Reflecting on the past year

It’s that time of year again!

It is interesting to me how busy everyone thinks this time of year is when to me it is not at all. Are our points of view about what the “silly season” is all about creating our reality? Or are we just perceiving how others feel about it and think it is our own stuff?

I invite you to take a moment and breathe, centre yourself, and become aware of what is really true for you right now.

A time for reflection

The one thing I tend to do at the end of the year (usually between Christmas and new year’s day) is to reflect on the year just gone.  Years ago read a great piece by coach and author Lisa Murray who suggests that we usually judge ourselves too much when we do this, and I tend to agree with her – one of my standard questions to myself used to be “what can I do better?” which is actually presupposing that it wasn’t good enough in the first place!  Lisa said that we should be celebrating our successes, even if we think they are small (no judgment there either, right?), and suggests we use these questions when reflecting on the past year:

• What have I created?
• What went better than I imagined or planned?
• What did I create unexpectedly?

I have some other favourite reflection questions, that are particularly good for reflecting about your business, but can be used on a personal level too….  And, I suggest that you reflect on them from a place of awareness and compassion, rather than judgement, if possible.

From Steve & Chutisa Bowman, Access Consciousness® Certified Facilitators who work a lot with big business:

• What is working?
• What is not working?
• What am I missing?
• What do I need to change/adjust?

From Taki Moore, Marketing Coach for Coaches:

• What are your top 3 wins / magic moments of the year?
• What are the biggest challenges you grew through? What did you learn from them?
• What unfinished business do you have?
• What are the top 3 things you hope to achieve this year?
• How do you want your ______ to be different this year? (marketing, sales, revenue, etc)

Please have a play with them (I will too) and let me know what magic happened for you this year.

Wishing you a safe, calm (don’t sweat the small stuff), and joyous holiday season filled with family, food and fun!

Karen Howard is a counsellor, coach, energetic body worker and yoga teacher.
She is also an Access Bars® Facilitator and a Body Process® Facilitator.
You can connect with her via her email alwaysshinebrightly@gmail.com