2007 NEW YEAR'S GRATITUDE HOMEWORK
This week, as we move forward bright new year, I find that it's important to honor our past as we pave the way for the future. Take some time between now and New Year's eve to join me with some "Gratitude Homework" before 2008 begins.
Take your journal or a piece of paper, and answer the following:
1. One challenging situation from this past year that you would handle differently if it arose again
(giving gratitude for the wisdom you learned through this experience!)
2. Three challenges that gave you an opportunity to learn and grow and become wiser or more compassionate
3. Five ways in which you have changed for the better since this time last year
4. Seven people you are grateful for in your life, and why
5. Nine things that brought a smile to your face
Sit in silence for 5-20 minutes after writing this list. Sit in silence – in joy and gratitude – for the gift of this past year and all it's joy, laughter, tears, and challenges (which often times are the greatest gifts of all!)
Now shift your energy forward into the coming year. Sit and imagine yourself 1 year from now and write down three things that you most wish to change, accomplish or create in this coming year. (Write the statements has if they've already happened.) Sit for as long as necessary to find the 3 things that speak most to you, that fill you with joy, and bring the most excitement at the thought of their achievement!
1.
2.
3.
Now copy these three things again onto two other pieces of paper - one to carry with you every day of this coming year (in your purse or wallet) and one to display prominently throughout the year - either on the bathroom mirror, your dressing mirror, above the kitchen sink, by the door that you exit to leave for work, or wherever you will see it on a daily basis. Even though you may have hundreds of things you would like to see change over the next year, picking just three will help keep you focused. Changing even one major aspect of our life can have powerful, ripple effects into every other area. Other things besides these three will naturally manifest throughout the year, but staying focused on your major goals, over and over and over on a daily basis, can bring about the most lasting, dynamic changes.
What you think about most, you bring about!
When you've written down your three 2008 resolutions, email them back to us! I'll post them to my blog so you all can be inspired and connect with others that are working toward similar goals...
© 2007 Stephanie McWilliams LLC
