Herbs, New Year’s Resolutions and You

First of all, let's talk about New Year's Resolutions. You can use herbs to keep your New Year’s resolutions, or you can have a New Year’s resolution to improve your health with herbs. But what’s all this about? And where did this idea of waiting till the end of the year to make an improvement come from? 

When I was a kid I watched everyone get so serious and critical with themselves about these that I rejected the idea completely. And I had no luck in asking all these adults why everybody did this. I never got answers to questions like that, just “Oh, Rosalie! Nobody else asks these questions! Everybody Knows!”  Well, it took me many, many years of feeling like there was something wrong with me because, how come EVERYBODY knows but ME?!

But I finally learned that those words ”everybody knows” is just code for “nobody knows, we just do it because it’s best not to question.”  But I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t want to challenge everything. I was just curious when things didn’t make sense.

Well, I am still curious. Thank goodness we have a lot more convenience in looking things up on the internet these days because you can at least find out what others know about it and you don't have to depend totally on the people around you.

Libraries are still great, but I couldn't possibly run to a library every time I had a question. Before the internet I used to write down the questions in a little pad and at least once a week I’d go to the library and look them all up. You know that takes a lot more skill and it takes a lot longer? But it was also fun. But I didn’t get to look up all my questions.

Where did New Year's resolutions come from? That was one that I forgot about in the course of events. Well, I just looked it up and no wonder the habit is so ingrained in the culture. It only started 4,000 years ago!

At first it was religious. It was part of the Akitu festival, a twelve-day Babylonian festival which started off the new year, only the new year was considered to be the end of March, beginning of April, which makes sense since it was an agricultural culture. One of the festival ceremonies was the sowing of barley seeds to start the new season off. During this festival the people made promises to their god that they would do better, pay their debts, return farm equipment they borrowed, etc.

Then the ancient Romans adopted this tradition when Julius Caesar changed the calendar and named the New Year January 1st. He named January after the god Janus. Janus had two faces, one that faced the past and the other that faced the future. 

That symbolized it perfectly. And people looked hard at their past and vowed to Janus to change going into the future.

Well, just as it happened in Herbalism, things variously shifted from believing in gods to more material concerns. Some people never dropped the seriousness of it, but it became moral obligation. And I don’t know if you noticed this, but the more serious you are, the less chance you have of being successful at something. That is what I was noticing as a kid. 

In Boston in 1813, a newspaper article that apparently hit home for most readers, made fun at the ill-fated attempts of people to accomplish their intended changes. Only 8% were still at it by the end of January. The rest forgot about it completely or were beating themselves up about it. It went on to joke about the behavior of some to be really bad in December with the resolution to turn over a new leaf in January. And, well, the joke caught on. “Oh yes, my New Year’s Resolutions have gone awry.” And from then on it was called New Years Resolutions whether successful or not.  

At least the phrase’s origins are funny. But it is not very funny that so many people wind up giving up on themselves so easily. Some people really want to change, but it is not very successful to say I am going to be better or to lose weight or quit smoking or whatever and just leave it at that. If it were that easy you wouldn’t be doing the opposite in the first place, would you?

It takes a thought process to change a habit. It is not wholly willpower. Of course, you have to use some self-control or willpower at first to just stop or start something, but if you don’t follow through on a thought process, what is there to keep you on track?

There is a reason that it is not OK to continue as usual. There is a danger of some sort in it. 

If I don’t lose weight blah blah blah will happen. Or, if I don’t stop smoking, I’ll keep damaging my lungs. Or, if I keep burning the candle at both ends, I will burn out!  See? So you handle that situation. Well, I keep eating junk food because I am hungry and it’s just easy to eat junk instead of something nutritious and so I gain weight. So after you spot something like that, you have to fix that situation because if you don’t change that, you won’t stop doing what you have been doing, or you won’t keep up new habits.

So you either hire a cook, or you figure out that you could buy healthy things that are just as convenient, and you stop buying the junk and start eating better.

Now you look at it again and realize that you are actually saving yourself from this situation. It is no light thing to just go zip zip, willy nilly. You decide yes, it is dangerous not to succeed. This reaffirms that you have to stick to it or your goal won’t happen, and it is dangerous for it not to happen. This stiffens your commitment.

Now it’s time for soul searching. Look at your own ethics. What have you been doing that led to this situation? It might be that you decided to stop worrying about your looks after something bad happened because you thought it didn’t matter either way. It could be anything. It is a personal thing. But finding that out, you can then correct it. It is important to be honest and straight, and this gives you the opportunity to right yourself again.

Next you have to reorganize your life so this doesn’t keep happening to you. You might see that your own worth shouldn’t be based on what another person does to you. You might decide that you are your own best friend and how you treat yourself is what counts, and anybody that treats you badly isn’t going to change that. Maybe the problem wasn’t with you at all.

And lastly, you make a firm policy that will detect and prevent the same thing from happening again. You might decide your self-worth is high and nobody else has the right to mar that. So, when in the future somebody has a bad effect on you, you instantly reject it and keep yourself intact

Now what do you think? Isn’t that a far cry from just tossing off a resolution without changing anything else? I believe that if people went through that whole process completely, they would all be successful. It would pull any bad habits out by the roots and establish new habits with better roots. But you know, you don’t have to wait for the New Year to start. You can decide on a goal right now, for yourself, not because you are supposed to, but because you want to and who knows how many goals you can accomplish between New Years.

As far as herbs go, they could be part of accomplishing a new resolution or they can be the resolution regarding your health. 

For example, Ashwagandha can help with your health in general, but can give a boost to your efforts allowing you to overcome the stress of change and can give you more energy that you might need in getting used to doing new things. 

Cinnamon may assist with food cravings and help you succeed in dietary changes.

Rosemary, since it is associated with new clean beginnings, can help with focus and clarity for goals.

Lavender can be used to relax and reward yourself after a long day of sticking to your guns.

Passionflower can help with sleep and overall well-being.

Turmeric can assist smooth digestion and joint health which would support any endeavor.

If you are wanting to start using herbs in your diet and that is your New Years Resolution that is great! In the next blog I will be going over how to start putting together your own perfect combination of herbs just for you. Till then enjoy the season! 

*This article is intended for informational purposes. The statements above have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.