Happy New Year! Amazing to think that a brand new year has already begun. Already our hopes (and fears) are revving up!

Is your inbox flooded with messages about keeping your New Year’s Resolutions? I promise this will not be just another ‘how to’ message for you. (If you like, you can skip straight to the “Hands Over Heart Technique” at the end, but you might want to read on to learn why it’s my #1 secret.)

Once a student was lamenting to my Zen master, Shunryo Suzuki Roshi, that she was unable to accomplish all the things she wanted to do (in order to be a “good” Zen student). Roshi said, “Pick something easy. Just one thing. And if you do it everyday without fail, it will make everything work.” This is the way to succeed at keeping your New Year’s resolutions. Keep it simple.

That doesn’t sound so hard, does it? Why, then, do we still seem to have so much trouble keeping our promises to ourselves? I’ll tell you why.

• At the core of every failed plan to fulfill our resolutions, there has been a root defect. We’re overlooking the simplest and most important step: constant genuine self-appreciation, self love, and encouragement.

You may think, But that’s too easy! Well yes, it’s easy. But it’s not too easy. It does take a little effort.

For the past few weeks I’ve encouraged you to make kind gestures to yourself – even as simple as practicing the ‘hands over your heart’ technique. If you did this, you may have noticed some valuable positive changes. Such a small thing, but just by adopting this one habit,  you can quite readily harness the power of your naturally good mind and heart, and transform not just this year, but every year of your life, from now onward.

To kick it off, here’s a sneak peek at Most Important Thing you can do that will supercharge any one of my Easy Good Habits to make it an Easy Great Habit:

Fuel Up Your Positive Thoughts

• Everyone’s heard that it’s important to “think positively” to get positive results. But more important than emphasizing positive thoughts is to “fuel up” those positive thoughts.
• What’s the fuel, you’re probably wondering. All you need to do is genuinely connect with positive feeling energy. It’s already within you, so don’t think you’re conjuring up something out of nothing. Just remember what it feels like to feel wonderful, then “give” that feeling to your positive thoughts. They’ll expand!

All this and more is contained in a simple act of patience and kindness, which is why, if you keep practicing such acts, you will see more and more richness and aliveness showing up in every area of your life. When you say “yes” to life’s commitment to you in the moment, life answers “yes” in every situation, and in every moment. The more often you make your gesture, the more re-sensitized you become to life’s constant beckoning gesture of kindness toward you.

This year, continue to cultivate this kindness and patience. As Suzuki Roshi suggested to his student, you can begin with “just one easy thing” and watch Life take many steps toward you, with open arms. You can begin with this:

The Hands Over Heart Technique

• For just 5 times a day for just 20 seconds, with your hands over your heart, stop and breathe with a soft belly and soft shoulders, then bless that part of you that fears, and bless the one who inspires the fear. For ‘fear’ you can substitute any negative emotion — jealously, resentment, etc. that you might be battling with.

Do this for yourself daily for one month. Just try it, 5 times a day for 20 seconds each. Certainly you can spare 100 seconds per day! When the month is over, take note of how your life has changed. You might find that this practice has grown on you.

May you fill the path of this coming year with your love and enthusiasm!

For support, you might consider the Awakening Inner Wisdom & Love Audio program. And as always, you are welcome to contact me with your shares and questions via jack at jackelias.com. Good luck!