I wanted to do a FHE early in January on goals...but it never worked out. Yesterday in church one of the speakers talked about goals. It was a great talk, and great timing! I was reminded of the goals I was so excited about at the beginning of January. So I decided to take that and use the same idea for FHE. Tonight we made goal sheet collages. We cut out pictures from magazines that represented our goals and each of us had a big sheet of paper to make our own goal sheet. The kids loved it. Now we have our goals for this year up in our bedrooms. Here's to New Year's Resolutions!
....which reminds me, we were in an article in the Calgary Herald this month! I've come to know someone that writes for the Herald and she used us for an article. :0) Enjoy!
It's time for new resolutions
By Karen Rudolph Durrie, For Neighbours January 8, 2009
For some, making New Year's resolutions instills a sense of dread.
The turning of the calendar acts as a reminder of a laundry list of failures strewn across the past year, and the coming year represents a fresh slate that might just go the same way.
You didn't lose the weight, you still bite your nails, your kids still spent too much time playing video games and 15 years' worth of accumulated clutter still teeters in boxes in your basement.
This year, why not approach resolutions with a new sense of resolve?Make them, but go easy on yourself.
Despite their bad rap for being quickly broken, research has shown that those who make New Year's resolutions are 10 times more likely to succeed in making changes than those who don't.
Psychologist John Norcross, co-author of Changing for Good:A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Over-coming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward says more than 40 per cent of people, make New Year's resolutions will be successful.
And one way to succeed is to drop the grandiose goals and concentrate on realistic, attainable ones that include an action plan.
That's what Laurie McKendry, 38, of Langdon plans to do this year.
After years of making and breaking the typical resolutions like losing weight and becoming more organized, she is taking a new approach this year.
"I've come to realize that while I have two small children, I am never going to become completely organized, and our house is not going to look like a show-home. My resolution this year is to be happier with who I am, and to somehow find a little more me time," McKendry says.
An avid follower of "FLYLady", aka Marla Cilley ( www.flylady.net),whose baby-steps approach to home-organization and goal-setting tips include things like decluttering for 15 minutes each morning, McKendry firmly believes she needs to adhere to one of the main principles of the philosophy of FLY-- which stands for finally loving yourself. "I am overweight and need to accept myself for who I am. I am not going to be a size zero, and only once I accept that maybe things will start to change."
McKendry plans to relax about the state of her home and not sweat the smudges on the walls or the toys on the floor.
She also plans to reclaim some of the joy she got from spending time doing things just for her, including, belly dancing and aquasize classes and enlisting the help of relatives to look after her kids.
"I need to learn to pencil it in like an appointment, and do it,"McKendry says.
Indeed, writing things down is a hall-mark of those who are most successful, Norcross says. Tracking progress by charting or recording changed behaviour has shown to increase the probability of sticking to resolutions.
Keeping track of daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals has been an incentive to spur on many of Dawn Ackroyd's achievements.
"It's interesting to me when I come across old goal sheets. I often find I've accomplished things without even realizing it,"Ackroyd says.
Then there are those that keep reappearing each year.
"I keep the ones that are important to me, because I have hope that some day I will accomplish those things,"Ackroyd says.
Therefore, though she may be one of the many who has resolved to lose weight "about since I was 12," she laughs, she has faith she will do it one day.
Meanwhile, she sets numerous small spiritual and emotional goals for the year, and revisits them monthly.
For 2008, one of Ackroyd's successful resolutions was to make a better effort to keep in touch with her husband's large family. She spent more time with the ones who lived close, and called or mailed the ones who were further away. Journaling her activities helped her track how long it had been since she had seen or corresponded with people.
Her goal-setting mentality has also rubbed off on her children Jill, 10 and Peirce, 6.
"Jill's big goal is to go to the Olympics in swimming. She is in swim club, and sometimes she just doesn't want to go to a meet or a practice, and we will say, 'OK, and you don't have to go to the Olympics, either,' and she will go," Ackroyd says.
At five, Peirce made three resolutions and accomplished each one: to make cookies, to be in a play and to become a better swimmer.
This year, Ackroyd's goals include setting an exercising schedule and to read the entire Bible.
"If I don't set goals, I find that lives take over, and kids and family take over, and if I don't decide there are some things that I want to accomplish for my-self, it is easy to lose yourself."
Losing himself is perhaps part of the reason why 43-year-old Kelly Proctor, a field service supervisor in the oil patch, has found himself setting some important goals for 2009.
Recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol, Proctor instantly began to make changes to his lifestyle and eating habits.
Vowing to lose 50 pounds in the next year, Proctor has already analyzed why he's experiencing health issues and decided his life-on-the-road existence involving a lot of fast food and getting from point A to point B by driving there had to change.
"I am making time out for me instead of going for fast food. I will order off a menu, sit down and have a dinner."
He has also quit smoking with the aid of Champex, a smoking cessation medication, and his mood has improved.
