Here’s to the New Year!
The beloved hot dog dude!
The beloved hot dog dude!
I took a road trip this holiday season to the Big Apple to celebrate the new year with my loved ones. As a native New Yorker, I found that I have developed a deeper appreciation for my hometown now that I no longer live there. I come back feeling and acting like like a tourist. I am in awe of the beauty I find in the city that never sleeps. Suddenly the hot dog dude on the corner is picture worthy. Even the newsstand man with the latest magazines displaying buxom babes exudes a certain warmth, or maybe it’s just me?
The truth is, it is me. It has always been me. Our life experiences are predicated upon our perception of reality. If this be the case, then we must make a conscious effort to continually clean the lenses in which we view our world. We need to seek out truth without judgment in every one, in every situation and especially within ourselves.
11th Annual Link Sister Celebration
Link Up with Love
Every January for the past 11 years, I meet up with my best friends from the Link Sister Circle. We set aside this special time to celebrate ourselves and each other with a girls only get together complete with food, fun and uncensored grown folk conversation! We use this time to draw inward and assess our personal productivity for the past year and focus our minds on our goals for the year ahead. We weigh in on each others progress and lovingly support one another through the joys and pains of personal growth in every area of our lives. It is a wonderful blessing to be in the midst and witness the dialogue that gets our think tanks moving in the right direction.
Hit the ground running but first; Prepare Your Map
Even if you don’t have a room full of friends to help you clean your inner lenses for the new year, you can journal through this process and record your own growth to uncover your best self. Start by writing down the honest answers to the following questions: (Don’t worry, if you don’t like your answers, this new year gives you plenty of time to work on changing them:)
What did I learn this year?
- Think about some of the experiences you had throughout the year. Go back from January 2009 until present. What were some of the challenges you faced? Now, looking back on them, extract the overall lesson. What did you learn? About yourself, about others, about life in general.
Have I made progress this year?
- Have you reached the goals you set at the beginning of last year? If not, have you at least moved forward towards them or are you still in the same place? Jot down the intended goal and the actual results. Now celebrate yourself or pick your face up from the floor. Either way- Let’s move forward!
What is my plan for growth in 2010?
- Out with the old, in with the new. Make a new action plan. Set some goals to move you forward in every area of your life. (i.e. weight loss, spiritual growth, improved self esteem, save money, exercise, love life, career, family etc.) Map out a step by step plan from beginning to end. Get a calendar and set some dates to hold yourself accountable for completion. Reward yourself along the way as you move one step closer with each check mark on your “to do” list.
Link up with me and post your comments of personal growth and success. I wish you peace and blessings for 2010 on your journey toward light and love.
“Life isn’t about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself.” ~ George Bernard Shaw~
Many thanks to you Sandra for such a motivating New Year post. I have shared your thoughts with others who found great inspiration in it.
I hope that all will take the time to line up with the Energy first, find the feeling place of what you’re looking for and then action becomes inconsequential. If we don’t take the time to line up the Energy, physical action alone can not create the “new you”. Hope that is helpful too…
May you all align with the peace already within you this year!
Thank you for your comments and your insight. Many blessings to you this year as well.