By: Ashmar Mandou

You survived the holidays and now it’s time to be committed to your resolutions. Below are a few ways to commit to true wellness in mind, body, and spirit. Following are a few to consider:

Be in the Present                                      
Whether you’re paying the bills, doing push-ups or reading to your toddler, put 100 percent into the task. As financial guru Suze Orman says, “Multi-tasking is the ruination of quality” and one of the most frequent ways we get off-course is by phoning and texting while we’re with others and doing other things.

• Think about it: Delivering 50 percent of one’s energy and expertise to one project, 30 to another, and 20 to still another, all at the same time, is giving short shrift to each.

• Last, according to MIT professor Sherry Turkle, among many reasons for putting the phone down: media multi-taskers think more slowly, and too much phone use can ruin relationships as they tend to make us ignore each other.

Eat Healthily
We are what we eat – hair, skin and teeth, energy level and well-being, as well as weight and waistline. Start the New Year off right by following these tips gathered from several reputable sources:

• Drink water throughout the day and say “no” to sugary drinks all the time.  

• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Aim to make them 50 percent of every meal.

• Eat three proper meals a day … instead of skipping and binging.

Sleep More
According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults need from seven to nine hours of shut-eye each night. Unfortunately, not all of us heed this directive. Here is a trick that might help:

• If you’d like to be asleep by 10 pm, but find it impossible, try going to bed 15 minutes earlier than your norm for a week. Add another 15 minutes the next week, and so on until you reach your goal. Done slowly like this, you will barely notice the difference.

Get Movin’
No matter what shape you’re in, start exercising. With so many choices these days, there’s something for everyone. Find a gym or join an organization like the YMCA that offers a vast variety of reasonably-priced classes. Try these tricks to stay motivated:

• If you already exercise, change your routine once in a while. Find spinning a snooze? Try boxing. Zumba too loud? Maybe yoga is more your thing. Whatever it takes, keep your workout interesting so you keep doing it.

• Ask a friend to join you. Take turns encouraging each other and celebrating achievements, as well as complaining about how sore your muscles are.