and a new one begins. I thought I would address both in this last
blog of the year. A couple of caveats: When it comes to resolutions, I have made
many and failed at most. I have found that not making any in in the first pace
avoids a lot of disappointment in the coming year. As for my year-end book
recommendations, they are non-fiction.
However, I usually prefer novels.
So let’s get to New Year’s
resolutions. According to a just released study by the University of Scranton,
most of us have experience making resolutions (62%) and they usually focus
around four areas of descending prominence: self-improvement, weight, money,
relationships. The bad news is only 1 in 3 lasts more than a month and
less than half make it past six months. No surprise that younger people
do better: those under 50 are three times more likely to be successful in
keeping a resolution than those over 50 which lends credence to the saying “you
can’t teach an old dog a new trick”.
Resolutions are either
starting something good or stopping something bad. This year’s Top Ten include losing weight (#1),
enjoying life (#4) and staying fit (#5). Doctors of mind and body will all
agree that exercise is the magic elixir for quality of life and mood
improvement. It also leads to other
positive behaviors including better diet and better sleep. Obviously, this is easier said than done
because so few of us meet a common recommendation of maintaining our heart rate
at 65% of maximum (usually calculated at 220 – Age) for 45 minutes six times a
week. Time and motivation are the usual excuses. However, I have found with the right motivation,
I can find the time. So a book I recommend is Younger Next Year. It is absolutely the best and most readable book
on physiology and how exercise affects it.
If it doesn’t fire you up to get moving, nothing will.
On other hand, when it comes
to breaking a bad habit, I have lots of experience. For instance, I have tried
to quit smoking cigarettes (#7) at least twenty times. Having smoked 300,000
already, I love cigarettes. The coughing, the burn holes and bad breath, not so
much. The last time I quit and the most
successful was when I realized that I am an addict. Every time I had failed
before was because I thought that I could smoke occasionally. I couldn’t and before long I would be back to
two packs a day. What made me successful
the last time was realizing that if I took a puff, I would be back to square
one. And rather than dealing with quitting for life which was an overwhelming
prospect, I just had to quit for the next minute. The minutes have added up to thirty years so
far. This year I read The Spirituality
of Imperfection, which I highly recommend.
A lot of its points reference the philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous,
the originator of the Twelve Step program, that is often used to break really
“bad habits” like alcohol and drug addition. It has honesty, humanity and hope.
So there you have it – the good, the bad and
the books. And for a fiction recommendation: 11/22/63, a Stephen King book
without a single bit of creepiness or gore. And it’s a love story that brought
a tear and a smile.
No comments:
Post a Comment