Dear Reader,
If all of life is like a rose garden, then the practice of reflection is like stopping and smelling the roses.
You probably experienced a whole lot this past year, and you may even be wondering how we’re already in December.
Life can feel like a blur, a constant movement from one thing to the next, and the next, and the next.
When I used to do open water swimming for my triathlon training in the San Francisco Bay, I couldn’t just keep my head down in the water when I swam. If I did, all I’d be looking at was murky water!
Every once in a while, I had to lift my head up to see if I was swimming in the right direction.
That’s the same concept with reflection.
Reflection helps to give you insights, to raise your head above the water and outside of the day to day activity, and those insights help to guide your next steps.
Not only are you stopping to smell the roses, but you get to ask yourself whether you like the smell of these particular roses in the first place.
Do you want to continue smelling these kinds of roses next year?
Or are there other roses, or flowers, or trees, that you’d like to plant and grow in your garden?
For today’s newsletter, I’d like to offer you 5 key questions to help you reflect on 2024.
If you’d like to do that, to stop and smell the roses from this past year, then set some time aside, heat up a nice cup of tea, bring out your pen and let’s take a stroll through the windy path of 2024.
Now let’s get ALIGNED…
Inspirational Quote
"The beauty you see in me is a reflection of you."
- Rumi
The Reflection Exercise
Earlier this month, our Abundant Good Community gathered for our annual topic of “Reflecting on 2024, Planting Seeds for 2025.”
I shared 5 key questions to help our members reflect on all that happened this year, and I’d love to share these same questions with you.
Click on the link below if you'd like to download the worksheets:
>> 2024 End of Year Reflection Worksheets.pdf
You're welcome to use the worksheets or write your answers in your journal.
Here are your 5 Key Questions to Reflect on 2024:
- What do you want to celebrate?
As you look back on this year, what do you want to celebrate? Are there key accomplishments you achieved? Milestones you reached?
- What was challenging and difficult?
Not all of life is about rainbows and unicorns. It’s important when we take stock of life’s challenges and difficulties. What were some of those challenges? Where did you experience hardships in your life this past year? What losses did you experience?
- What made you come alive?
Excitement and passion are signposts of the joys that make you uniquely you. Where did you experience being “in the zone,” where time didn’t seem to matter? What were you doing when you felt joy and bliss?
- What did you learn about yourself?
Of all the reflection questions, this one is perhaps the most important because what you learn about yourself is what ultimately guides you to expressing more of who you are and who you want to be. How did you grow this past year? Who did you become? What did you let go?
- What word, phrase, feeling, image or metaphor captures 2024 for you?
As you take into account all that happened this past year, is there a theme that you can see that emerged? Or perhaps is there a way you want to remember 2024 that can be captured in a word or phrase, maybe even a quote?
Your Call to Action
For your coaching assignment this week, I encourage you to take some time and ponder these questions, and perhaps you may want to do this exercise in more than one sitting. Sometimes more will come to you as you marinate in these questions.
The opportunity here is for you to find out more about who you are, what matters to you, and where your insights are nudging you to explore even more.
If you feel called, go ahead and reply to this email and tell me what word, phrase, feeling, image or metaphor came up for you that captures 2024 for you. I’d love to hear it.
May the garden of your life continue to grow with vibrancy, gentle care and abounding love, and may you have the time to reflect on the richness of all of life’s love and goodness that is continually being showered upon you.
Abundant Blessings and Namaste.
Abundant Good News and Notes
Reflecting on 2024, Planting Seeds for 2025: If you’d like to purchase the replay of our recent gathering of “Reflecting on 2024, Planting Seeds for 2025,” you can do a deeper 90 minute dive where I walk through all of these 5 key questions, as well as provide an additional worksheet on how to use your reflection to plant seeds for 2025. Click here to learn more.
Looking for a Christmas present to give? Consider my bestselling book!: If you're looking for a beautiful Christmas present to give to a loved one, consider giving the gift of my book "The Creative Impulse: Answering the Highest Calling of Your Heart." This book is available in paperback, Kindle and Audible. Click here to share this gift today.
Thanks for reading ALIGNED!
If you have any questions or want to share what you thought about this newsletter, hit reply and let me know.
Abundant Blessings,
Joselito Laudencia
Spiritual Life Coach, Teacher, Speaker
Author, The Creative Impulse: Answering the Highest Calling of Your Heart
www.abundantgood.com
Did an awesome person forward you this email?
Sign up here for free.