Imagine Hope Counseling Group Blog
Inspiring Hope for Life & Relationships
To start off the new year, this week we are discussing how we can successfully keep new year’s resolutions. So far, we have some great tips on how to do this. Let’s talk about a few more!
6. Find an accountability partner.
This is the best tip we can give you. Find someone you can share your goals with that can ask you how you’re doing with them. Whether that is your spouse, or a best friend, it’s important to find someone who will help to hold you accountable if you need a gentle reminder or a strong push. Find someone that is safe and that you can trust. It is also helpful to find someone who is working on obtaining his or her goals as well.
7. Don’t let “all or nothing” thinking sabotage your goals.
Sometimes it can be human nature to begin our goals with such gusto that we inadvertently set ourselves up for failure. One of these situations is when we use “all or nothing” thinking. If you find yourself having “slacked” on beginning to work on your goals in February, don’t have the mentality of “Oh well, I haven’t done it yet, so why start now?” Other examples of “all or nothing thinking include abandoning your goals if they aren’t met “perfectly”, or labeling yourself as “good” or “bad” depending on your performance in attaining your goals. Remember that your goals can be revised and re-written to make them more realistic and achievable throughout the year! The idea of setting goals is to make improvements, not to experience perfection.
Obviously, these suggestions are things you can use all year with anything you want to change- not just New Years Resolutions. I hope this change in thinking will be helpful for you. By the time you review them the following January, hopefully they will feel more like life changes than “resolutions”!
Joleen Watson, MS, NCC, is a therapist at Imagine Hope Counseling Group. She enjoys doing marriage counseling, relationship counseling, couples counseling, and individual counseling. Imagine Hope also specializes in family, child and adolescent counseling and serves Indianapolis area including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Noblesville, Zionsville, Westfield, and Fishers.
Tags: Goals, keeping new years resolutions, meeting goals, new years goals
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So what resolutions are you working on this week? Haven’t even got there yet because you are still experiencing the post Christmas exhale? Maybe these tips will get you motivated this week. Here are 2 more:
4. ALWAYS write your goals down.
I suggest writing them in a journal or on your PDA. Keep them somewhere that you can easily see them when you need to. I keep mine in my journal and on my clipboard that I use at work everyday. If I put them on the mirror, I get used to it and forget it’s there. But if it’s somewhere I don’t see everyday but I have it readily available, I will look at it more frequently and keep myself on course. Which leads to my next suggestion.
5. Review your goals often.
Aside from looking at them frequently, I actually sit down and review them in my journal every quarter. I look at where I am at and remind myself what I need to be doing to make changes.
We really hope these tips help you make lasting change. Joleen will share the final tip tomorrow. We hope you have a blessed and Happy New Year!
*Natalie Chandler, MA, LMHC is a therapist at Imagine Hope Counseling Group. Natalie enjoys doing marriage counseling, individual counseling, and couples counseling. We also specialize in family counseling, child, and adolescent counseling. Imagine Hope serves the Indianapolis area including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield, and Zionsville.
Tags: goal setting, new years resolutions
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If you read yesterday’s blog, hopefully you have been beginning to think about what you want to see happen in the coming new year. Today we’re going to talk about how to start formulating those goals to stay realistic and keep them within reach.
2. Imagine how you would look and feel if you obtained your goals.
I imagined what I would feel like physically and emotionally if I lost 10 pounds. How would I feel with a more developed spiritual life? Who do I want to draw closer to and what would it be like to have them closer to me?
3. Decide what you need to do specifically to make your life changes.
Be specific with your goals and break them into smaller goals. If one relationship I want to develop is with my Grandmother, what do I need to do in order to develop this further? I need to talk and visit with her more often. So I set a small goal that I will call her twice a month and go see her once a month. Or if I want to get closer to my husband, I will plan a date night once a month and schedule to have lunch with him once a week. If you break it into smaller, specific pieces you’ll have more of a chance for success than if your goal is broad and unattainable.
Hopefully this helps you visualize your resolutions in a more concrete way. Thank you for reading & please check back in to read 2 more days of secrets to keeping resolutions!
Written by: Tamara Wilhelm MA, LMHC
*Tamara enjoys doing marriage counseling, individual counseling, & couples counseling at Imagine Hope. We also specialize in family counseling, child & adolescent counseling. Imagine Hope serves the Indianapolis area, including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Noblesville, Zionsville, Westfield & Fishers.
Tags: goal setting, new years resolutions, resolutions
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One of the most difficult challenges faced by a therapist is initiating lasting change in our clients. We are all creatures of habit. Some of us are uncomfortable but are comfortable being uncomfortable because it is familiar and a habit. Almost everyone I know has struggled in keeping their New Years Resolutions, myself included. We are forced to break those difficult habits to see real change in our lives. A few years ago I felt discouraged when I reviewed my resolutions and sought to find out how to make REAL change. Change that I could commit to and change that would….well, change my life. I wanted to share what I have found to be helpful.
1. Change “New Years Resolution” to “What do I want to see happen this year? “ A couple of years ago, I read something that said when making resolutions, ask yourself what you want to see happen in your life in the next year. I think the phrase “New Years Resolution” in itself is a joke to a lot of people and they associate it with something they know they probably won’t follow thru on. So that year I changed my “Resolutions” to “Things I want to see happen in 2003”. That shift in thinking really helped me not make the same promises to myself that I usually made: lose weight, go to church, and be closer to my friends and family. I started thinking about what I wanted to look and feel like, what I wanted my spiritual life to be like, and who I wanted to be closer with. That made me begin to think of how I would do that- which you will have to check in tomorrow to read more about how!
