Don’t wait to celebrate your life – do it now!

It’s the end of the year and time to take stock of yourself and where you stand. Rather than beating yourself up over anything you did not get accomplished over the past twelve months, I want you to look at everything you have gotten done. Don’t limit yourself to your professional life: celebrate every aspect of yourself.

Did you step out and try something new in any area, whether it was romance, athletics, or a new volunteer position? Are you managing your emotional life better, learning to operate from love instead of fear? Have you made a decision to stop doing something that no longer gives you joy but only anxiety? If so, celebrate! Celebrate all that you have done, and how far you have come.

For those of you wondering how to take stock so you can celebrate your life, here are 5 tips:

  1. Stop, breathe and listen to the quiet.  One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever seen about meditation is reminding yourself that you can no more stop yourself from thinking than you can from breathing. On the other hand, you can let the thoughts go, just like clouds passing across the sky. A great Zen expression is “Don’t believe everything your mind says.”
  2. Celebrate all the little things, no matter how small.  Mastering a new yoga pose, writing that long-overdue thank-you note, finally getting out your first agenda for a new committee meeting, learning a new way to present data. We have a tendency to belittle our own accomplishments. Every one of these counts!
  3. Look at where you were this time last year. If looking back only one year doesn’t help, try looking back five years, or ten. You would not be who you are today without what has already happened to you, and how you responded to it. Personally, I am celebrating getting older and wiser, a truism now verified by brain science, that proves neuroplasticity and an ever-learning mind.
  4. Ask people around you what changes in you they would celebrate. You might be surprised to hear them say, “you’ve gotten calmer” even if you didn’t adopt a dog, or, “you seem lighter” even if you never lost a pound.
  5. Reassess and “take in the good.” Remind yourself that no matter what you are trying to accomplish, there will always be things left undone. Sometimes that can be good, as things change and evolve and maybe those old ideas or projects should fade away when new, more exciting ones take their place.

As the song says, “Celebrate your life, come on!” Don’t wait. Do it now.

 

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