New Year, So What?

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years” – Abraham Lincoln

Ready or not, 2015 is here.

In the past week, you might have heard family or friends enthusiastically share their New Year’s resolutions.

If making resolutions doesn’t sound exciting to you, you are not alone. Many people find it downright difficult to create new resolutions when they’ve done so many times and they’re still not perfect! Other people are overwhelmed by the challenge of figuring out what and how to change, or find life too busy to think about the future.

Here are two short writing exercises that can clarify for you what you want in your life, and shift your focus from short-term goals to long term ambitions. Let your resolution this year be to find out who you want to be.

1. Imagine yourself in the distant future – say 20 or 30 years from now. See yourself at that time living the way you want to live. What do you look like? What do you feel like? How do you describe yourself? Where do you live? Is anyone with you? What does your spiritual life look like? What is your financial situation? How do you spend your time? Take out a pen and paper after you’ve done some daydreaming and write it all down, with lots of detail!

2. Write your bucket list - A bucket list is a list of all the things you want to do in your lifetime. Block out 15 – 30 minutes to start your list and challenge yourself to think of 100 items! For ideas, take a look at www.bucketlist.org.

When I wrote my first bucket list, I surprised myself when I let my imagination take off. I was even more surprised when I crossed some items off in the next few years – and learned the lesson that if you dream it, you might just achieve it!