Top Tip for 2012!
It’s the end of the year and my advice to you is don’t make any New Year Resolutions!
Really, it s probably not a good time. You’re probably tired, you may have over eaten (No, surely not!), you may have over indulged in other ways, probably have a backlog of work waiting on your desk, and may be thinking about money, or lack thereof. And everyone is talking about New year resolutions. (Including me, sorry!)
So, Jane, I hear you cry, so if I’m not to join everyone else in making new year resolutions on 1st January which I struggle to keep and abandon half way through January to be plagued with guilt feelings until about mid February when I get back to normal…sort of, what should I do be doing?
Well, dear reader, far be it from me to tell you what to do but as a coach and writer of personal development courses for women (I can’t help myself) I do have a suggestion you might like to try.
Look Back in Kindness
Lots of good things will have happened to you in 2011. Take some time to recognise what those good things were. Generally these things aren’t just random; you probably did something to help those good things happen. However, we all have a tendency to focus on what went wrong and your head may be full of what didn’t go the way you wanted it to. But even when things seem to go wrong good can result.
Name Calling
Often at this time of the year we are calling ourselves names, (so fat, so feckless with money, so disorganised etc) and we set about resolving to ‘fix’ ourselves. We’re not kind to ourselves. We can start with an assumption that we need fixing.
We’re staring with a negative.
Which is not a good place to start. So accentuate the positive! Look back on your year in kindness and remember all the good that came out of 2011, all those minor triumphs. It may be the job interview that you got really great feed back from (whether you got the job or not), the new friend you made, the new skill you learned, or the wisdom about yourself you accrued (and it’s harder to accrue wisdom if nothing ever goes wrong in your life!)
And that’s it. That’s my tip for 2012. Go forth into 2012 tonight with a kindly view of 2011. Build on the good, let go of the bad. Take an appreciative inquiry view to life and be true to yourself!
And have a fabulous 2012, being you!
Photo Credit: Free Graphics
Who Is Your Hero?
Who is your hero? I had a quick trawl of the internet to see how ‘hero’ is defined and one of the best I found was a site written by children for children, which said:
What Does It Mean to Be A Hero?
- A hero is someone who helps other people, or who helps to make other people”s lives better
- A hero is a person who tries to make the world a better place
- A hero is a person who does more than is expected of them
- A hero is someone who doesn’t do something just because it helps their own problems but for the benefit of others
- A hero is a person that doesn’t want to be a hero just to be famous
How Many Heroes in Your Life?
What brilliant definitions! Out of the mouths of babes…. And using their criteria I realise that my life is chock full of heroes. Here are just a few of them:
- My Mum, for living her life to the full, despite the tragedy of losing her youngest son and for, at age 81, pushing her older blind friend to go out every day with her (and literally pushing her around in a wheelchair)
- A dear departed friend who, even in her last few days was still being concerned and caring of others
- The lollipop man (sorry, school patrol crossing officer) who has been in his job for ever it seems but is always courteous and smiling and actually watches the traffic flow as well as the youngsters!
- The man in Florida who rushed off to get us petrol when my daughter and I ran out on way to airport, and didn’t want any payment
- My new and very lovely doctor who is so compassionate and caring of his patients that I fear he may burn himself out
- My two children who are so kind and considerate of their ageing parents and actually like us!
I could go on and on, but I won’t because I would LOVE to hear who are the heroes in your life, and why. Please share this with friends and let’s honour our unsung heroes!
PS When I was looking for a picture to illustrate this fire fighters kept popping up (heroes every one), and I realised that I had my own fire fighter picture and hero, my husband. I won’t embarrass him by listing his heroic qualities as once in a blue moon he reads what he write!!
Swap Shoes Day!
Do you know the saying:
‘Grant that I may not criticise my neighbour until I have walked a mile in her moccasins’?
Try this for one day.
Next time someone is really driving you crazy at work or in your personal life, metaphorically swap shoes with them for one day.
Suspend your usual critical thoughts, voiced or not, and imagine the world from their viewpoint. Don’t put yourself under undue pressure to make changes; simply try and experience the world from their standpoint.
And see what the next day brings! You might find your empathy levels rising!
