Welcome to a New Year!
Isn’t the dawning of a New Year great?
The potential of everything lays itself before you… all you need to do is take the steps to ensure that this year is better than the last.
And it’s all up to you.
Deciding what those steps will be, that is.
How many past New Years resolutions didn’t make it out the gate? What promises to yourself failed miserably last year?
And why?
You’ll hear, this time of year, that starting with some personal reflection is the starting point for your New Year resolutions to take shape.
Bullcrap!
You know where you’ve been. You know the events of your life and how those events have led you to exactly here, in this moment.
Move Forward Every Day
Last year is history… you can’t change it anymore than you can make the moon closer.
Every decision yesterday leads to your life today. Every encounter, every action has a decision to make and a consequence to live through.
It’s easy to beat yourself up.
Easier still to blame others.
But don’t get caught in this self-pity well of despair.
Your life is your own and you are always in control.
You need to know that the person that pays the price for the things in your life will always be you.
How to Have a Better Year!
I have three New Year resolutions to share with you. (And if it’s not January anymore, you can start with these promises to yourself at any time!)
- Don’t look back
- Don’t fight, walk away
- Offer to help instead of advice
Let me break these down for you:
Don’t look back: Yesterday is done. History cannot be changed, even if it can be mis-remembered. If something happened that you wish was different, learn from it and don’t make the same decision that led you to where you are feeling bad about something (or being hassled because of it.)
Don’t fight, walk away: Nothing good ever came from fighting. Oftentimes the best course of action is to let cooler heads prevail, and that requires walking away from conflict to have a better grip on what has happened and why. Walking away and giving yourself time to look at the bigger picture, and taking time to understand what your heated decision could actually mean to your future, will often give you a better tomorrow.
Offer to help instead of advice: It’s easy to give advice. Sometimes your brilliance in managing someone else’s troubles seems to outshine all other possible outcomes. Don’t fall into this trap. As much as people seek advice what they really want is understanding. Offering to help instead of advice allows each of you to grow and find real support that is needed at the time, and the days to follow.
Remember, the course of your life is up to you. At the end no one else is walking to the next life with you.
And this is true for every moment of every day.
