This is a blog I wrote last year at this time and am reposting it as we move into 2020 because it is a practice that can be done every single year. Make time to be intentional in the New Year and this new decade with this practice.
I sat down to do my meditation and journaling this morning on the first day of the New Year. I've been meditating regularly for years but doing my daily journaling is a more recent practice. But I have been doing it for a while now. Every morning I write down my celebrations from the day before, what I am grateful for in that moment, and then my desires for the day. The practice came together after listening to many inspirational speakers talk about how important this type of practice is to one’s happiness and life success. But as this was the start of the New Year, I modified my list to be for the year. I started with what I could celebrate about in 2019. Then moved on to what I was grateful for in 2019 and finished with what my desires were as I move into 2020. I loved it! It gave me so much clarity and energy to walk away from 2019 without regret and to look forward to 2020 with joy and excitement. It's important to take time at the start of a new year to mindfully reflect on the year you are leaving behind and the new beginning the new year offers. It can truly set the stage for what becomes manifest in 2020. My challenge to you is to do this same practice as you move into the New Year. If you happen to be reading this at a different time of the year, it doesn’t matter. Do it now for the previous 12 months and the next 12 months ahead. Make time over the next few days to do this! You won't regret it!
What can you celebrate that you did in 2019? What can you brag about 2018? What did you get right? What wonderful and spectacular things happened? What did you embrace? Write them all down, one by one on a list.
What are you grateful for about 2019? What can you appreciate that happened, that you experienced? What are the situations and who are the people you are grateful for? Go deep, write them all down, one by one.
And what do you truly desire for 2020? When I write this list I often start with a more practical intention list. These are the things I intend or plan to do. This part of my list are goals and achievements that I want for 2019. As the list becomes longer I include all the desires that my imagination can conjure up. This is the part of the list where the sky is the limit. If it comes to my mind I write it down. I don't need to know the how, it doesn't have to seem feasible, I just write down everything I can think of that I want in 2018.
This practice is incredible and can truly be life changing. But it takes the will and the commitment on your part to actually do the work. I know you are up for it. Make it happen. Do it now!