Well it’s the end of the year and a perfect time to celebrate accomplishments and integrate the many things you’ve learned. This can also be a powerful time to let go of the past and step into the New Year with a fresh perspective.
To assist you in that, I’ve developed a 5-step process to complete at the end of the year or at the end of any significant period or project. I highly recommend taking some time over the next couple of weeks and really working/playing through this process. I guarantee it will be well worth the time you invest.
5 Steps to Year End Resolution
1. Wins/Accomplishments: Make a substantial list (minimum 200 items) of your achievements / things you’re proud of / accomplishments over the last year. Don’t limit it to actions; also include character traits that you expressed, emotional states that you maintained, ways that you developed as a person, leader, spirit, parent, etc. Who did you inspire? Where did you go? What did you create? Who did you love? How did you grow? How well did you love yourself? What changed because you acted or spoke out?
2. Assess: Make an objective overview of the year. What did you want to accomplish? What did you actually accomplish? What worked? What didn’t? What did you learn? What will you do differently in the future?
3. Forgive/Release: Is there anything that you’re holding against yourself or anyone else that hasn’t been resolved? Any regret, disappointment, grief, resentment, anything unsaid or left undone? These incomplete and unresolved feelings or actions can weigh us down and make it much more challenging to break through into the next level of growth or success. Be really honest with yourself. What’s the payoff you’re getting from holding onto it? What is it costing you? What are you hanging onto and what’s it going to take to let it go? Whatever it is, I guarantee it will be less painful to address it than to be carrying the weight around and draining your energy indefinitely.
4. Accept: It is so powerful when we can fully accept all parts of ourselves, even the ones we’d like to change. Whether you feel satisfied with where you’ve come by the end of this year or not, you are where you are. Accepting that basic fact opens up so many possibilities for moving forward. Acceptance doesn’t necessarily mean you would do the same thing again, it just means that you let go of holding how you wanted something to be against yourself. Resisting it causes what we don’t accept to persist. If you’re having any trouble with fully accepting any of your choices, actions or results, go back to step 3 and work some more on releasing.
5. Celebrate/Gratitude: What are you grateful for in your life? How will you celebrate yourself, your life, your blessings? The important part here is to make sure that you’re really feeling it. This will create fertile ground in which you can plant your goals and visions for the coming year.
Be creative about how you go through these steps. You can draw or use magazine clippings to represent your accomplishments or what you want to let go of. Consider working on this with your family and/or friends. This kind of process can deepen your relationships with the people you love and assist you in supporting each other in your growth and accomplishments. Have fun with it!
May you build on all the best from last year and embrace this new year with arms wide open.
With love,
