New Year: What Am I Making Of Myself?
At the end of every December it is common to reassess what the past 12 months have meant. It is also commonplace to set goals for the calendar year about to begin. If you take a moment to evaluate where you were one year ago and where you are now, is the balance positive or negative? Taking responsibility for ourselves and our lives is a necessary step in breaking out of the cycle that keeps our lives stagnant. Without it, 2018 or any other year, will just be a repetition of years past.
It is time to get to work. Transform your life from the inside out and create a year that is worthy of you. Start by answering the following questions:
What is my main value in life?
What is my secondary value in life?
What makes me emotional?
What fills my heart? What would propel my waking up?
What are the strongest ideas I have during the morning?
What do I think of when I go to bed? Who do I think of?
These responses are your values, which is another word for beliefs. Now that you are aware of them, you can start to act in line with the person you want to become. Write down the following so you always remember: My beliefs dictate my actions, and my actions make up who I am.
Socrates said one of my all-time favorite quotes: “An unexamined life is not worth living.” Therefore, once you get to know yourself, and think for yourself, you will be able to understand your behavior: why you choose what is familiar, albeit painful, rather than a new possibility; why situations repeat themselves with new people or in distinct places; why tasks are started and not completed; and why you cannot forgive yourself for the mistakes you have made.
The comfort zone is a dead zone. There will not be any new lesson, any surprise, if you choose to dwell there. And trust me, it is a choice. A daily choice that one makes. Everything that makes you comfortable leads to mediocrity. The more you challenge yourself, the more you will be able to answer the calling of your life.
There are two types of individuals: the ones who know their purpose and who are doing the daily work they were put on Earth for, and the ones who have no idea they have a personal legend to live and who will simply exist until they die. The reality of the world is as such: everything that is not expanding, is contracting; everything that is not getting better, is becoming worse.
This New Year, throw away any list of external goals you have. My wish is that you focus on yourself. Go back in! Get very clear on who you are. From there, take different actions by stepping out of your comfort zone. Your self-knowledge coupled with your self-expansion will guide you to beautiful breakthroughs.
This line from A Course in Miracles rings particularly relevant now: “Miracles are everyone’s right, but purification is necessary first.” Let us purify our minds of fear-based thinking, reconnect with our essence, and allow love to shepherd us anew into 2018.