The end and beginning of the year are potent times to reflect on your life and gain clarity about goals and priorities. It’s a time to dig deep and decide whether you’re on track with what you want to accomplish over the year or whether you need to establish changes to correct your course.
Even if you are not measuring goals, maybe there’s other things you’d like to consider, like doing more traveling or visiting friends and family in these post-pandemic times. Perhaps 2020 and 2021 taught you to prioritize the important things in your life, like relationships or to have more free time in your day.
Questions offer insights about how your life is flowing. It’s easy to go through our day without a thought about how it could be better or how we can let go of stress and anxiety to bring ease and simplicity to our lives. By digging deeper into your year, in this case 2021, you can get an idea of the areas that you may want to change. You can also decide to put additional energy into those areas that you would like to manifest. If you’ve been wishing for something to happen in your life and you haven’t taken the steps to carry it out, then realize that it is simply a dream, as it takes energy in the form of planning and action to make things happen.
When asking yourself these questions, leave out the criticism and judgement. It is not a time to beat yourself up about what you didn’t do. On the contrary, it can be freeing and hopefully enlightening. You can remove the unnecessary items off your life “to do” list and bring greater focus into the next actions that will bring greater joy to your moments.
Take this opportunity to get to know yourself better. Perhaps your beliefs and values have shifted and these questions can be a good way to redefine who you are at this time, in this moment, as 2021 has come to an end and we are in the early days of 2022. Keep in mind that it takes courage to be honest with yourself and vulnerability to face what is true.
To effectively do this exercise, ask each question one at a time. Take a few moments to let it sink in then and write down the answers in a journal or a note taking app on your phone, like Day One, Diarium, Penza and Five Minute Journal. Another way to do the exercise is to carry around one question with you ask yourself it 4-5 times throughout the day to get a clear answer.
I want to thank Mac Ling, a coach who practices in Hong Kong, for a number of these questions. Let get started.
- What did 2021 teach me about myself? How would I define myself right now? Use adjectives, feeling, emotions and desires instead of describing facts that everyone can see on the surface, like your job or the hobbies you engage in.
- Who showed up for me, and how can I nurture those relationships? How can I show them that I’m grateful for their support?
- What challenges have I endured through and have overcome this year? What steps did I take to deal with them? Am I happy with the outcome?
- What triumphs or successes have I experienced this year? What did I do personally to make them happen?
- How did I cope with uncomfortable feelings? How did I become aware of these feelings? Was I able to share them with another person, especially if they initiated these feeling within myself?
- What have I learned that I need on a daily basis to stay focused, balanced and positive?
- What do I need to accept about myself in my life? Do I find it hard to accept myself?
- How can I accept others more readily, stop judging them show empathy and compassion?
- What actions/thoughts are no longer serving me?
- What’s one area of focus I would like to prioritize for my personal development in 2022?
Good luck and happy processing!
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