Best wishes to all of you as your cast your vision for 2011!
Teri Claassen MSW, LCSW is a licensed therapist at Imagine Hope Counseling Group. Teri enjoys doing marriage counseling, individual counseling, couples and relationship counseling. Teri also does family counseling, child counseling, and adolescent counseling. Imagine Hope serves the Indianapolis area, including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Zionsville, and Westfield.
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- Have an age appropriate game day. Have a Wii tournament, play board games, or put a puzzle together.
- Build a snowman or a snow fort as a family. If there is no snow, build a fort inside the house with blankets and read stories by flashlight!
- Have a family volunteer day. Donate your time as a family to a homeless shelter, church, or humane society. Or look for volunteer ideas and come up with a decision as a family.
Imagine Hope Counseling Group is wishing your family a happy, healthy, safe and merry Christmas this Holiday season! Have fun over break!
Joleen Watson, MS, NCC, is a therapist at Imagine Hope Counseling Group. She enjoys doing marriage counseling, relationship counseling, couples counseling, and individual counseling. Imagine Hope also specializes in family, child and adolescent counseling and serves Indianapolis area including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Noblesville, Zionsville, Westfield, and Fishers.
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I am so excited to get such great ideas about break from Tamara and Teri. I plan to sleep in, take a nap, and not schedule anything for a day! What have you decided so far? If you’re undecided, here are a few more ideas:
Take advantage of what your city has to offer! Be a tourist in your own city. How many of us know there are certain things to do in our city that we would love to do but don’t have time to do it? Now is the perfect time! Go see the lights downtown. Most cities have wonderful light displays. Or if you live in a small town, drive down streets you don’t typically take and look at the lights. Your kids will love it!
Have an age appropriate game day. Have a wii tournament, pull out the board games, or do a puzzle together! It’s amazing what some fun games and a little time together can do.
Spend one whole day in your pajamas and be spontaneous! This is my personal favorite! Especially in the winter. Stay warm and cozy and see what the day brings! Don’t have a schedule. Take naps when you want to, have meals when you feel like it, order a pizza, and just let your busy mind take a break!! AAAHHH! Sounds fun!
I hope you can find something from this list to help with your Christmas break. Enjoy the Holidays, rejuvenate yourself and your family, and most of all, remember what the hype is all about!
*Natalie Chandler, MA, LMHC is a therapist at Imagine Hope Counseling Group. Natalie enjoys doing marriage counseling, individual counseling, and couples counseling. We also specialize in family counseling, child, and adolescent counseling. Imagine Hope serves the Indianapolis area including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield, and Zionsville.
Tags: christmas break, self-care
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I always loved Christmas break growing up. Time to relax but also time to spend with my family. This week we’re helping you out with some ideas in case you get stuck coming up with some on your own.
- Remember to lower your expectations. Keep in mind that everything with the holiday doesn’t have to be perfect. The kids may complain at times and family members may run late. Keep your expectations realistic versus unrealistic. How can you tell the difference? If your expectations require others to act differently than they normally do, then your expectations are unrealistic.
- Share your expectations of how you’d like the break to be, and collaborate with other family members.Do you want the break to be filled with alot of family time and activities? Or, would you rather it be filled with lots of naps and down time? Share these expectations with other family members so they can share their expectations as well, then come up with a plan together so everyone’s needs can be met.
- Accept challenging family members for who they are. In order to enjoy your break, you might have to resolve yourself to the fact that you can’t change family members. You’ll have alot less headaches with this perspective.
Please keep reading for more ideas on how to enjoy your break. We wish each of you a wonderful and warm Christmas vacation!
Written by: Tamara Wilhelm MA, LMHC
*Tamara enjoys doing marriage counseling, individual counseling, & couples counseling at Imagine Hope. We also specialize in family counseling, child & adolescent counseling. Imagine Hope serves the Indianapolis area, including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Noblesville, Zionsville, Westfield & Fishers.
Tags: christmas break, christmas vacation, Ways to enjoy Christmas break
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Merry Christmas! Christmas break is here! We hope all our readers take advantage of this time to be intentional about enjoying their break. This week we came up with several ideas that you can do as an individual or family over your break.
- Start a new tradition- One of the best parts of this time of year is all the nostalgia that comes along with traditions. But we all know that as our kids get older, they may not be into the old holiday traditions. So it’s time to start a new one! Brainstorm as a family something you all would like to participate in, and declare it as your new holiday tradition. I’m sure you’ll come up with some fun ones! Some of my personal favorites are having a gingerbread house building contest, a family snowball fight or football game, or watching “Polar Express”.
- Remember that it is BREAK!- Christmas break should be just that- a break. It should be a time for the kids and parents to de-stress and unwind. Make sure that you use this time as an actual break and don’t over schedule. You don’t want to start of the new year going back to work and school exhausted!
- Sleep in or take a nap- I’m sure you won’t get to do this the whole break, but plan at least one day for you to sleep in or take a nap and allow you body to catch up. Most of us are running all over with busy schedules that we don’t always get the rest our bodies need. Try to use this time of year to get rejuvenated and practice great self care!
We will have more ideas all week- so keep checking in! Blessings to all of you and your families this Christmas!
Teri Claassen MSW, LCSW is a licensed therapist at Imagine Hope Counseling Group. Teri enjoys doing marriage counseling, individual counseling, couples and relationship counseling. Teri also does family counseling, child counseling, and adolescent counseling. Imagine Hope serves the Indianapolis area, including the surrounding areas of Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Zionsville, and Westfield.
Tags: Ways to enjoy Christmas break
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