REFLECTION + GRATITUDE

I like to do a mini review at the end of each planning period to see what's been going well & what could use some improvement. I also do a larger birds eye view reflection + gratitude session once a year with my annual planning. It's hard to know the best route to take when you haven't stepped back to see the whole picture.

I have a reflection pdf that I've been editing & refining over the years. When I hear someone ask a question that makes me take stock of some aspect of my life- I go to the pdf & see if it is worthy of being added. Does it ask a question in a different way that provides value? Should I edit any of my existing questions to reflect what this question has taught me?

I really wish I had started this practice when I was younger. You always hear people talk about wisdom that comes with age and yet you can't quite comprehend the exact impact until you live it. My younger self would have benefited greatly by some slowing down & reflecting, and especially more gratitude. Hind sight....it's such a strange phenomenon. I try to relay to my sons just how important certain things are- but I can see it in their eyes when they can't quite grasp the depth of what I'm sharing. And yet I know that some life lessons become more valuable when you learn them on your own.

Here are some of the questions I start with:

Who do you aspire to become?

How do you want to feel once you reach your goals?

What do you want to embody?

In order to achieve your goals, is there anything you need to let go of? (*an important one)

What kind of personality traits or habits aren’t serving you anymore?

How can you better nurture yourself?

What makes you feel alive?

Which hobbies would you like to have?

In which areas do you want to grow?

Is there something keeping you from your intentions?

This is just part of my list, but you get the idea.

You hear people describe deathbed regrets and they're never about work and always about relationships and things they wished they had prioritized. I'm sure you've heard the saying, don't live the same day over & over and call it a life. So I want to take stock now, as I'm going along the journey, to keep growing & getting better with each passing year.

I regret those times when I've chosen the dark side. I've wasted enough time not being happy. -Jessica Lange

My goal is not to get to some perfect destination, once I have achieved certain things, then I can be happy. I want to love the way I get to live my life every day, filled with joy, love, peace, & nature. Knowing this, it's easy to reflect each year on things that affected my happiness & peace or the opposite, the things that left me inside a building more than outside in nature. And I can be intentional to create opportunities that leave me more fulfilled.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Gratitude should be the easy part. And yet, I have to work at it. It's easy to let the nuances of life frustrate me. I disappoint myself with my own self-imposed deadlines & expectations. I think I'm faster at some tasks than I actually am. I forget that health concerns can limit what I can accomplish on my own. I get frustrated with results sometimes. I have tasks that I don't like completing. It's just too easy to get lost in what isn't going perfectly.

And yet, I have the ability to spend my time doing the things I love and I know that not everyone can say that. I can work if I want to and I can not if I don't. I have the best family~ both with my health concerns & with my passions- they are my rocks, my biggest cheerleaders, & they support me in every possible way and I could not be more thankful for them. I truly am so very blessed.

And even though I have so much to be grateful for, I have to choose to focus on it.

So that's what I've been doing. I didn't accomplish everything I planned to this year in my business and yet I am so extremely proud of everything I did! I decided to stop playing small and go all in on my bigger dream. And I am making amazing progress. I've added gratitude to my daily prayers and wow, what a difference it makes for my mood. I've even started asking my family what the best part of their day was at the dinner table cause it's too easy to commiserate on the worst moments. And I want home to be the happy place where you get to leave the struggles from the world behind.

You get to choose how your life goes. You get to make changes if you don't like where things are heading. I hope you choose to do more of what makes you happy this year!

Warmest regards,

P.S. I now sell my Focus workbook outside of the membership, since it can help you focus on your goals even if you aren't building a Print-on-Demand or digital product business. You can find it here.