Archived Articles: Life
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© Jacquie Wise – Coach, Counsellor, Speaker, Trainer and Author, specialising in personal, professional and spiritual development
Mid-year is a good time for a personal review
Just as we consolidate our tax documents and reassess our financial situation at this time of year, it's an appropriate time to consolidate the insights you've gained on your journey so far. (At least—so far this year!) Before the rest of the year whizzes by unnoticed, here are a few questions to help you connect with your journey.
Observe the stepping-stones that have led you, since the beginning of the year, or the start of your chosen time-span, to where you are now. You could choose to track the process of a particular relationship and the stepping-stones that have built up the relationship to where it stands now. Or track an emotional state that's been building deep within you.
Bring yourself to a turning point, if there is one, when you made a decision or choice. (Perhaps a choice to do nothing?)
Recall other options you might have followed but chose not to (perhaps because you didn't see them. Perhaps because you chose to believe there was no time.) The aim is to identify how the choices you made contributed positively or negatively to a situation.
Where am I now in my life?
- What stage or period are you in your life? (A period of change? Growth? Stagnation?
- When did this period begin? How did you get to this point?
- Was there an event with which it started? A trigger?
- Were you aware of this new stage at the time?
- What other important events shaped this period?
- Who are/were significant people or important relationships (positive or negative) in this period? How did they contribute to or influence the situation?
- What new ideas, beliefs or groups did you become connected/identify with during this period?
- What signs along the way were you aware of, or failed to spot, which showed you the direction that was emerging?
Trace how you might have become a different person had you followed each of these possible paths. What strengths, or potential talents could you now develop or draw on again?
Recognise that there is nothing to regret.
You can only do the best you can
with the resources you have at the time.
Maybe it's your future you want to know.
We want so much to be able to see into the future, but we don't realise we already can. The future is what you're creating today. Knowing what the future holds can be as easy as making an honest appraisal of what you're tolerating, ignoring, or achieving today. You're likely to get more of the same.
You choose your destiny. The skills you're currently developing will open up new opportunities when you reach the required level of competence.
The negative attitudes you hold today are keeping opportunities away from you, but you can draw opportunities to you if you change those attitudes.
In setting yourself free from a bad relationship, a negative situation, or a fear, you open the way for the new and better to enter. The effort you put into correcting your weaknesses and understanding your subconscious drives creates a more complete, whole person, who is more likely to make the right choices for the right reasons, and more likely to attract people who have developed to the same level.
Let's say half the future is in your hands, and half depends on other people and circumstances. So you can be at least 50% in charge, if not more, because others will respond differently to you as you change.
What message is there for you in answer to these questions?
Remember, insight only becomes wisdom if you act on it.
Wise Words
Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things.
Robert Brault