It’s the first week of the new year and maybe some of us – many of us – are feeling very hopeful, very full of new plans, resolutions and making a fresh start.

But is it really a good idea to start afresh, to come up with a totally new plan in hopes that maybe this one will work better than the last one.

What if the New Year’s plan was just to stay with last year’s scheme. To just stay the course and carry on, with minor tweaks here and there as they are required,instead of dumping everything and starting from scratch again.

Often we don’t need to redo, … just do and adapt we go.

If for example we were to make a resolution to go to the gym … sometimes we go a bit mad – 5 times a week, 6 times a week – and then it drops off to 2 times a week and perhaps not at all.

But instead what if we just plan to go as we have gone before … maybe that was once a week, maybe that was once every two weeks.

But the important thing would be to be consistent. If we were consistent with the pace of an action it might intensify and increase by itself organically instead of forcing it.

Perhaps the important thing is to do what feels right, comfortable and empowering to ourselves, instead of following the “crowd consciousness”.

If you don’t really feel guided to make a new Year’s resolution don’t…set a goal instead that moves you on your desired path with paced, consistent action.

How do you get there? Through the power of your mind focused on growth and positive action.

One idea is to undergo a kind of mind training.

Here is one commitment which we can make which will strengthen our resolve to live the positive lifestyle that we deserve and can help us to continue on the right path to achieve our goals and have a life that can help us be more at ease within ourselves and with others. It’s something that is sounds so very simple but which is quite hard sometimes. It’s called the 7-day mental diet. This is from a classic book that was written back in 1935 by Emmet Fox.

He said in his book –

“The most important of all factors in your life is the mental diet on which you live. It is the food which you furnish to your mind that determines the whole character of your life. It is the thoughts you allow yourself to think, the subjects that you allow your mind to dwell upon, which make you and your surroundings what they are.

In other words, you choose your life that is to say, you choose all the conditions of your life, when you choose the thoughts upon which you allow your mind to dwell.”

So… Emmet goes on to write that we have to train ourselves to choose the subject of our thinking in any given time and choose the emotional tone -or mood or feeling – as well.

I think, sometimes that’s quite hard to do. Sometimes the circumstances are just so intense that we find ourselves just going with the feeling of that moment.

But we can can generally control our thoughts and there is a way that we can learn to do that with more consistency. It’s called the 7 Day Mental Diet!

For 7 days we’re not allowed to dwell for a single moment on any kind of negative thought. We must only hang onto thoughts that are positive constructive, optimistic and kind.

The whole point is to have 7-days of unbroken mental discipline to get the mind to think in a new direction.

If at any time we slip and hang on to negative or any thoughts of that kind, we have to start all over again.

As a matter of fact it’s advised that if we do slip… take a day or two to kind of refresh ourselves …and then start all over again. Don’t just start over again immediately the next day.

So negative thoughts are anything that falls under thinking about failure, disappointment,criticism, jealousy, condemnation of others … or negative self talk or self criticism. This includes just anything that is not constructive or of a limitation consciousness. No cheating or rationalisation. We will know if it’s the right or wrong thought energy.

It doesn’t count if the thought just comes into your head … but it DOES COUNT if you dwell on it …if you let it stay there. It’s the dwell upon the thought that counts. As soon as the negative dark thought presents itself turn it out, kick it out of your mind, get rid of it.

If during the 7-day diet you have to be by some commitment or other circumstances, in situations that could be a bit negative… that is ok… just don’t let it get to you, don’t let it affect you and turn your mind towards negative. Don’t accept and embrace it or let it into your energy.

Actually Emmet says if you know something stressful is coming up in the week ahead – don’t start the diet. Do the diet after the stressful event has passed and you’ll have a bit of an easier time of it.

Sometimes once you have started the 7-day mental diet and really get into it things might start coming up … difficulties and things… but that just means that changes are happening and you are growing and meeting the challenge. The other secret is don’t tell anybody that you’re on this diet … just go about it quietly and keep it to yourself. Nothing can throw you off the diet. It’s only your own reaction to the other circumstance that can do it.

So it’s often a good idea to give yourself a little warm up to the diet… like take a few days to think about it first … get in the mood and commit yourself and then go for it.

It might be handy to keep a little journal on how your 7-day mental diet is going.

If you slipped and have to make a fresh start put that in your journal. It’s all about personal growth and living in as positive an energy space as possible that will benefit you and others around you.

So are you going to give it a go?

I’m going to give it a try. Feel free to leave a comment on how it went for you or how it’s going for you and how you’re progressing along. Let’s support each other.