Today happens to be my half-birthday (any excuse to eat cake is legitimate to me), and it happens to be about halfway through the year. It seems like a great time to step back and review what I set out to do at the beginning of the year.
The kind of mid-year review which looks back at New Year's Resolutions and the beginnings we swore we'd begin bums me out a little. It has the feeling of getting dragged to church for confession: tell me what you've failed to or forgotten to do since your overzealous January 1 oath! Let me try to shame you into taking your vitamins and learning how to speak Italian!
I propose reflecting in a different, broader way:
- What did you want to do at the beginning of this year which you've already done or are diligently working on? Name your successes.
- What are you better at compared to six months ago? What have you learned?
- What sounds REALLY REALLY FUN right now? How can you make that happen soon?
- What has been keeping you up at night? Can you find a way to dive into and through that fear?
- What have you intended to do but put off to the point that it annoys you just to think about it? How can you get that done in the next month, or how can you let it go?
- What is something you can do regularly that is guaranteed to make you smile?
- What is something you can do every day to feel connected to your spirit? Put it on your agenda.
- What can you offer to a particular person to bring them encouragement or help? Do it freely without the expectation of scoring brownie points.
Focusing on creating joy, freedom, and positivity in your space will have a more far-reaching impact on your day to day life than switching from 2% to skim milk or forcing yourself to play badminton twice a week for the rest of the year. However, I feel much more dedicated to my practical resolutions when I am light, full of joy, and void of fear. They feel easier to accomplish, too. Strengthening our spiritual foundation makes changes in other aspects of life seem like a piece of cake.
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