How to Keep Your New Year's Resolutions

I’m not one for making New Year’s Resolutions. If I feel that something needs to be done, first I decide if it's in my power to acheive and make plans in my head on how to go about doing it. Secondly, I start off small and constantly work towards where I want to be and what I want to accomplish.

I’ve heard too many times about resolutions of losing weight, saving more or working less. Most of these plans go out the door before the end of March (if they make it that far).

I can’t say that I know anyone who’s made a New Year’s Resolution and stuck to it all year long. Do you?
If you are someone who makes these resolutions and find it hard to stick to them, here are some simple ways that may help.

• Have just one resolution
• Define it properly and know exactly what must be achieved
• Create a time table to enable you to do it in portions or stages
• Tell your close family what it is and rope in their help too
• Choose a time to start. Your start day needn’t be January 1st
• Important: When you fail, pick yourself up, dust off, and start over again. Remember that failure isn’t a malfunction or a stumble. It’s a complete crash. Learn to get up when you fall.

To start you off on your path to success, here is an amusing New Year article to tickle your funny bone: Superstitions That Make You Say 'NoWay'

Have a Beachy Christmas!

image source

Have a great Christmas everyone. There will be fantastic news about Sunday's Child in the new year!

Would You Have Christmas in August?

Most people in our world celebrate (or at least experience) hot Christmases; yet because the rich has dominated the globe, it’s the cold Christmases which have been propagated throughout. People in hot climes have Santas dressed up in thick, bulky red and white costumes in sweltering heat. (There is an amusing excerpt about a South American Santa taken from my memoir here).



I never thought it odd as a child, but Christmas cards were covered in snow and robins, neither of which we’d ever seen. Our Christmas carols were filled with messages of snow and log fires, while young children listened as stories about chimneys and Jack Frost were repeated to them annually. I used to think that Jack Frost was Santa's assistant, having never experienced frosty weather at the time.


In  this article Reasons Why Christmas Should be Celebrated in August I discuss some comical reasons why Christmas should be celebrated in the heat instead of in December. These include the following:
1. There would be no expectation of, therefore no disappointment when it doesn’t snow.


2. Santa could enter through the windows we leave open in the summer rather than having to stuff his rather large self down the sooty chimney.


3. We can finally get rid of the awful warm mulled wine people insist on serving (because it’s so cold) and drink some proper cold beer instead.


Let me know if you agree. These are just for fun.

Christmas in A Hot Climate

I’ve always been curious about how other people in the world celebrate Christmas. I grew up in a hot country in South America so all through my childhood, I enjoyed blistering hot Christmas days while ‘I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas’ beckoned to me on the radio (when we had enough money to buy batteries, that is).


The tree was never put up until midnight on Christmas Eve night. The tradition was that no one – except the person putting up the tree – saw it until they woke up on Christmas morning.
On the night before Christmas, it took ten minutes to walk around the town’s one high street to look at the lights. Of course this only made sense if there was no black–out (widespread power shortage) that night.


Christmas breakfast was pepper-pot and bread. The hot, black juice dripped down our chins as we slurped it all up, after the two allocated slices of bread were gone. I miss the taste of the soft, spicy meat in the cassava sauce. There is no other taste like that in the world.

There were never any presents, as all the extra money went on the two special meals we would have that day. The music and annual Christmas play on the radio were enough for my Christmas cheer.

Lunch was macaroni cheese and hot ginger beer. And just like it had come, Christmas sneaked out the back door when the last of the food was gone. It was hot though. Nice, hot and sweaty. Just the way I like it. Bing didn’t mind. He just kept singing. And if my guardian was in a good mood, I would be allowed to sing along with him too.


How did you celebrate Christmas as a child? Here is one of my articles called How Christmas is Celebrated Around The World. I know you will find it a very fascinating read indeed.

A Model's Guide To Losing Weight Without Dieting: The New Book

My new book is now available to buy at this link. I promise that it will not disappoint.

Below are short and long synopses.

‘A Model’s Guide to Losing Weight’ is a workable solution to banish nagging weight issues and keep them gone for good.
It’s a powerful, new-age guide. It hands over responsibility to the readers by inspiring them to attempt the lifestyle changes even before they’re introduced, and gives them the option to move at their own pace.
This innovative weight loss programme teaches way of life, not a diet. It coaches readers on issues of portion control, a new system of mind-training, and sustainable physical activities, with no strenuous exercises.
This is a clear, easy-to-follow, step-by-step plan with solid psychological reinforcements. It offers the readers the option to personalise the steps for individual tastes.

Longer synopsis:


How to use this book


A step-by-step guide which painstakingly outlines how to lose weight naturally and sustaining this weight loss for life. It is vital to note that this programme is presented in a chronological order and has to be followed in this way. The book is small and handy, ideal to keep with you to dip into while travelling or listening to music etc. Use the empty pages at the back and the large margins to scribble on so that whatever catches your eye can be found again with little effort. This is about you, the reader, taking an active role in making this all about your efforts.
~Chapter one is the general description of the programme giving the readers samples of how the guide works, what to expect and a description of the tasks ahead.


~Chapters two, three and four deal with different aspects of the first four weeks and introduce the basics of programme. These chapters go hand in hand to set the foundation of the new lifestyle. The last chapter (Kilo 4) in this section outlines devious ways to prevent hunger from attacking and points the readers in the way of healthy snacks rather than banning them altogether.


~Chapter five offers vital psychological support and gives guidance on how to behave when temptation presents itself after the stepping stones have been laid. It provides the interim maintenance crutches between the introduction and the honeymoon period of the programme.


~Chapter six starts week five of the lifestyle course. This entire chapter is dedicated to the issue of desserts because it’s crucial to address this before moving on with the mind-training aspect of the programme.


~Chapter seven is another interim chapter dedicated to the issue of food shopping. It’s imperative that this be addressed because it has been revealed that our shopping trolley is a direct reflection of who we are and how we eat.


~Chapter eight settles into the new lifestyle with the added bonus of a healthy and rational mind-set about food. It validates the safe period and steps up the commitment to the work at hand.


~ Chapters nine, ten and eleven reaffirm the journey and show how people who live healthy weight lifestyles maintain it permanently. It reveals the secrets of creating a different outlook about life and weight and gives the courage to keep at it.


Each chapter concludes with a timetable of what has gone on and what is to be undertaken next. Everything is laid out clearly in a simple format that shows what the journal (known as the H.I.T journal) entries should look like. There is an ultimate task at the end of the programme which will reveal to the reader their individual take on the entire system.