As the new year is laid out before me, I cannot help but reflect on the one that has just past. The end of a year and the beginning of a new one is something I work hard to commemorate both personally and professionally
My family has started a tradition of going away for a long New Year weekend. We just returned from our 4thsuch getaway. It was a simple trip – just 1.5 hours north to Chuckanut Drive. We played a ton of board games and the highlight was taking a ferry to Friday Harbor. We took a long walk, had lunch overlooking the harbor, and walked around the marina before heading back. The boat ride was gorgeous and the time spent as a family was important. Family time is grounding for me: the simple time of being together and being present with one another is essential. This is the right way for me to start a year.
I have another tradition that I’ve implemented to the start of each year. Each year, I take on a quality that I work hard to embrace in my life. To get the results I desire, I put ‘teeth’ behind my intention by identifying actions to take. This year, I am choosing the quality of presence. I will be breaking the year into quarters and taking on one new activity to help me promote presence:
Q1: Daily mindfulness activity using the Calm app.
Q2: Read an Emotional Intelligence book that I have not yet read.
Q3: Turn off my work email when I leave the office each day.
Q4: Journal moments of lack of presence to start identifying the situations that contribute to my wandering mind.
My focus on presence is to be more fully engaged with whatever I am doing: spending time with family and friends, exercising, having fun, working, cleaning, gardening – whatever the moment holds. Being more present to those around me or to the activity I am in engaged in improves my quality of life-and has the potential to enhance others.’
What are you doing to bookmark this start of 2019? What are you doing to engage in personal growth?
Wishing you each a wonderful 2019! May you experience life to its fullest and may you find joy in the life you choose.
Join the conversation on our Facebook page!
About the Author: Belinda
