By Robin Maynard-Dobbs CC, CHt

You have consumed the turkey dinner, munched on the Christmas cookies, nibbled the Almond Roca, and downed the eggnog. You may notice your belt is a notch tighter and your body feels more sluggish. During the holidays, so much energy is expended outward that there is little time for self-reflection. As this culture promotes expectations of being happy all the time, there is no room for loneliness or sadness. If these feelings do arise, you push them down with food. Add to this, you may overeat so as to build a protective layer between you and intrusive family members in an attempt to feel safe. This can promote a feeling of being out of control with food, and compulsion takes over.

At this time of starting over, let's explore the two ways to begin the New Year:

The Old Way: Resolution

You force yourself to get it together. You may join a gym with the resolution to exercise every day and declare you will never eat sweets again. After the excitement of the initial declaration of commitment wears off, you miss one day of exercise and feel like a failure. Or you eat one piece of chocolate and your whole day is ruined.

The problem is that resolutions tend to be too grand, too big and too short lived. Resolutions are often followed by "cheating," guilt, and disappointment. In my 20 years as an aware eating life coach, I have noticed that change doesn't happen through force, punishment, or deprivation. When provided with the right environment of kindness, encouragement, and consistency, change unfolds naturally.

Now is the New Year, a time for starting over. There are two ways to start the New Year.

New Way #1: Reset

"Begin today. Declare out loud to the universe that you are willing to let go of struggle and eager to learn through joy." –Sarah Ban Breathnach

If you have plenty of energy and want to charge into the New Year with vigor and anticipation, then you can push the reset button.

Decide on a goal, like working out at the gym every day. But this is way too big. How do I know? You have not done it yet. Now, take your first goal and cut it in half to say, working out three days per week. Then cut that in half again if you need to, until doing it becomes ridiculously easy. Then practice this change consistently for one week, and at the end of the week do something special for yourself. Once you feel success, you build on this one step at a time. If you need support, a life coach can design a personalized plan to fit your particular needs. A coach will help you follow this plan to meet your goals.

New Way #2: Rest

"I said to my soul be still and wait... so the darkness shall be the light and the stillness the dancing." –TS Elliot

Maybe, like many of us, you do not have the energy to charge into the New Year. After all, it's winter. The leaves fall and all the bulbs go underground. Many creatures hibernate. Only humans disregard this natural cycle as electric lights push back the darkness. Rather than fight against winter, you could surrender into the stillness the quiet and the dark, even if it's just for five minutes a day. Renew your life force by a process that spells REST:

R - Recline in your most comfortable chair, with a warm fuzzy blanket around you.

E - Exhale. Feel all of the tension of the holidays simply melting away... dissolving.

S - Soften. Bring your attention to your belly, breathing in deeply, soften your belly, let it fill with air, allowing a warm wave of breath to fill the center of your body.

T - Trust. Imagine a ball of light like a bright sun, glowing in the center of your belly. Feel the warmth and radiance of this brilliant sun cleansing, cleaning out all the debris, all of the residue in your digestive track. Picture yourself drinking an abundance of pure fresh water, creating a flowing river. This river flows down through your digestive tract, clearing out all of the toxins, all the accumulation of the past few months, and washing it out with the tide.

As you feel more and more relaxed, you now trust in your body's amazing ability to regenerate. Even though it looks the same, the body is always in flux as six trillion reactions are taking place in each cell in every second. According to Deepak Chopra, MD, your stomach lining replaces old cells with new cells every five days, the liver every six weeks, the skeleton every three months. By the end of this year 98% of atoms in body will have been exchanged for new ones.

As you eat fresh food full of life force, visualize new cells revitalizing your energy.

Relax and trust the power of your amazing body to regenerate vibrant, healthy new cells each and every day.

As a hynpotherapist, I see over and over again how kindness, relaxation, rest and positive suggestions promote change that is lasting and sustaining. When you choose to rest or reset, you work with the natural rhythms of your body. This shifts your energy from compulsion to compassion, a change that will nourish you now and throughout the year.

Robin Maynard-Dobbs founded Aware Eating in 1991 and has been helping women end their struggle with food through mindfulness, hypnotherapy, and life coaching. Sessions by phone and in person in North Seattle. Free half-hour consultation. www.awareeating.com (206) 789-1764.