Advent Calendar Day 23 – A Time for Reflection and Introspection

This is the time that most of us stop to think about what we have achieved over the past year, ponder life events and evaluate how successful we have been in achieving our goals.

For most people, the goals that we set to achieve in January are long forgotten by February, so this can be a slightly depressing activity. But fear not, there is always an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive. So here are a few mental exercises to try that will turn this time next year into a more positive and uplifting experience.

1. Think about one of the goals that you committed to last year, but never achieved. Take 10 minutes and write down 10 things you could have done during the year that would have helped you achieve this goal. Feel free to do with all your previous goals and then action it into next years plans.
2. Pick a small, achievable behaviour-based goal that you can do every day between now and the New Year. This will become part of your daily routine and set you up for better success in 2017
3. When reflecting on the year there is a tendency to dwell on the negative things that have happened, so here is an activity that can help you remember all the positive things that are going to bless your life in 2017:

• Buy yourself a pad of post-it notes.
  • Get yourself an empty container or jar.
  • Every time you have a great life experience, you achieve one of your mini goals or have a wow moment in your life, write it down on a post-it note and put it in your reflection jar.
  • At the end of next year, empty your jar and go through the post-it notes.
  • You will quickly realise that you have actually had a great year filled with amazing experiences and many goals achieved.

Here is hoping you have had a great 2016 and that 2017 is going to be even better!