The Tribune

By BIANCA CARTER

The beginning of every year is a good time to put new things into place; to start something with no excuses that will make a positive difference in your life.

Many people call these new goals, resolutions. I don’t typically choose to refer to my yearly goals as resolutions, but that’s just me.

I have more of a working list of things I want to accomplish that will improve my overall quality or life, like eating more whole foods, or even more simply, things I want to do that I haven’t done yet, like learning French. I try not to set myself unattainable goals, although it’s always good to set the bar high.

Ever heard that saying, change your mindset and you can change your life? Sounds simple enough; it’s not exactly that simple, but it’s a start.

Yes, it’s very true that having the right type of mindset, a positive one, is essential to having a great life.

The right attitude is a very small, self discipline change that makes a huge difference in the way we look and react to the world. But as we all know, we live in the real world and things come at us sometimes unexpectedly and unfairly, and it’s very easy to break good habits and fall into the trap of thinking negatively.

Don’t beat yourself up when that happens. Just get back on the bandwagon when you fall off; it’s never all of nothing, and tomorrow’s a new chance to start again.

If you’re going to tackle this positive thinking goal for 2017, you’re going to need to be cognizant of a few traps that can affect your decision.

Negative attracts negative, so all those gossip-talking, pity party, “Debbie Downer” people you know may rope you into your old habits and thought processes.

I’m not going to suggest you cut them off, in fact maybe you might actually influence them to start thinking more positively and productively. If that doesn’t work, just limit the conversation and interaction, and don’t take the bait; there’s always a silver lining.

Furthermore, changing something in your life is going to take practice. Keep training your mind to think more positively even though it may be instinctive to go down the negative road of things. Remember, everyone is entitled to have a bad day or two, but when the dust settles, pick up where you left off.

Thinking positively can do amazing things for your life, both in a tangible sense by pushing you to believe that you can do something, which then you achieve, but even more importantly, when things in life aren’t so great, and challenges are great, thinking positively through whatever situation that arises will allow you to think more clearly, make better decisions, and make you ponder the good things rather than the bad. Not a shabby way to start a new year!

• Bianca Carter is a certified lactation counsellor (CLC) and founder of Bun in the Oven.

For more information, e-mail her at info@babybunintheoven.com. Follow BITO on Facebook at babybunintheoven, and check out the BITO Blog every Monday and Thursday at http://babybunintheoven.com.