A perfect time for reflection

Most of us are super-busy during the holiday season — getting ready, traveling, celebrating in all sorts of ways. There’s lots of emotion in the air (and often a mix of emotions).

Happily, we get a short respite between Christmas and the start of the new year.

I treasure this space. With festivities behind us and so many people on holiday, things get quiet. I find this to be a perfect time for reflection.

Reflection is something most people never get to doing. Life is always hectic! But when you make time to slow down and look back great things happen.

Meaningful reflection requires time and space. You must slow down and get quiet, and that in itself is an important gift you can give yourself.

Taking time to reflect enables you to gain perspective. Rather than drifting from day to day and week to week until a year has sped by without insight, when you create focused, quiet time you can see so much! With thought and attention, you can consider what worked in your life, and appreciate yourself and celebrate your accomplishments. You can also spot the patterns or habits that kept you stuck.

The insights gleaned from reflection afford you tremendous opportunities for moving into your future. This is a time to consider what you want to build on, as well as what you want to do less of — or stop doing. Consider the qualities you need to cultivate or nurture to live your best life. Start to consider the goals you want to set, and how you can reach them.

Why not create a special ritual for this process? You might even want to begin an annual tradition of reflecting. Here are some ideas to consider.

1. Set aside some time for yourself at a particular time of day, and find a place you like — a cozy nook, in front of a fire, a special chair — to settle into.

2. You might want to ask someone to be a partner. Sitting together, you can do some thinking and writing, and then share your insights and ideas with one another.

3. Designating a lovely journal for reflecting can make this a more special experience. And the journal can also be your place to note reflections at regular intervals during the year. (You might reflect monthly or at the start of each new season.) Your periodic reflections will help you stay clear and aware as you move through the year.

4. You can approach the process of reflecting in a range of interesting ways. One possibility for getting started is go through your calendar for 2018 and review the entries for each month, then note insights that come to mind.

Another approach is to create lists as your jumping off point. Try noting your Top 10 highlights of the year, or Top 10 lessons learned, or the 10 most important things you want to stop doing in the future. Next, jot down WHY each thing is on your list, and what you learned related to the entry. Before long, you’ll have a rich array of insights.

5. Having made the time to thoughtfully reflect, be sure to create time to process all that showed up. Make a date with yourself to return to your notes, and highlight the biggest insights. From there you can set intentions for how you want to make the year ahead one of growth and expansion, and begin to set commitments for taking action.

I wish you and yours a wonderful final week of 2018 and a New Year of living big!

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