Reflecting and Planning

image from Pixabay

I like to take some time at the end of the year to reflect on the past year and plan for the new year.  One of the best resources I have found is from Susannah Conway.  Her Unravelling the Year workbook leads to deeper thinking. The reflection portion has been bittersweet for me this year, as much of the year involved goodbyes- the hardest was saying goodbye to my dad.

It was a crazy year.  When I looked back at the workbook pages from last year I was amazed.  In one exercise you had to draw an image of an ideal life.  This is what I drew:

This was going to be my ideal in the next few years-not this year.  At the time this was drawn my husband and I had no plans of moving.  What this picture shows is us living in an area that is in walking distance of restaurants, yoga studio, etc.  This is where we live one year later. The top corner of my picture shows me getting some help taking care of mom and dad, and being able to get some space away from caregiving. I got it, but have mixed feelings about it.

The planning portion has been hard for me this year.  I think so much happened last year that I hate to set any goals while the dust is still settling.  I may just keep it simple and try to remember to meditate daily.  (Oh, and find meaningful work-no biggie.) 

Whatever I decide I will break it into small goals like I described in an earlier post.

This year I decided to stop trying to fit myself to a certain planner, and am making my own. Martha Stewart has a great line of organization tools at Staples.  Using her small three ring binder I can customize goal sheets and clip them right in the binder.

It will certainly be interesting to see what next year brings!