Kids are back in school and you are back to work. Are you sinking back into your same old routine or are you keeping that New Year’s energy flowing?

I love the start of a new year. So much excitement, joy and hope for creating a life that you love.

Part of envisioning what you desire for 2012 is built on appreciating how far you have come.

I know it is easy to dive into a laundry list of things we didn’t do, resolutions we broke, pounds we gained, money we wasted, time we wasted, and all the other things we did “wrong”.

Focusing on what we didn’t do leaves us little energy to say HOORAY for all the things we did well.

So this year… I challenge you to take some time to reflect, honor, and show gratitude for all the wonderful things you experienced and accomplished in 2011.

Here are a few things on my WOW list for 2011:

1. Completed the 60 Day Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) challenge and won an amazing trip to Costa Rica! Made incredible new friends, saw Howler monkeys, zip lined across the rainforest, and had many other ADVENTURES!
2. Ran two 5Ks after taking 3 years off from racing. I challenged myself despite the fact that I knew I was much slower than I used to be and decided to go for it and HAVE FUN.
3. Kept a personal gratitude journal and a family gratitude jar.
4. Slept 7-8 hours on most nights. Huge improvement from the previous 5 years of getting by on 6 hours or less.
5. Led two mini-restreats
6. Studied and practiced lots of creative parenting techniques to improve my patience. Yelled less often.
7. Climbed mountains in Maine, Virginia, and Maryland with my family. Lots of kayaking and canoeing too.
8. Launched my new website.
9. Made my kids lunches at night instead of during the crazy morning rush. Hey- this might seem little but moms know this is BIG.
10. Took belly dancing classes, hula hooped, did handstands, cartwheels, jumped on trampolines, and played a lot. This is something I plan to do more of in 2012…my year of fun and adventure.

As you can see….everyone has something to be proud of…no matter how big or small.

Go ahead and make your list. I promise it will be fun!

Wishing you a magical New Year- Michelle

Keep your employees body healthy, well and safe with our monthly My Wave Live Well, Work Well newsletter. We also provide educational fliers targeting specific health conditions.

Click here for the Live Well, Work Well Newsletter.

Benefits Buzz is a monthly newsletter that features two short, easy to read, “hot” benefits and/or HR topics along with a “Did You Know” factoid.  Legislative Briefs will keep you informed on the hot topics regarding healthcare, employee benefits and HR issues.

Click here for newsletter

HEALTHY AND HOT:

* Discovering what foods work best for your unique body

* Easily reaching and maintaining your natural weight

* Saying goodbye to a lifestyle of counting calories, points, and eating “diet” foods

* Savoring delicious, nourishing foods

* Getting enough rest

* Feeling satiated and free of food cravings

* Eating when you are hungry

* Discovering joyful movement that you love

* Enjoying delicious self care

* Treating your body with love and respect

* Feeling confident that you are feeding your family well

* Scaling back on the weighing (bye-bye scale) and learning to listen to your body

* Feeling vibrant, energetic, healthy and hot

UNHEALTHY AND NOT HOT:

* Stressing out over calories, points, fat grams, or carbs

* Feeling deprived

* Out of control emotional or stress eating

* Not getting enough rest

* Hating your body

* Blaming yourself for not having enough willpower to stick to your diet

* Worrying about passing on your negative body image and/or eating habits to your children

* Feeling controlled by your food cravings

* Starving yourself to fit into your skinny jeans

* Letting the number on the scale affect your mood and self esteem

* Doing exercise you hate to pummel off the pounds

* Skipping meals

* Putting yourself last on your priority list

* Needing coffee and sweets to make it through your day

* Feeling hopeless and giving up on feeling your best