C'mon People

Much to my dismay, I heard quite a few negative comments about our embryonic New Year today . 'This year has gotten off to an awful start'. 'Yesterday was so depressing - all the parties are over and we've got two months of cold and darkness ahead'. '2010 is going to be economically worse than 2009'.

To these and other similar comments I have a few words: Dude, ENOUGH! please. Give 2010 a chance. I mean seriously we're like four days in - it hasn't even begun to unfold. Why be so gloomy?

It's the start of what could potentially be an amazing year. I think it's time to put a little Louise Hay into action. If you haven't heard of my favourite guru then please do look her up and have a listen. It's all about your thoughts and your outlook. Negative thoughts - negative outcome. Postive thoughts - positive outcome. Simple as that. No joke. Try it, you will see.

Here are a few of my favourites to arm yourself with:
Complaint: This year is going to be awful.
Reaction: My life gets more fabulous every day; I look forward to what each new hour brings.

Complaint: We're stuck in a recession and getting poorer every day
Reaction: My income is constantly increasing, I prosper wherever I turn

Complaint: The short days are so depressing.
Reaction: That may be true for others, but that is not true for me

Now I don't recommend verbally challenging your friends and colleagues negativity each time as that could quite possibly lead to an ass beating which would definitely not be good, but was is good is to block that negativity from yourself with a little positive mental backlash. If you need a few more snippets and are not feeling researching my friend Weezie, let me know, I will consult her myself and happily give you the ammuntion you need to start this year off right and make it unbelievably amazing.

Here I Go Again

Yes, it's that time of year where we decide to tackle all of our problems in one fell swoop with hopeful expectation that 30 some odd years of bad habits will miraculously dissipate and we will born anew overnight. I can honestly say I am someone who approaches my resolutions each year with great gusto. Am I deterred by the fact that it is only a mere 12 hours into the first day of the new healthy eating and physically active me and I have feasted solely on queso (translation for my UK reader: yummy cheese dip) and tortilla chips supplemented by two diet dr. peppers while lounging around in my PJs having had negative physical activity.. No, no I'm not and I'll tell you why.

First of all, we all have the power to change something about ourselves if we just dedicated a bit of self-discipline to the task at hand. If you really want to lose weight, you can skim off a few snacks and work out a few days a week and voila! the pounds start melting away. If you want to meet someone, you can go out more often, open yourself up for new opportunities and, in my case as least, keep the alcohol intake to a minimum so as to project the best part of you and sure enough there will be suitors galore (whether you're interested in them is yet another question that can be discussed at a later time). If you want to find a new job, take up a new hobby, travel more or re-work your style, it's all possible by creating a simple to-do list for each goal.

I think it's so important to maintain this annual ritual of optimism. And while drastic changes may be seldom, whatever steps we take are always improvements on the self of year before. Go for it! Create a crazy long list, rank it by importance and chart a course to a new you. Don't be discouraged, as Richard Dreyfus' character in What About Bob so aptly states, 'baby steps'!

Here's to an amazing 2010!

Gimme some Thanksgiving

I've decided that Thanksgiving is a bitchin holiday.

The realisation of this has mostly dawned from living outside the US in the country from whence our dear pilgrims set sail, met our regal native brethren and invited them over for a dinner party - 17th century style. The English do love their dinner parties and have a mastery of them that would bring Martha Stewart to her knees. Let's face it, this original one must have been a rager considering we've been carrying it on religiously for hundreds of years.

But why did it take leaving the U.S. to have this epiphany? Easy - as with everything else, you don't know what you've got until it's gone. Let me outline a few of the many reasons Thanksgiving down right rocks (and my darling English friends, you know the depths of my love for this land in which I'm now living so please don't take offence):

1. I can't believe I'm saying this but hey, it's a non-denominational thang

For those of you who know me best, PC has never been an apt descriptive. But I've got to admit having a holiday for everyone to celebrate on the same day each year is downright brilliant. There's no 'does your family celebrate Thanksgiving?' - of course we do dammit we're all food eaters at the end of the day, are we not?

2. Christmas starts too f*^king early without it
Without the buffer of Thanksgiving and Halloween being a bit of a novelty, Christmas literally kicks in in the beginning of November. No joke. And when I say kicks in, I mean streets are lit up with Christmas lights, advertisements switch to Christmas themes and think I even heard Mariah's Christmas anthem All I Want for Christmas is You around the 5th of November... It's an endless cycle of jingle bells and by the end of it you're ready to wring the jingle right out of that damn bell.

3. The feast

Enough said. Except for maybe that buying a Turkey in England is an investment of epic scale. None of this massive locker business with frozen turkeys popping up at each grocery store. Oh and don't look for fresh cranberries either. It's cranberry 'relish' or bust.

4. The Thankful bit

Seriously good idea - seriously. I think many of us know that we SHOULD look at all of our blessings and be thankful for them each day but honestly how often does that really happen? I'm more likely to be found searching the web for images of Juan Epstein (from Welcome Back Kotter, c’mon people!) than giving thanks. Therefore a holiday that really does give us a moments pause and a gentle reminder to take stock of all that's good in our lives is sheer genius. Take a minute and you can easily think of 5 things. Go ahead, do it! It's Thanksgiving after all...

Have I glossed over the weight gain, alcohol-fuelled family arguments and ceaseless hours of football (American of course)? Yes, yes I have. Because the aforementioned make the downsides easy to forget.

Happy Thanksgiving and lots of love to all!