Whole Living Daily

A reader asked on Facebook this week why the Whole Living cover we had posted online was different from the one she found in her local bookstore. Yes, it's the same issue -- we just tested two different covers (one with smoothies; one with a more traditional model shot) for our double January/February issue.

And if you haven't seen our first issue of the year, you're in luck -- it's still on newsstands until mid-month, and it's full of truly inspirational, helpful ways make 2011 your best year yet.

If you joined us in January for the Action Plan 28-Day Challenge, you've already got a head start, and now's the time to keep the momentum going. And if you didn't, it's not too late! You can sign up today for daily Action Plan emails all year long, or you can choose to follow the 28-day plan on your own or with other members in our year-round community.

Keeping It Simple
In my editor's letter this month, I talked a lot about resolutions -- one resolution, specifically, the only one I have ever completely adhered to: to take the stairs, rather than an escalator, when I have the option.

For years, that vow has propelled me up countless staircases in malls, office buildings, and train stations. (Imagine my ardor for the man who is now my husband when I discovered that his one successful resolution was to always take steps two at a time, which he claims is a superior workout.)

During the last trimester of each of my pregnancies, I even made a show of regularly bounding past commuters in their rush-hour torpor as the escalator conveyed them out of the Hades-like depths of the 59th and Lexington Avenue subway station (a vertiginous 126 steps). I eventually extended my resolution to include that great enabler of our national obesity epidemic, the moving sidewalk—unless, that is, I'm really, really late for a plane.

Why is this the only resolution I’ve managed to keep? Because it’s so simple. Today, I merely look at an escalator and my legs start to itch while I scan the horizon for a staircase. Still, I have hope for finding another resolution that sticks this year— because of the simple changes I instituted and the healthy habits that I formed over the course of January's 28-Day Challenge.

Living Fearlessly
Wouldn’t it be great if this could also be the year you start living fearlessly? The brain is wired to pay attention to fear, thwarting our goals and intentions at every turn. The good news is that the brain is also highly malleable.

In our current issue,  you’ll also hear testimony to that effect from Jennifer Goodman Linn, whose cancer diagnosis six years ago catalyzed her gutsy approach to living in spite of her disease; Harvard psychotherapist Srinivasan Pillay, M.D., whose pioneering brain-imaging work has proven that we can retrain our thinking; and transformation coach Robin Fisher Roffer, who shares her strategies for creating a “no-fear zone.”

Pick up an issue, let us know what you think, and -- most importantly -- go get ’em! (And take those stairs—two at a time if you can.)

Alex Postman is the editor in chief of Whole Living; this blog post is excerpted from her January/February 2011 editor's letter. Can't find us on newsstands? Get a subscription here. As always, we love to hear your feedback.