The year is nearing an end, and a new one is ready to begin. A decade is closing out while a new one is being birthed. New Year’s is upon us, and while I find it magical, it’s truly just another day.
I LOVE about closing out a year reflects on the people and places I experienced the past 365 days—the happy moments to the sad moments and everything in between.
What I LOVE about starting a new year is the blank canvas to create from. I am looking forward to what I want to experience in the next 366 days (leap year) from personal to professional experiences.
What I’m not fond of about ending a year and starting a new year is the comparison we tend to do. The resolutions we make and often don’t fulfill. The disappointment we experience when looking at our ‘goals’ at the beginning of the year and where we end up at the end of the year as we put such high hopes on a ‘New Year’ and forget that it is just another day.
Now, when I say, it’s just another day, please don’t think I’m dissing it as for me, every day is precious and special. Do we live every day thinking it’s precious and special? Most likely not, but it is. It’s a 24-hour opportunity to show up as your best self, to live in appreciation, and to be kinder than you were the day before.
As we close out this year and prepare for the next, I invite you to do so by:
Picking a word, or phrase, to help guide you in making decisions in the upcoming year. Mine for 2020 is:
‘what would Mr. Rogers do?’
Comparing yourself only to YOU. Be better than you were the day before. Often, it’s so slight you don’t even notice it, but if you choose to live in a state of appreciation, you’ll find you are bettering yourself daily. Know there are always going to be people who seem to do ‘better’ than you and those that appear ‘worse off’ than you. Send LOVE rather than comparison.
Taking time to reflect on the past year on what you went through, got through, and danced through. Most of us have experienced great happiness and deep sorrow within a year as that is part of life. Look at the past year from a lens of LOVE as LOVE heightens the celebrations and lessens the sorrows. I also review my mission, my values, and my bucket list to see if they still hold and make adjustments as needed.
Asking yourself what it is you want to experience in the upcoming year? I personally start with generalities… I want to experience more LOVE, kindness, compassion, health, abundance, and delightful surprises. Then I write down what that looks like to me while allowing it to unfold in magical ways I hadn’t thought of. I also write down steps I can put in place to get things rolling on what I want to experience.
Being of service. Ask yourself how can you better serve yourself and others in the upcoming year? When you are of service to others, you are truly serving yourself too. Being of service can be as simple as sharing a smile, a kind word, or a kind gesture. It can also be picking an organization you admire and volunteering or donating to them for the year.
Mostly, my wish for you as we close out the year and start anew is to know you don’t have to ‘do’ or ‘be’ anything different than you are today. Each moment offers us the opportunity to continue working or changing course if it’s not. Each moment offers us the opportunity to LOVE deeper. Each moment allows us to forgive ourselves and others. Each moment allows us to realize it’s just another day… precious and special.
Until next time, LIVE and LOVE each precious moment.
Affirmation:
I choose to live LOVE each day.
Words to LOVE by:
“Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.” – Og Mandino
“Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.” – Henri Nouwen
“I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.” – Groucho Marx
Sounds for Your Soul:
