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5 Ways to Live Better in the New Year

New Year, tips, resolutions, cedars-sinai, spiritual care

Every year, countless people resolve to do better—be healthier, get organized, save more. What about spiritual goals? We decided to ask a rabbi for some tips.

Rabbi Jason Weiner, Senior Rabbi and Manager, Spiritual Care Department at Cedars-Sinai, shares these 5 New Year’s tips.

Give voice to your feelings

Experience probably tells you that talking things out helps you make sense of your feelings. Which makes you feel better. And when your feelings include expressing gratitude, studies show a correlation between this unique positive expression and happiness.



Practice a daily discipline

Each new day presents us with the opportunity to make positive changes. Aside from making you wiser, healthier, or more inclined to give thanks for life’s many blessings, having a daily discipline such as study, exercise, or prayer makes it easier to make other healthy choices. Studies indicate that there is a relationship between high self-control and a range of positive outcomes, including better eating choices (which might make some of your other New Year’s resolutions a little easier).

Seek your meaning or purpose in life

In the words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, “Where what we want to do meets what needs to be done, that is where God wants us to be.” In addition to making your life richer, finding meaning may also make your life longer.



Give

Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor, psychiatrist and author of Man’s Search for Meaning, was known to quote philosopher Soren Kierkegaard saying “The door to happiness opens outwards.” In short, think less about yourself and more about others. Being part of a community has long been shown to have health benefits, so volunteering is one way to both give and receive.

Love others

Try to find the good in everyone. Just see if it doesn’t make you more joyful.

Whatever your personal list includes, Rabbi Weiner suggests making achievable resolutions and holding yourself accountable by sharing them with others. And if resolutions don’t quite gel for you in January, you can have another shot in September during the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.