Hope you had a wonderful holiday!
Thank you for the Christmas and holiday wishes that you sent. I can’t respond to each one personally, but I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy and appreciate them.
Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday – and I have many friends from other faiths who do not – I hope you still took advantage of the holiday spirit and the time off from work and enjoyed yourself.
Hopefully you are still enjoying some time off from work, and hanging out playing with your Christmas gifts…or your kids’ gifts.
My big gift this year – from my beloved partner – was a Nook e-reader.
I love to read. I love learning and exploring through the written word, coupled with my imagination. And I love my books.
I’ve reluctantly given in to the explosion of digital reading options and even publish some of my own stuff digitally. However, I wasn’t sure whether I was ready to give an e-reader a try.
Apparently my “better half” knows me better than I know myself. I love the Nook! We also added a Kindle Fire to the family mix and are having fun exploring both options.
While I will always love my books, and will continue to invest in building and benefiting from what has become a pretty extensive library…I now have a new option for building and reading and exploring. This has added another dimension to my plans for this year, in terms of my own self-development and improvement goals. It’s exciting!
Which brings me to my point for this tip….
You know, right now – before New Year’s Eve – is a great time to take stock of the past year.
Think about what went right. What went wrong. In what areas were you successful? In what areas did you make progress? In what areas did you fail, or simply not follow through, or give up?
Since you are speaking with yourself about these things, and don’t have to worry about what anyone else thinks….be honest.
Very important: Give thanks for the blessings and positive things and people in your life. Give thanks and recognize yourself for those things you did achieve, bring to conclusion, or push forward.
Equally important: gift yourself with an honest appraisal of where you are in the important areas of your life.
Look at your health and fitness. Your personal development. Your family and relationships. Your career or business. Your financial health. Your spiritual health. The larger contribution you are making in your community.
How have you done in each of these areas?
This is a ritual I follow each and every year, prior to the New Year.
It gives me a chance to assess where I am in relation to where I want to be…count my blessings….then make decisions about my priorities for the coming year and begin to plan how I will focus on these priorities.
This process – which doesn’t take that long – renews my motivation and my hopes for the future. Desire, hope and expectation are wonderful lubricants to significant, long-lasting achievement. These “friends” result naturally from having interesting, exciting and challenging goals and dreams for your life.
So think objectively and honestly about where you stand today. Are you happy and content with every aspect of your life?
Use this process as a foundation for setting goals and making plans for a successful and – above all – fun and interesting 2012.
You Can Do It!
Karen Van Ness
“Best Breathing Exercises: Transform Body Mind and Spirit with Dynamic Energy Exercise!” http://www.BestBreathingExercises.com
P.S. The New Year is almost upon us. Have you made a commitment to finally improve your breathing, your health and your fitness? If so, I can help! Check out my programs, articles and blog at the Best Breathing Exercises website. Free shipping on all programs is still available!
Plus, I’ll be coming out with some new programs and resources to benefit you in the New Year. I’m psyched for a great year! I hope you are too.
Copyright, Karen Van Ness, 2011