Happy New Year

Welcome to a New Year!

Its quickly becoming an extraordinary year of breakthroughs and new realizations.

I encourage you to reflect on on the previous year. Take out some paper and a pen, your journal, or an Evernote note.

Even though I use Evernote every day, for an exercise like this, I actually prefer paper and pen. There is something about the right brained creative nature of writing that allows things to flow differently than if I am typing the answers. As you answer the following questions, don’t limit yourself to just 1 answer. Let it flow until it is complete and then go on to the next question.

Consider the following about this past year:

What and who do you feel blessed by having in your life?

What was extraordinary?

What was tough?

What did you learn from both types of experiences?

Growth happens when you learn and change.

What were the top five (5) things that are most important to you? (Some examples might be your children, spouse or partner, health, career, a project or hobby, friendships, religious or community organization … you get the idea)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Did you devote as much time and attention as you would like to toward each one this past year?

Think about how you can devote more time to those things that matter most this coming year.

Look at the whole year and determine the one best experience that brought you the greatest amount of joy.

What are the top 5 things you want to accomplish or experience this coming year? (Goals work much better if they are measurable. Saying I want to weigh a certain amount or lose 2″ off my waist is much more effective than saying I want to be happier. If you can’t measure it, then you don’t know when you have achieved it.)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

As you look at what you want to accomplish or experience this year, is there a way to include more of things like that one great moment in those goals and desires.

What did you learn about yourself this year?

How has that knowledge helped your health, wealth, relationships, or level of joy?

Richard Bolles, the brilliant man who brought us the amazingly helpful book, What Color is Your Parachute, says in another of his wonderful books, The Three Boxes of Life, that you need to experience work, play, and learning in equal amounts of be balanced and happy.

I remember a quite handsome surfer dude from California, whom I met when he was getting a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Virginia Tech, said, “If you are going to work hard, then you need to play hard.” I never forgot that. And I’ve always managed to do that whether the “play” was wine and great conversation with friends, travel adventures, skiing, in-line skating, listening to live music, attending festivals and other events, dancing, hiking, meditating on the beach or a mountain top, growing flowers, taking photographs, creating articles, books, or graphics, leading groups, or any number of other things that bring me joy.

When you plan the year ahead, make sure there are things that you enjoy in the mix.

Also make sure there is quiet time, time to yourself to read, knit, enjoy a hot tub or bubble bath, journal, or just kick back and relax.

I spend hours on the phone with my best friends. It keeps me sane. Part of the time we are discussing spiritual concepts that I’m working on as part of what I teach. Other times we help each other look at our life through another lens learning and growing through life’s daily challenges.

Somewhere in your life you need to have people who love, honor, accept, and appreciate you for who you are. I am blessed to have many of those – probably because I’ve learned to love, honor, accept, and appreciate myself. I also have a pretty cool affirmation I’ve been saying for years that goes something like this: “I have lots of fabulous, interesting, uplifting friends from all over the globe who are fun, love to laugh, are passionately living life, and who make a positive difference in the world.” The “uplifting” bit makes a HUGE difference. Its easy to find people who suck your energy and complain all the time bringing you down. Having people who are upbeat, passionate, and uplifting to be around is a true blessing.

Look at the main areas of your life and decide where you want to experience change or improvement:

  • health
  • level of joy
  • wealth
  • love / romance
  • family
  • friendships / community
  • career / work
  • hobbies / passions
  • spirituality / religion
  • home (environment, location, how nurturing is it to be there)

Think of ways to incorporate those areas into your goal setting and planning for the year.

In the Foundation Course I’m developing, we are going to do a deep dive into each of these areas and how to create significant transformation in each of them.

To achieve your dreams significantly easier and faster requires that you let go of fear, limiting beliefs, judgments and expectations that are all holding you back and ensuring that you stay safely inside the box you’ve created for yourself – not achieving or doing anything new.

What fears, limiting beliefs, judgments, and/or expectations did you let go of this past year?

That is the true mark of success!

Here’s to a fabulous New Year,

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Takara Shelor
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