His lifestyle changes have also had a positive effect on his family. His wife has cut back on fast food,--"We haven't bought McDonald's in over six weeks,"-- they've stopped buying pop, and she has started a binder of chef Rachel Ray's simple, family-friendly recipes.
Cultivating support from family and friends is another tool Norcross says helps reinforce success.
....which reminds me, we were in an article in the Calgary Herald this month! I've come to know someone that writes for the Herald and she used us for an article. :0) Enjoy!
It's time for new resolutions
By Karen Rudolph Durrie, For Neighbours January 8, 2009
For some, making New Year's resolutions instills a sense of dread.
The turning of the calendar acts as a reminder of a laundry list of failures strewn across the past year, and the coming year represents a fresh slate that might just go the same way.
You didn't lose the weight, you still bite your nails, your kids still spent too much time playing video games and 15 years' worth of accumulated clutter still teeters in boxes in your basement.
This year, why not approach resolutions with a new sense of resolve?Make them, but go easy on yourself.
Despite their bad rap for being quickly broken, research has shown that those who make New Year's resolutions are 10 times more likely to succeed in making changes than those who don't.
Psychologist John Norcross, co-author of Changing for Good:A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Over-coming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward says more than 40 per cent of people, make New Year's resolutions will be successful.
And one way to succeed is to drop the grandiose goals and concentrate on realistic, attainable ones that include an action plan.
That's what Laurie McKendry, 38, of Langdon plans to do this year.
After years of making and breaking the typical resolutions like losing weight and becoming more organized, she is taking a new approach this year.
"I've come to realize that while I have two small children, I am never going to become completely organized, and our house is not going to look like a show-home. My resolution this year is to be happier with who I am, and to somehow find a little more me time," McKendry says.
An avid follower of "FLYLady", aka Marla Cilley ( www.flylady.net),whose baby-steps approach to home-organization and goal-setting tips include things like decluttering for 15 minutes each morning, McKendry firmly believes she needs to adhere to one of the main principles of the philosophy of FLY-- which stands for finally loving yourself. "I am overweight and need to accept myself for who I am. I am not going to be a size zero, and only once I accept that maybe things will start to change."
McKendry plans to relax about the state of her home and not sweat the smudges on the walls or the toys on the floor.
She also plans to reclaim some of the joy she got from spending time doing things just for her, including, belly dancing and aquasize classes and enlisting the help of relatives to look after her kids.
"I need to learn to pencil it in like an appointment, and do it,"McKendry says.
Indeed, writing things down is a hall-mark of those who are most successful, Norcross says. Tracking progress by charting or recording changed behaviour has shown to increase the probability of sticking to resolutions.
Keeping track of daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals has been an incentive to spur on many of Dawn Ackroyd's achievements.
"It's interesting to me when I come across old goal sheets. I often find I've accomplished things without even realizing it,"Ackroyd says.
Then there are those that keep reappearing each year.
"I keep the ones that are important to me, because I have hope that some day I will accomplish those things,"Ackroyd says.
Therefore, though she may be one of the many who has resolved to lose weight "about since I was 12," she laughs, she has faith she will do it one day.
Meanwhile, she sets numerous small spiritual and emotional goals for the year, and revisits them monthly.
For 2008, one of Ackroyd's successful resolutions was to make a better effort to keep in touch with her husband's large family. She spent more time with the ones who lived close, and called or mailed the ones who were further away. Journaling her activities helped her track how long it had been since she had seen or corresponded with people.
Her goal-setting mentality has also rubbed off on her children Jill, 10 and Peirce, 6.
"Jill's big goal is to go to the Olympics in swimming. She is in swim club, and sometimes she just doesn't want to go to a meet or a practice, and we will say, 'OK, and you don't have to go to the Olympics, either,' and she will go," Ackroyd says.
At five, Peirce made three resolutions and accomplished each one: to make cookies, to be in a play and to become a better swimmer.
This year, Ackroyd's goals include setting an exercising schedule and to read the entire Bible.
"If I don't set goals, I find that lives take over, and kids and family take over, and if I don't decide there are some things that I want to accomplish for my-self, it is easy to lose yourself."
Losing himself is perhaps part of the reason why 43-year-old Kelly Proctor, a field service supervisor in the oil patch, has found himself setting some important goals for 2009.
Recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol, Proctor instantly began to make changes to his lifestyle and eating habits.
Vowing to lose 50 pounds in the next year, Proctor has already analyzed why he's experiencing health issues and decided his life-on-the-road existence involving a lot of fast food and getting from point A to point B by driving there had to change.
"I am making time out for me instead of going for fast food. I will order off a menu, sit down and have a dinner."
He has also quit smoking with the aid of Champex, a smoking cessation medication, and his mood has improved.
His lifestyle changes have also had a positive effect on his family. His wife has cut back on fast food,--"We haven't bought McDonald's in over six weeks,"-- they've stopped buying pop, and she has started a binder of chef Rachel Ray's simple, family-friendly recipes.
Cultivating support from family and friends is another tool Norcross says helps reinforce success.
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