Happy New and Grateful Year!

Well, we are into the third week of January already! How is your year going so far?  Do you already seem to be over the New Year’s Resolutions? I’ve read several articles stating that most people that make resolutions usually give up on them around the third week of January.  If you are one of them, please don’t beat yourself up!  Can I just give you a helpful suggestion?  Maybe you can do a New Year in a totally different and new way.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go into a New Year without guilt and shame or feeling like a failure because you didn’t reach any of your goals?

When the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, I do not make resolutions.  “Why?”  You may ask.  My answer is because I don’t want to go out of a year feeling bad about what I did not accomplish, but rather I want to celebrate the steps that I made even if they were small.   I want to look back over the year and see all of the positive things in my life rather than focusing on all of the things that were negative.

May I suggest that you make a list of all the wonderful and positive things that happened to you in the year 2016.  Call it your grateful or thankful list. I personally keep a journal, which helps me.  When you begin your list, if you do not feel like life was so wonderful to you, may I simply state the obvious?

1. Are you still breathing? Well, that is one big positive thing you can write down that you can be grateful or thankful for.   Let everything else hinge on this first thing.
2. If you are indeed breathing, that must mean that you are still needed on the planet.  Do you have family or friends?  Do you have a job?  Roof over your head, food to eat, clothes, drinking water, a place to sleep, a job etc.
3. Maybe you could write down what talent or gift you have been given. This could help you set some new goals in 2017.  What will you do with those gifts and talents to help others since you’re still alive and breathing?

If you have truly had a year to where you can’t see the good, I promise you I am not trying to be insensitive or harsh, but rather, I am hoping to make you realize, that even the bad years come and go.  However, every year that you are alive, you get another chance to hopefully see a better year.  May I make a few more final suggestions?  Instead of taking it a year at a time, maybe you can take a day at a time.  Maybe you could also keep an ongoing journal or notebook of all the good things that happened throughout the year.  This will help you and go a long way to encourage you on those days when it seems nothing is going right.   If you keep a journal all year long, when you get to New Year’s Eve, unlike past years, all you will have to do is look at your journal to see all of the wonderful things that happened to you.  Do you want to know something?  If you can have one good year, then the next year could be even better!

I have found that even in my worse year, there is always reason to be grateful.  I also find when I focus on the positive blessings instead of the negative things that happened, I am constantly being blessed.  If my heart is still beating, that means I still have purpose and time to fulfill that purpose.  It is time to look forward and not back my dear friend!  Happy New and Grateful Life!

Tags: #Grateful, #gratitudereflectsattitude, #HappyNewYear, #inspiringonedreameratatime, #lookingforthepositive