Often, this time of year, we are reflecting on our year, where we wanted to be and looking ahead to the clean slate of the new year.
While I am very introspective, I also had to learn how to slow down and actually celebrate, acknowledge and applaud my growth, successes and “wins.”
Naturally, given my enthusiasm and energy, I’m inclined to only “sort of” acknowledge my progress: “Wow, that worked out well! OK, on to the next thing!”
But I’ve learned that a crucial part of creation is celebrating how far I’ve come, and deliberately letting go of the things in my life that no longer serve who I am now.
“Celebrate your accomplishments so thoroughly as to burn the bridges of who you were before,” is how Brian Regnier put it.
The idea here is to so completely acknowledge our growth that everything we do going forward will be from this new vantage point. That the old will be left behind and from that new horizons and new possibilities are now both conceivable and achievable.
From this new place, each of us has the opportunity to recreate anew – to envision and imagine what we want in our lives from an entirely new place.
Even if you don’t feel that you have accomplished enough of your goals this year, I invite you to look at the micro-changes, the baby-steps, the starts and progress you have made this year.
Those “small” accomplishments combined to create a massive difference, and more importantly, if we acknowledge our baby steps by focusing on what IS working rather than what is not, we create more room for the bigger changes to come too.
Here is a simple exercise to help you celebrate your accomplishments this year:
- Write down everything that you are proud of this year, every little and big thing.
- Trust what occurs to you and get it out on paper so your subconscious mind can begin digesting all you have done.
- Then, answer these questions either in writing or out loud with a trusted friend:
- What is possible for me now?
- What can I see for my life now?
- What do I want my life to be like now?
- Now, with these new possibilities written down, brainstorm your New Year’s resolutions or 2015 Goals and Intentions.
The point is to set our goals and intentions from where we are now, not where we were a year ago. I find this exercise really helps me to lock into my consciousness how far I’ve come and how much I’ve grown.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes for you! I can’t wait to hear.
