Greetings friend~
As the year winds down, I’m aware of how easy it is to just slip into planning for the next one.
Personally, I’m already hyperfocused on my goals for 2024.
Still, It can’t be expressed enough how important it is to also spend time going over the year we just lived so that we can
mine and absorb the experiences past.
The value found can also help
guide your new year goals
and it sure does feel darn good to take time to see just how far you’ve come.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you had forgotten or haven’t thought about in awhile many
moments that could still bring you much joy to
remember having lived, accomplished, overcome, experienced or simply… gotten through, or otherwise…
Cheers to honoring yourself with a minimum amount of time to reflect on the gifts 2023 really brought.
Side note: This can also be a time to try and find how the harder more challenging experiences actually were also opportunities for learning and growing. This can often be difficult, but it has been my personal experience that it tends to be the most valuable and informative!
So, how to reflect?
The best part is there is no perfect way. Yay!
However you find enjoyable for you is perfect enough. Though if you like a little more structure, like me, here is my favorite simple and fun way to reminisce and find value in the past year.
Activity: A Year in Highlights:
I love to do this. It’s going back through 2023, however you find works for you best.
I recommend
looking through your calendar, or if you take photos on your phone,
go through each month’s photos and remember the highlights. Oh, what fun!
This activity for me, brought back a plethora of highlights of the year I had not thought of in what seemed like a long while, and without having done this activity, would likely have been left as distant memories.
I recommend doing this on your own and then or also with your partner if this pertains to you.
It is a great conversation to reminisce on your year together and can open up a lot of information about what each of you remembers, how you remember it, and the values or lessons you have and or still can take away from those times together and apart.
I don’t believe this should only be a reflection of the good times.
I recommend adding the “good” and “bad”. (*though I don’t consider anything inherently good or bad they just are and our experience and thinking makes them so…)
but for clarity, add both because YOU, having made it through difficult times is even more telling about the person you are now and on the way to becoming, your strengths and or weaknesses,
and it can also provide ample information about what you might or might not want to carry into the new year. So much good information.
What if you took on the thought or belief that challenges you face are simply information trying to teach you something? ~ Food For Thought(change)
Some bonus questions to ask to expand a little more, if you fancy.
With these, use what you like, and also add any questions that come to you.
Trust that you know what you need and can evaluate your years experiences.
If you want support or an outside perspective, write me and I can help you too.
What were the happiest, most joyous times in your year?
Write it out.
What was the circumstance, who/what/where/when/how?
What did you value about those times that made them happy?
What did you learn about yourself, the things you want or don’t want in your life, or what else was important, and what can you take forward? *If you do this with your partner or family member, did they remember things differently or have a different takeaway? (This can inform you of the things they value as well.)
What were the saddest, hardest, angriest (what have you??) times in your year?
Write it out.
What was the circumstance, who/what/where/when/how?
What factors made this experience ‘unpleasant’?
What did you learn about yourself, the things you want or don’t want in your life, or what else was important, and what can you take forward? *If you do this with your partner or family member, did they remember things differently or have a different takeaway? (This can inform you of the things their perspective and could open doors to understanding each other better.)
THIS is the point, understanding yourself and others better, what a blessing that alone is in life.
And I am certain you will gain much more insight, joy, gratitude, as well as reflections on the changes, loss, and uncertainties of the past, though I believe it can and likely will come up more positive, motivating, and productive than not.
You will have more clarity on going forward into 2024 and what you want this coming year in your life to look like.
“When the things you want to change in your life going forward are created on the things that were a struggle in the past, a deeper conviction is born.”
Wishing you a brilliant and blessed reflection on 2023 and renewed clarity and focus for 2024.
Let me know what came up for you.
Blessings and blue skies,
LeeLee
