Happy New Year!

I wish you all a truly great 2017, filled with love of friends and family, amazing opportunities, good health, laughter, self-improvement, inspiration and lots of good things!

Friday Art & History Feature - Old Russian New Year's Greeting Cards

In the spirit of the holidays and because I'm a bit nostalgic about my childhood right now, here's a collection of old Russian and USSR New Year's Greeting cards. New Year was THE holiday that everyone celebrated for many years (since the government pretty much outlawed the celebration of religious holidays, like Christmas, during the Soviet years. Now people are back to celebrating those again, thankfully!)The Rusisan equivalent of Santa Clause is Old Man, orGrandfather, Frost (Ded Moroz), and he's often seeing with his granddaughter Snow Maiden (Snegurochka).

Note: All the cards say "Happy New Year" in Russian.

Enjoy!

 

 

Happy New Year!

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MAY IT BE THE BEST YEAR YET FOR ALL!

2013 - The Year of Non-resolutions

For better or worse, every year I like to make my resolutions for the New Year. I approach the New Year with excitement and hope, as well as enthusiasm for the work to be done - whether on the fitness front, the writing front, professional front or anything else. But so does every else - for better or for worse.

Every year I, along with thousands of other people, make some of these resolutions and goals and don't make others. It's an old story, probably as old as time itself.

Well, this year I'm changing it up for myself. I decided that this New Year's I'm not going to make resolutions. Now, it doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to completing old projects, working on new ones, cultivating great habits and working on general self-development. The next year (2013) is going to be a year of more hope and excitement for me than in a long time, as a matter of fact. Between hubby and I buying a new house, working on various writing projects (individually and with my writing partner), and working on some professional goals, I'm hoping for a great year! I will work hard and try to bring all my goals to fruition. I will not, however, beat myself up anymore if some of those goals are not quiet at the fruition stage by the end of the year. I will just keep working hard the year after that. And after that. Well, you get the point.

Whether you're making resolutions or not this year, I wish each and every one of you out there a great New Year. May all your dreams come true, may it be smooth sailing (even with hard work) for you to reach all your goals. As long as the journey towards those goals makes you happy.

Here's to a great New Year, 2013!

Keeping The New Year's Momentum going

Keeping The New Year’s Momentum Going

You’ve made the New Year’s resolutions, the way you do every year. January 1^st, you’re all primed to go. You’re psyched and excited about accomplishing all your goals. This will be the year you do it all!

We’ve all experienced this, year after year. I definitely have. The problem is not with setting goals and making resolutions. The problem is keeping the momentum going. And not just through the first week or two of the new year but throughout the whole year. That is the only way to look back on December 31^st and realize that this really was the year you reached your goals.

As all of us know, keeping the momentum is easier said than done. That is the trick of tricks. So how is it done?

One psychological trick is not to start on January 1^st. Start your resolution on December 30^th on January 3^rd when you go back to work after the holidays. This is a cheat but it works. Why? Because starting on January 1^st can seem exciting and scary at the same time. After all, it’s a special, “magical” day, the cutoff of things old and beginning of things new. This thought can be daunting. What if you screw it up, this new beginning? Purely psychological manipulations of human psyche but we all do it. The other, simpler reason for starting a couple of days later is that we’re still often in the holiday mode. We are still with family and friends, eating and drinking and being merry. We might not go back to our regular work lives until 2-3 days past January 1^st. And if we fail to jump straight into our resolutions during those days, our excitement might dim, our determination may waver.

Once you’re ready to jump into our resolutions with both feet, you have to remember to have SMART goals:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

If these five factors are not accounted for, it is much harder to keep the momentum going. We all need smaller realistic goals and time frames to push us forward.

Keep in mind that “realistic” is specific to your life and your every-day demands. What’s realistic for one person may not be realistic for another. For example, for someone who works full time and has kids realistic, let’s say, writing goals might be very different from someone who can write at home all day. To be successful, it is imperative to be reasonable and realistic with your goals as applied to your life. And only you will know what those are.

It is also very important to review where you are in relation to your larger goals/resolutions every week or so. This serves a dual purpose – it lets you see what you have to do next and it also raises the level excitement and satisfaction at seeing how much has been already accomplished.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy New Year everyone! May all your wishes come true and may muse find you everywhere you go and in everything you do!

HAVE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR!