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January 11, 2007 at 10:25:14

It Could Happen Tomorrow: Fear-Based Resolutions for a Happy New Year

by Jude Acosta Page 2 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Some resolutions we make are good ones. These are the ones we usually don't have to wait to accomplish. We resolve to do it as of right now, today. The thought itself is the harbinger of the change and the behavior follows dutifully. If we resolve to be kind, to be on time, to manage our tempers or to lose weight when we really need to, and if we make these resolutions because we want to and not because we're afraid, I'd say "hurrah."

I know someone who resolves every year to lose fifty pounds. And it would be good if she did. She would be healthier and have more energy. But it's not critical and she never makes it past the five pound mark. Ever. Because the truth is she doesn't really want to lose weight or change her diet. But she wants everyone to think she does because that's what she's told to do. Maybe she should resolve to not care what other people thought one way or the other. That would at least have a chance of making her new year really happy.

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www.wordsaremedicine.com

J. Acosta is a writer and practicing clinical psychotherapist. She has written two books: THE WORST IS OVER (2002, Jodere) and THE NEXT OSAMA (2006). Her third is due to come out some time next year and she is currently in the middle of her fourth. She has her practice in New Mexico with her canine therapeutic assistants. She has worked with anxiety and fear in patients for twenty years. She has watched it, felt it, wrote about it, and helped heal people from it. As a result, she has learned a few things about fear, particularly that growing epidemic she calls VIRAL FEAR.