1. Drink more water: I definitely drink MORE than enough coffee for one person, but I’m slacking in the H2O department. This month, I want to consciously make an effort to drink more water – alllllll day long! Drinking water is good for your your hair, skin, heart and so much more.

2. Be present: I’ve been catching myself thinking about the future WAY too much and really need to slow down. When will I be at a certain spot in my career? When will I meet the man of my dreams? How many kids do I want? Where do I want to live next? What is going to happen if this happens? In the opposite direction, I’ve also noticed that I’ve been thinking about the past a lot lately and been too overly concerned about past mistakes and regrets. Nope, not in October! A favorite quote of mine is this: “Being present is imperative to not overlook the opportunities that lie in front of you and the inspiration that could potentially be the catalyst of a new adventure.”  This month, I really want to focus on appreciating, enjoying and simply BEING in the exact moment I’m in – and being absolutely, wonderfully okay with it!

3. Stop complaining: If you really want to, you can always find something to complain about. For me, it’s usually the weather, public transportation system, that I’m tired or upset with someone. Yikes! Not okay. This month, that is going to end. When a negative thought comes into my head and I feel the need to say something out loud (and therefore, complain), I’m going to combat that with an affirmative statement. An example complaint: “Public transportation in SF is so slow! It takes 30 minutes to get from Point A to Point B.” An example affirmative, positive statement to prevent me from complaining aloud: “AT LEAST I have the opportunity to live in a city where I don’t need a car. I’m saving money by taking public transit.” 

4. Send handwritten notes:

I’m the queen of emailing/tweeting/texting/Facebooking my friends to catch up but this month, I’m taking it offline (somewhat). I want to make sure to send more handwritten notes to friends. I absolutely LOVE receiving old-fashioned mail and want to surprise friends randomly with little love notes this month!

5. Treat everyone equally: It’s easy to be nice to people who are nice to you back, duh! It’s also nice to treat people well that you are trying to impress. But why? What difference does it make who someone is, how they treat me, what their job or economic status is, etc. etc. etc. I’m sick our culture looking down on people who are less fortunate than we are – and I don’t want to fall in the trap. This blog post was a refreshing reminder to me that we are all the same – all equals. The homeless man on the street, my roommate, my coworkers, the random stranger on the bus, EVERY SINGLE PERSON deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. And I want to live out that action this month.

6. Stretch! Morning and night. Every day. Done.

7. The never-ending resolutions: As you may know, the nine tasks in the image below are what I challenged myself to do at the start of 2011. Below are details on what a few mean to me specifically, but I highly recommend reading the full list here. 

• SEEK WISDOM:I highly value the influence and impact of mentors and those who have already been in the situations I’m in. I want to be constantly challenging myself, enlightening myself and filling myself with knowledge. Wisdom goes deeper than knowledge-Wisdom is a deep understanding and realizing of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to choose or act to consistently produce the optimum results. Seeking wisdom means constantly striving to grow and learn daily.
• BELIEVE IN POSSIBILITY: Anything is possible and this year I want to make the conscious decision to remember this. I shouldn’t rule anything out. Instead, I’m choosing to believe that absolutely anything can happen and reminding myself I am capable. I have potential. I have possibilities.
  

>>> Thanks for reading! I decided to write out my monthly resolutions once again (remember my September resolutions?) Sharing my goals for the month in a blog post is just another way for me to challenge myself to live them out daily. Please, remind me to do them! What are your monthly resolutions? Do share! xo