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Last Week Of The Year: Happy New Year

BOSTON (CBS) - If you are like the majority of folks out there you have overindulged the last five weeks and as the New Year creeps up on us, you have begun to wonder how you are going to undo the damage? Now where that damage is I do not want to know.

We will ring in a brand new year and with that we simply want to undo or redo some of the things we did last year! Or we want to start something new, make something even better. Hence we make New Year's Resolutions. We are oh so good at making those resolutions and not very good at keeping them.

Do you make the same resolutions each year and by the Super Bowl kickoff all of your good intentions are down the toilet? Choose just one or two this year for its easier to work on just one or two. You don't need a complete makeover!

The experts say it's very hard to give up old habits like smoking, drinking, chocolate, shopping, and gambling. The addictive ones and yes chocolate can be addictive! I have not seen a twelve-step program for chocolate but I am seriously considering writing one.

You have a better chance of succeeding at your New Year's resolutions if you are looking for a fresh start and not trying to change an old habit. Exercising more statistically has a better chance than giving up cigarettes. Old habits die hard!

The experts do agree on one thing, you need a plan to succeed. Write down your resolutions and prioritize them. Then outline what it will take to reach your goals. How much time and money are you willing to spend on your resolutions?

By writing them down you have activated a part of your brain called the Reticular Activating System and you will begin to process information on those goals. For example if "saving more" is your goal when an ad comes on the radio about good CD rates you will listen more intently.

My resolutions are the same as last year. Learning to whistle and losing 15 pounds. I was successful at both, I am whistling although it's a quiet whistle and I want a loud whistle. And the lost 15 pounds found me over the summer. I am thinking they were lonely.

I could go on The Biggest Loser for I have lost at least 300 pounds over the years. It's the same 15 pounds that I lose in the spring and it finds me in winter.

Happy New Year!

One more thing:  I am still practicing my whistle. The "put your fingers in your mouth" kind of loud whistle. As I was writing this I tried it again and spit all over the computer screen so it's not quite perfected! My 5-year-old granddaughter is doing better than I am.

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