Making resolutions is a tradition! At the beginning of each year, on birthdays, we make commitments to improve our lives and ourselves. But sometimes we get stuck, we run out of ideas. So here are 10 ideas for resolutions we should all make to be happy.

1 – Make resolutions: exercise more

Many of us say we want to exercise. Every year, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, and yet we find it hard to keep our commitment.

The good news is that sport doesn’t have to mean going to the gym 4 times a week for 2 hours.

Sport is about moving your body.

It’s true that running 2 minutes behind the bus in the morning isn’t enough, but walking 30 minutes, for example, is good enough!

I invite you to make a resolution to move your body more often. It will thank you.

2 – Eat more vegetables

Here again, many of us have made the resolution to eat better, and more vegetables in particular.

Yet we still prefer a good pasta dish filled with cheese. I know a thing or two about that (laughs).

How about starting small, with just one vegetable a day: grated carrots for lunch, or a tomato for dinner?

Start small! Then you won’t have to convince yourself that a potato is a vegetable (laughs).

3 – Make resolutions: cook more

So much pressure from all those cooking shows on TV, when our specialty is cooking pasta? (laughs)

How about starting small? If you make a resolution to cook, why not start by cooking one dish a week?

See how the pressure comes off and motivation rises again.

4 – Take care of yourself more often

Have you noticed that we always tend to wait until the last moment to take care of ourselves: going to the hairdresser, for example.

In fact, we underestimate the impact such appointments have on us and our sense of well-being.

That’s why making resolutions to be happy also means thinking about taking care of ourselves more often.

Maybe you can make these resolutions: take a bubble bath every weekend? Get a haircut every 3 months?

5 – Making resolutions: saving money

It’s not always easy not to break the bank! It’s common sense (laughs) to treat yourself to things that make you happy.

So, how do you save money?

First of all, I invite you to ask yourself: I want to save money, but why? In fact, set yourself a real goal. Maybe it’s to treat yourself to a wonderful trip, or to buy the car of your dreams?

Then, every time you’re tempted to buy something, follow one rule: wait a week.

If, after a week, you still want to buy that something, then you’re really happy about it and it’s important to you.

6 – Sort out your relationships

Why make this resolution? Because it’s not uncommon to have people around us who stress us out. And even though we don’t feel good in their company, we keep going to see them.

What if your next resolution was to give yourself the right to only see people who make you feel good, who make you laugh? Your life would change, wouldn’t it?

7 – Making resolutions: accepting your body

When you’ve got curly hair, you want straight hair, and when you’ve got straight hair, you want curly hair.

When you’re stocky, you want to be thinner and when you’re thin, you want to be stockier.

What’s all this about? (laughs)

What if we accepted ourselves as we were? Isn’t our body magnificent? Every day, it lets us live! And that’s all there is to it.

So what if your next resolution was to live in peace with your perfect body just the way it is?

8 – Stop watching what the neighbor does

We’ve learned to watch what other people do. Yes, what they do, what they say, what they think means a lot to us.

Too often, others make us react, make us feel negative emotions.

What if instead of looking at others, you focused on what you were doing? On what you think?

The most important thing in your life isn’t those others you can’t control, whom you can’t please. The most important thing is you, what you think of yourself and what you do!

9 – Stop believing that your neighbor is watching what you do

Another resolution concerns those others who all too often complicate our lives.

We live in fear of what others think of us, of what they will say about us.

A scientific study has shown that others don’t watch what we do, because they’re lost in their own thoughts, and spend more time thinking about what we think of them…

Does the world really go round?

Remember that your fear of what people will say is the same as the fear of what the other person in front of you will say. We’re all the same.

10 – Make resolutions: be happy

If there were one and only one resolution to make, it would be to be happy, day after day.

Because it’s not so much what you eat, or what people think of you, that matters. It’s about you and your happiness!

Because you can be happy with anything and everything! Alone or accompanied.

Happiness is possible everywhere, because it’s always within you.

So, could your resolution be to learn to be happy in all circumstances? Every moment of your life?

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover Start the year off right: 5 tips to get you off to a good start
Discover Everyday happiness: 9 must-have happiness routines

I recommend this inspiring book:

Mind Hacking: How to Change Your Mind for Good in 21 Days by Sir John Hargrave

Discover this guide to transforming your mindset and making lasting changes. Featuring a 21-day program for reconnecting your thought patterns and freeing yourself from limiting beliefs, this book is the ultimate guide to transforming your mindset and making lasting changes. Combining cognitive science, mindfulness and practical exercises, Hargrave offers a roadmap for making resolutions and creating positive habits that lead to personal fulfillment and lasting change. Mind Hacking enables us to take control of our minds, fostering a state of mind conducive to making resolutions and positive transformations in our lives.

This book has been the source of considerable growth in my life. I hope you’ll give it a chance and give it a read. Learning to separate my mind from feelings, emotions and reality has changed my life.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself