Ephesians 5:23 "Throw off your former way of life and let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes...."
Happy New Year 2014! By now I hope that you have taken the time to review the past year. I mean really review what it was like for you personally.
My husband and I have a yearly family tradition of getting together with our children and their spouses and sharing the answer to this question: "what was the best thing that happened to you during the last calendar year?" Even if you have a had a really rough year; financially, physically, or spiritually; there is still a "best thing" that happened to you. I guarantee it. Most of the time this question opens the flood gates of memory and connects all of us to multiple occasions of joy and accomplishment.
The next thing we do is we share a few of our goals for the new year ahead. We like to focus on goals instead of resolutions because goals indicate that you are taking responsibility and are going to do something (proactive) where as a resolution usually says that you are resolving to discontinue something that you have been doing (reactive). Lastly, we encourage one another to write down those goals and place them in a prominent place where we can see them.
Most of the time my goals include 7-10 things that I would like to achieve in the new calendar year. I include spiritual goals, physical goals, family goals, social goals, and business/financial goals. This is my time to write down what I want to accomplish, regardless of the economic climate, my family issues, my present state of mind, etc. I think you get it. I want to encourage you to do the same.
In his book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (1998), clinical neuroscientist and psychiatrist Daniel Amen says that “being goal-directed helps keep our behavior on track” (p. 134). His “One-Page Miracle” is a goal-setting exercise that he shares with his patients. Here’s how it works.
Take a sheet of paper and write down your primary goals. For example,
Amen suggests four main headings: “Relationships, Work, Money, and
Myself.” Under “Relationships,” Amen suggests the subheadings of
spouse/partner, children, extended family, and friends. Under “Work,” he
suggests the subheadings of current and future work goals. Under
“Money,” he suggests the subheadings of current and future financial
goals. Under “Myself,” he suggest the subheadings of body, mind, spirit,
and interests.Then, beside each subheading, write down what’s important to you in that area; what you want, or feel like you need. This process may take several days. Once finished, post this One-Page Miracle sheet where you can see it every day. This will help you stay focused on what’s important, and what’s not.
Briefly, in review, here’s what Dr. Amen suggests:
- Write down all of your goals on one sheet of paper.
- Write goals for all areas in your life.
- Keep the goals short and succinct.
- Place your your goals somewhere highly visible where you can see and read them several times a day.
- With your vision and goals highly visible and engrained in your brain, before making decicions for your life, ask yourself, “Is this action helping me reach my goals?”
- Tweak your goals as you go.
For getting A BETTER YOU/I don't need a new year. It can happen always, I mean right now right on the spot!!! It depends my attitudes or if I choose to follow the devil or God's advice! I know it's not easy to resist the devils advice. I see it mainly when rubbish products are sold over the telephone or via TV etc.!!! People buy it for a lot of money and nothing good happens :( I know it first hand because I worked already Telefon-sales! So don't let the devil in! What I don't mean is to condemn anykind of people who have an oposit attitude. When it's expressed kind and respectful I accept it always and that because God made us unique and not similair minded.
ReplyDeleteYes, Donna! Writing down goals is so good. I know when I was getting better in my health after a diagnosis of MS I kept a written list of goals where I would be reminded throughout the day. I think I had a list on my dresser, a copy on our living-room piano and one stuck on the kitchen fridge.
ReplyDeleteEven in the darkest times maybe a person is depressed or just down-hearted, I see it as we all really do have "goals", though we sometimes do not see them as "goals" thinking all goals need to be big or major events in our life. For some, just getting out of bed and washed and dressed is a goal. Getting through a day can be a goal. If a day is too hard, setting the goal of getting through the next hour ....and no matter how bad a day is, try to be a "blessing" to someone. In other words, we can do something positive for someone else. The benefits of that will be enormous for that other person and for us.
God is Blessing all, always
J-M
Just re-read your recipe post of Feb last year re avoiding Flu. Good to have re-read.
ReplyDeleteRECIPE TO AVOID THE FLU...IT'S NOT TOO LATE!!
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