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Showing posts with label happy new year images. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happy new year images. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
New Year's + Follow Following From party icons to fun New Year greetings, ring in 2011 right!
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As new year approaches, will Lakers show more resolve?
0 commentsComing off an embarrassing Christmas Day loss to Miami, Lakers show a new 'feisty' streak at practice, according to Coach Phil Jackson. But the next two games, Tuesday at San Antonio and Wednesday at New Orleans, will be major tests.
After a Christmas Day game to forget, the Lakers met again Monday amid claims of an added feistiness at practice, the need to move the ball more often and, in Ron Artest's case, a desire for more playing time.
The Lakers are a mess, last week serving as their worst in recent memory as lopsided losses to Milwaukee and Miami nudged the franchise off balance for the second time in a month, following a four-game losing streak that ended Dec. 3.
Kobe Bryant actually practiced Monday, a rarity for a 32-year-old who hadn't scrimmaged more than a handful of times this season. He didn't talk about it afterward with reporters, letting his words after the Miami debacle continue to speak for themselves as the Lakers headed into tricky back-to-back games in San Antonio and New Orleans.
"I didn't hear anything verbal" at practice, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "He just went out and played hard."
The practice was closed to media members, but Jackson said his players "got feisty with each other. That's good. Competitive."
Artest had a couple of small scratches under his right eye, presumably acquired during the previous two hours, but said he didn't remember how he got them. He did, however, suggest that he should get more playing time after a fourth consecutive game under 24 minutes.
He had eight points in 21 minutes against Miami on Saturday and did not appreciate sitting out the fourth quarter. He is averaging only 7.6 points, sixth on the team, and shooting a ragged 39%.
"From an offensive standpoint, I was going pretty well, almost having a semi-breakout game," he said. "I felt good in the last couple games. It's just unfortunate I'm not able to work my way off the bench at crucial times. I've just got to continue to work out like I do, stay sharp."
The Lakers (21-9) are the opposite of sharp, their record puffed up by having played only six games against teams with winning records. They are 2-4 against such teams but get another chance to prove themselves Tuesday in San Antonio after flopping against Miami.
"We've been through this before," Jackson said. "Three out of the last four Christmases have been kind of bummers for us."
The Lakers appeared to be on solid footing after going 5-1 on a trip against weaker competition, but then they scored 79 points against Milwaukee and 80 against Miami.
Jackson blamed it on lack of ball movement. He also wondered about the players' off-court mind-set.
New year's resolutions: Always an uphill climb
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With the close of 2010 just days away, many of us will plan for the arrival of 2011 by making a new year's resolution or two.
But given the fear — and past experience — that our best-laid resolutions will fade away before they even get off the ground, we often dismiss new year's goal-making as irrelevant and useless.
WHAT TO DO: Now, in January, in February and beyond
Still, experts say that we tend to do better with our resolutions than we give ourselves credit for, and that with a few tweaks our resolutions can become part of a valuable annual self-inventory that can have a major payoff.
"Many institutions do an end-of-the-year strategic analysis, where they take stock before going forward into the new year," says Temple University psychologist Frank Farley, a past president of the American Psychological Association.
Likewise, this is the perfect time for us as individuals to take "a personal assessment of ourselves and decide how things have gone in the past year by asking, 'How are my relationships going?' 'How's my work life going?' 'How's my health?' " he says. In this culture, we "pretty much accept that a fresh start will occur in the new year and that we can put the old behind us."
The new year represents a tremendous opportunity for self-improvement, agrees psychology professor John Norcross of the University of Scranton.
According to research by Norcross and colleagues, 75% of resolution-makers will be successful in mid-January, 50% will still be sticking to it by the end of the month and 40%-46% can claim success six months out.
"If you look at it as the glass being half full, that nearly 50% are making their resolutions stick for at least six months is impressive," says Norcross, whose research examines self-change in general and new year's resolutions in particular.
And it's even more striking, given that the typical new year's resolutions deal with smoking, exercise, finances and similar "life-sustaining issues," he adds.
Research also shows that even when people give up on a resolution, whatever initial success they have achieved helps lay the groundwork for later improvement. "People build on the small successes," says Norcross. "They learn how not to relapse quickly, they learn what works and what doesn't work" to keep them motivated and on track.
Still, many of us will fail early in our resolution attempt, and one of the most common culprits is unrealistic expectations. "We set our goals way too high," perhaps because we "get carried away at the moment we make them," says San Diego psychologist Tracy Alderman.
"Anything sounds possible when you're celebrating on New Year's Eve, even losing 30 pounds in a month," she says. "But it doesn't happen that easily. You have to keep your goals realistic."
Setting short- and long-term goals helps, she says, as does developing a plan to achieve your goals and recording the plan on paper. Documenting your effort "helps to keep you on task."
Also, consider enlisting a co-conspirator or two — family or friends or even an online group — to support and encourage you, Farley says. "Sharing your goals is helpful. Often it's hard to keep to these goals long-term on your own."
Finally, because "there's only so much time we can bring to each commitment," Norcross says it's best "not to dilute" your effort with a laundry list of resolutions. Research shows you have more success with just one or two.
A new year and a fresh start
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Lose two stone and the wobbly bit around my middle. Get fit and maybe even run a marathon (how you would laugh at that one if you knew me better). Learn to speak Spanish. Save more or make more (preferably both). Spring-clean my cupboards, house, finances and… life in general. Be a better wife, mother, daughter, relative and friend. Re-write my will and review my pension. Put my photos in albums (not done since I was 19). Take up ironing, read better books, play more golf and visit art galleries. Be more organised (especially with my filing) and become a much more patient, kind, lovely and charitable person.
All of the above have appeared on my New Year’s resolution lists at some time or other. Some, I admit, appear year after year. Most are broken by day three and discarded by day seven.
I’m not the only one. Researchers reckon that fewer than a quarter of us will keep our resolutions, which makes me wonder why we bother? I believe it has something to do with the optimism of a fresh start. It is the chance to change, to improve and to become the best possible version of ourselves. Midnight on New Year’s Eve is like a line drawn in the sand: we leave behind any mistakes and failings from the past and we step into the future, with all its limitless potential.
It reminds me of being a child and the feeling that everything was possible on the first day of school after the summer holidays. I would open the pristine, blank exercise book, get out my new pen and resolve to make a real effort to do my best. The first few days, I would use my neatest handwriting, lay everything out beautifully and concentrate like mad so that I didn’t make any mistakes. By week two (if not before), the handwriting would slip and the usual corrections from my teacher would be scrawled across the page. Reality would kick in, old habits would return and I would promise myself it would be different next time.
Why do so many of us fail with our January resolutions… and some of us even before the Christmas decorations have come down? I believe that we put too much pressure on ourselves; we set goals only because we think we “should” or “ought to”; we aren’t specific enough about our objectives; we don’t plan to succeed; or we just feel too lazy, stressed, busy, tired, hungry, ill, upset, bored, or demotivated to make it happen today and then, by tomorrow, it’s too late – our desire has beaten our will, yet again.
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