Tell Giselle: Resolutions for a lifetime

Dec. 31. Our weekly advice column from Giselle Massi, a former journalist with The Denver Post.

G: When I am asked about what my new year resolutions are, the answer I give is pretty short. I don’t have any new ones. I’m just sticking with the old one. More on that later.

It’s not that I don’t think it is a good idea to get a plan in place for how to use the new year to achieve goals, it’s just that the approach many people take is not always effective.

Rather than making a commitment to get healthier by exercising more, cutting back on the junk food or recreational drugs, losing some of that extra fat, or beginning that creative project or business venture, and saving more money instead of frittering it away on things you really don’t need, even reading more books, consider viewing each day of 2026 as an opportunity to be kinder.

Think about it, if you were to prioritize kindness in all things, you’d turn all of the difficult challenges of the resolutions you’ve set for yourself on their head.

For example, when you are truly acting out of the mindset of being kind to yourself, you will naturally regard your body and your health with greater appreciation and respect. You’ll look at those extra calories you consume mindlessly in a whole new light. You’ll be reminded that taking them into your body, even if it’s just the sugary drinks, isn’t the way to be kind to you.

Self-kindness makes it a whole lot easier to stick to a health plan.

When you prioritize kindness, you’ll see the trash in your neighborhood, or in the parks you walk, as an opportunity to be kind to your fellow citizens and to the animals who make those areas home.

You can carry protein bars or beef sticks in your car to hand out to the people on the corner seeking money or help of some kind. Or have a spare coat or sweater in your car to offer them.

I came to this kindness awareness and practice about 10 years ago. My father’s father, who had been dead for 30 some years, came to me in a vision. He looked as I had remembered him in his youthful and vibrant days, slender, wearing a crisp madras shirt. Everything was in color, not black and white.

He was standing only a few feet beside my bed, and was there to tell me that the whole life experience is “about kindness.”