The last week of the year is the perfect time for a yearly reflection: looking back at your successes, your failures, and what you can learn that will help you grow and improve.
Why reflect?
- It helps you to keep things in proportion, especially if you tend to get caught in the story or the drama of life. When we step back and observe our lives objectively from a distance, it is easier to see the facts and release the emotional attachments.
- Instead of repeating our mistakes, we can learn from them and make changes. When you reflect on the past, you become clear what you can do differently in the future.
- Accessing your wisdom and creativity by reflecting on the past year, you end up coming up with new insights and new ideas.
- The end of the year is the perfect time to celebrate your achievements, successes and accomplishments. Reflecting helps you remember them.
What to reflect on?
You want to reflect but you don’t know where to start. That’s very normal. Break it down and reflect on each on of the following areas:
- Career/Profession
- Family/Parenting
- Personal Development
- Spiritual Awareness
- Fun & Enjoyment
- Intimate Relationships/Social Relationships
- Health/Aging
- Personal Finance
How to reflect?
Choose your favorite Reflection Method ? or have fun trying them all.
Morning Pages
Every morning for a week or two, write in your journal three pages titled: ?2011?. Write anything that comes up: positive memories, negative ones, funny stuff, events, and people you have met and liked, people you don’t like, things that makes you laugh, things that makes you cry. Can’t think of anything? Write: ?I don’t know what to write about 2011? and go from there. Just write whatever comes up, without censoring yourself. 3 pages. Every day. You’ll be surprised how much ?good stuff? will come up to the surface.
Gratitude List
Every evening, write a list of ?Things I’m grateful for in 2011?. Don’t over think it. Write down whatever comes up even if it doesn’t make sense.
End of Year Reflection Questions
Read each one of the following questions. Connect to your heart, take a moment get centered, and write down the answer.
- What made me happy this year?
- What made me disappointed?
- Where was I successful?
- What were my top three challenges/lessons?
- Which challenge was my biggest gift and why?
- How did I grow & improve, compared to the previous year?
- Who is the person I have learned the most from?
- For what am I grateful?
- What if the funniest memory from this year?
- On a scale of 1-10 (1 being ?I wish it were different? 10 being ?SO satisfied?), how satisfied I am in each of these areas:
- Career/Profession
- Family/parenting
- Personal Development
- Spiritual Awareness
- Fun & Enjoyment
- Intimate Relationships/Social Relationships
- Health/Aging
- Personal Finance
In order to embrace the new, we must release the old.
An important part of preparing for the New Year is to review the past year.
Have fun with the process and please write in the comment area and share the most surprising fact that came up for you.
Happy Reflection!
Hi Michal,
I like the way you break things down. I am doing a lot of writing and a lot of thinking and reflecting about the past year. It was filled with incredible successes followed by a deep, debilitating clinical depression that was the worst I’ve ever endured. I’m grateful to be depression free and getting back in balance again. I’m also writing a personal essay about my experiences dealing with these horrendous periods of depression when I’m “treatment resistant” in spite of seeing the best psychopharmacologists.
I wish you all good things in the coming year.
Warm regards,
Arlene
Arlene, thank you for taking the time and writing. As I shared before, one of my lessons this year is to reach out for support. In the past, you did amazingly great moving passed old beliefs and behaviors. Depression might be one of them. I am glad you’re better but remember to reach out and accept support. You don’t have to do it by yourself! Hugs Michal