By MICHELLE HARKEY-WILDE

Los Alamos

Okay, so last week we touched on why it is wise to ease into changes instead of making a whole bunch of New Year’s Resolutions which are likely to fade away into nothingness, leaving only the dreary sense of failure once again.

Last week I encouraged you to track your water intake for the week – don’t change it. Track it.

Got it? Good.

Now’s the moment to decide what to do with your information. Will you opt into changing something a little bit, or are you good where you’re at?

Confused about what to do? You’re not alone. Even the experts have differing opinions, yet each is viable for the right person.

Here are three ideas to consider:

The tried and true suggestion of 8 glasses of water a day. Assuming those are 8 oz glasses, that’s only 64 ounces of water a day.

Stacey King, CFNP, who practices here in Northern New Mexico suggested upping the water to 80 ounces per day. She said, “Since we live in a desert, we need a little more water.”

Another approach, as given by Dr Batmanghelidj, author of Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, is to take your weight, divide it in half and drink that many ounces of water each day. So, if your weight is 180 pounds, you would want to drink 90 ounces in this model.

It’s up to you to be informed about your health, be in touch with your body enough to notice what feels good/bad when you make a change, and consult with your various health care practitioners when needed.

Now, should you find you’re really quite low on your water intake you might feel compelled to increase it drastically. I encourage you to not do that. Remember our “hidden mind” discussion from last week? Take it slow and easy. You have plenty of time to adjust and readjust what you are doing over the next weeks, months and years.

While you start doing the adjustments (or not) to water intake this week, we’ll embark on another tracking series.

This time I invite you to get in touch with your thoughts. Start to pay attention to the words running through your head each day. Write them down on paper, or on your computer or phone notes if you must. A notebook or journal is a great thing to find or purchase just for our experiments together. (I have my reasons for asking you to write it out on paper if possible.)

A caution here: beware perfectionism. Perfectionism says, “If I can’t do it exactly right, I just won’t do it.” Something is better than nothing in this adventure. Capture some thoughts. Even a few of them will be more useful than none.

Once again, don’t try to change anything yet, just notice your thoughts and record them. And don’t judge them, please.

Join me next week as we delve further into creating vitality in life.

Michelle Harkey-Wilde is a Body-Connection Coach, licensed mental health counselor, massage therapist and integrative wellness specialist. This column is for educational purposes only and does not create a client-practitioner relationship. You are responsible to exercise caution in implementing any ideas contained herein and accept responsibility for your actions. Consult with your physical and mental health practitioners before implementing any new practice.