About Those Resolutions...

It's the beginning of a new year and most people resolve to become healthier or learn something new. The library is a great place to find books on how to live healthier lives, find new hobbies, or improve your outlook on life in general. This month we are featuring books to help people make (and keep?) our New Year's resolutions.

Keep Your Brain Alive: 83 Neurobic Exercises to Help Prevent Memory Loss and Increase Mental Fitness by Lawrence Katz will help you exercise your brain to keep it young and sharp. "A neurobiologist provides simple ways to exercise your brain, enhance your memory, and boost your cognitive health. Over forty? Getting forgetful? Having trouble learning new things, or remembering that actress’s name without reaching for your smartphone? Chances are, your brain needs a workout, and neurobics—simple, unique brain exercises that can be done anywhere, anytime—are here to help. In this little book, you’ll find eighty-three brain teasers and challenges that will keep your mind occupied, whether during work breaks or on your commute, at mealtimes or at the market. It’s a fun, effective way to keep your neuron pathways fit and functioning, now and as you age." (from Amazon.com)

"Welcome to the era of white noise. Our lives are in constant tether to phones, to email, and to social media. In this age of distraction, the ability to experience and be present is often lost: to think and to see and to listen. Enter Rob Walker's The Art of Noticing—an inspiring volume that will help you see the world anew. Through a series of simple and playful exercises—131 of them—Walker maps ways for you to become a clearer thinker, a better listener, a more creative workplace colleague, and finally, to rediscover what really matters to you." (from Amazon.com)

Evangelist and bestselling author Joyce Meyers has penned Look Great, Feel Great: 12 Keys to Enjoying a Healthy Life Now to help us feel better with our bodies and ourselves. "The bodies God gives are instruments for experiencing a fulfilling life on earth, for doing good works, for spiritual development. To do the work individuals are meant to do, they need to keep in shape. They must maintain a sound mind, body, and soul. Yet in the modern world, it is all too easy to let one, two, or all three of these slip. LOOK GREAT, FEEL GREAT presents Joyce's twelve-key plan to address the epidemic of "self esteem drought" that appears to be a factor in perpetuating habits that create poor health. Additionally, Joyce will provide helpful resources, like the "Ounce of Prevention Checklist," for self-maintenance." (from Amazon.com)

"In an attractive, oversized format, enlivened with illustrations, sidebar quotes, personal accounts, techniques to try, and profiles of leaders in the field, Discovering the Body's Wisdom by Mirka Knaster is a basic resource for well-being and natural health. Body disciplines and therapies have enjoyed phenomenal growth in the past decade, becoming a major alternative to mainstream medicine and traditional psychotherapy. But with more than 100,000 practitioners and dozens of methods available in the United States alone, how can consumers choose the right one for themselves? Mirka Knaster's richly informative guide provides an overview of the principles and theories underlying the major Eastern and Western body therapies, or "bodyways." It shows readers how to befriend their own bodies, getting back in touch with their internal sources of health and wisdom. It also describes more than 75 individual approaches, answering such questions as: How does each therapy work? What can we expect from one session or a series? What are the reasons for selecting this method? How do we find a qualified practitioner? What, if any, are the "consumer-bewares"?" (from Amazon.com)

Health coach Gayle Reichler helps people live healthier lives with her book Active Wellness: a Personalized 10 Step Plan for Health Empowerment. "Enlightened by the author's own story of recovery from cancer, here is a unique lifestyle philosophy and a practical guide to feeling your best for a lifetime. Active Wellness encompasses every facet of choosing—and, more important, staying with—a healthy lifestyle. From mental preparation to changing old habits; from creating personal eating and fitness plans to recognizing and managing stress; from dealing with the threat of self-sabotage to celebrating the thrill of success, this is a unique, full-spectrum program that has been proven effective, showing that healthy living is easy when it is satisfying to your body, mind, and spirit. A comprehensive health plan with a strong weight-management component, the Active Wellness program has been adopted by tens of thousands of individuals, groups, and corporations across the country." (from Amazon.com)

"In Living Well, Montel Williams explains the science behind his successful battle against multiple sclerosis, interviewing a global "SWAT Team" of doctors, scientists, and researchers, and reveals the amazing effects of healthy eating and regular exercise. Most importantly, Montel shares his groundbreaking 21-Day Living Well Food and Workout Program? a hard-hitting health plan of diet changes, a step-by-step exercise plan, and the gradual addition of raw and whole foods to daily menu plans. This three-week regimen forms the cornerstone of Montel's successful dietary health plan. Also included are simple, wholesome recipes that are as healthful as they are delicious. For anyone who wants to fight obesity, cancer, heart disease, and neurological diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or multiple sclerosis; or if they just want to feel spectacular every day." (from Amazon.com)