Reflection on this year’s life lessons

We’re coming to the end of the year and it’s a good time for reflection. Looking back on this year, what’s a life lesson that’s important to you that you want to take forward into the new year?

Life is busy and making the time to reflect is not easy but it will pay off. Reflection is important for many reasons. For us, it provides guidance into understanding how we want to live life and how to become the caring people we want to be. It can also help us see what we accomplished in the year and what was left undone. We can use reflection time to decide what we value, what we want to keep in life and what we want to change. It’s not about beating ourselves up with the “coulda, shoulda, woulda” talk but rather a time to see the overview of the year and make positive changes as we go into the coming year. We decided to take some time to share a life lesson that stood out for us this past year.

As I (Lynn) reflect on this year, I am seeing how quickly life goes by. There are many life lessons but one that I believe and say every day is Each day is a gift. People that we care about have passed away or moved away. There are things I wanted to get done and I didn’t finish them – sometimes I didn’t even start them! There are people I wanted to connect with to let them know how much they mean to me – but I didn’t always do it. I want to do a better job of following through to live my life as fully as I can. Next year – and each day – is an opportunity to do what’s most important to me.

For me (Doug), I see how easy it is to get caught up in the “busyness” of life and be in a reactive mode, rather than being proactive by concentrating on what is most important. I am reminded of Stephen Covey’s time management grid as a way of organizing tasks. We all have things that come up in life that vie for our attention. The life lesson is to do what is important first. Then when there’s remaining time, it can be used with the satisfaction that the important things have already been accomplished.

As we spend time reflecting we can see what worked and what didn’t. It is through this process that we can then make improvements for next year. Otherwise, it’s like the saying by many wise people, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.” (Excuse the grammar!)

How about you? How would spending time in reflection help you? If you take the time to reflect, it may help you see life lessons you can use to create your ideal life.

Here are some suggestions: We encourage you to reflect on this year so you can make the coming year your best year yet. Rather than reflecting only at the end of the year, it’s helpful to reflect more often, perhaps even daily. Ask yourself if time was spent wisely that day. Are you living your values and doing what is important to you? Are you becoming the person you want to be? It is through daily actions that we design our future. Learning from life lessons can help to make positive changes and create the best life. Remember, each day is a gift and reflection can help to spend that gift wisely. We would enjoy hearing what insights you gained from your reflection time. Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Chanhassen residents Doug and Lynn Nodland are Success Coaches and owners of The Balance Center. They can be contacted at WeCare@SharingLifesLessons.com

© Doug and Lynn Nodland 2018 Articles and videos may be shared in their entirety with attribution.