I decided a long time ago that I was done with New Year’s resolutions.

Why?

Because they never worked.

I used to set all the big ones - to exercise more, to eat healthier, to attract healthy love, to spend more time outside......

Every time, New Year’s Day would come and go, with all of it’s excitement and promises of new beginnings, and I’d slip right back into being my old, comfortable self.

It turns out I’m not alone.

42% of people make at least one new year’s resolution, and only 8% of them keep it.

If you’ve ever wondered WHY this happens and how we can flip this paradigm on its head, then keep reading!

Why it's so hard to change

Experts in the field of neuroscience say that by the time you are 35, you essentially have a subconscious computer program that runs you.

It's made up of your most deeply ingrained thoughts, emotions, beliefs, reactions and behaviors.

You are largely functioning on auto-pilot.

In Yoga, this is called your Ahankara. Ahankara is your sense of self. You build it by gathering information from the world around you, from what people tell you about yourself, and from your successes and failures in life.

It becomes so rock solid by the time you’re an adult that trying to change it is like moving mountains.

Your automated computer program dictates the decisions you make, the behaviors you engage in, and how you feel about yourself and the world around you.

Neuroscientiest Joe Dispensa says that this automated computer program, or your Ahankara, makes up 95% of who you are.

So take a moment and do the math. If 95% of who you are is locked down, that leaves FIVE percent of who you are that is still malleable.

When the new year rolls around, you may have the VERY BEST INTENTIONS in your heart when you take stock and think about this time of renewal and how you want to seize the opportunity to grow, to make a change, to better yourself.

Setting that intention, feeling the possibility and believing in yourself, is so beautiful and powerful.

But that poor little 5% goes up against the super fortified 95% that is so locked down and so practiced at what it does, it is almost always a losing battle!

Here is the hope

There is extremely good news in all of this -- It's actually really easy to completely re-program your automated computer system.

By easy, I don’t mean it doesn’t take work. It requires commitment and effort. By easy, I mean it's extremely accessible to absolutely everyone.

How it works

I want to share an awesome research project with you to show you how this works.

A harvard scientist brought in a group of volunteers and had them practice an exercise on the piano for two hours every day.

After one week of practice, the area of the brain devoted to their piano exercise had grown significantly. New neural connections had formed. They had altered the structure of their brain through the repetition of their practice - after just one week.

The researcher brought in a second group. They didn’t touch the piano. They didn’t even move their fingers.

They simply imagined how their hands would move if they were actually practicing the piano exercise.

Amazingly, the second group had the same growth in their brains as the first group -- meaning the mental training alone physically changed the structure of the brain!!!

What this means for you

You can easily re-program your subconscious computer system. All it takes is consistency and commitment.

If you want to be more healthy and active, meditate every day by visualizing yourself already being that healthy and active person.

What does she look like? What behaviors does she engage in? How did she act? How does she think? What does she wear? What does she eat? How does she feel?

To make it most effective, don’t get up from your meditation until you feel like that person.

Repetition is the key!

If you do this once in a while, it won’t have the effect you need to make a lasting change. But if you do it every day, you will re-wire your brain to be the person you want to be.

If you remain committed, your body and your life will catch up.

So, please please please if you’ve made new year’s resolutions, add this piece to the actions you’re taking to make them a reality.

Now, leave a comment below to share your resolutions and how you plan to make them stick!

I believe in you!