reflecting on 2019 and creating opportunities for 2020

Happy New Year

How many opportunities are you going to arrive at your front door in 2020?

Whether big or small, are you going to be aware of them or just brush them aside?

I just spent New Year in the wonderful, vibrant country of Ghana.

Talk about vibrant, alive and full of life.

What I noticed that was prevalent in Ghana that I see missing here sometimes, is the velocity that people have to make everything count.  To hustle from morning to night.  To take every opportunity that comes there way and if it wasn’t there, to create a pathway to get them what they wanted.

Out of necessity, I watched children as young as five and six, hustle.  With charm the size of Wales.  How could I resist?

This had me thinking.  Living in the West in a developed country, are we open to the fact that there are boundless opportunities waiting for each and every one of us?

Opportunities that just show up and opportunities that we can create for ourselves.

Now I know it is January and people are making their new year resolutions and planning for 2020.  So why not make it different this year.

At the beginning of 2019, I began to put all my achievements, wonderful things that had happened to me on a slip of paper and then put them in a jar.  The aim was to open the jar up at the end of 2019 to remember and celebrate all that happened because we do forget so many things that have happened to us throughout the year, big and small.  It was such a wonderful exercise to do.

So have you spent time reflecting on 2019 and begun to plan for 2020?

So let me ask you some questions to help you along the way.

• What aspects were the most important to you last year, the most significant for you?  This could be in the world of family, friends, finances, health, community or spirituality.

• What did you learn from it that you can take into 2020?

• What was the wisest decision you made and what did you learn?

• What was the biggest surprise for you last year?

• What are you most proud of?

• Who are the three people who influenced you the most?

• What were you not able to accomplish?

• What was the best thing you discovered about yourself?

• What are you the most grateful for?

• List three accomplishments from last year and what did you learn?

• List three of the biggest challenges and what have you learned?

• Is there anything or anyone in 2019 that needs forgiveness?

• Is there anything you would like to let go of?

Welcoming in 2020

• What does the year ahead look like?  Dare to dream, don’t hold yourself back.

• Write as if it is now December 2020 and you are reflecting back on the year and feel those emotions connected to that glorious year.

• What are three things that you will love about yourself?

• Three things that you would like to achieve the most?

• Three things I will do every morning for myself?

• The places I will go to this year are?

• Lastly, what is your secret wish for this year?

Spend time with these questions and savour what comes up.  It is your guide, your creation, your future you are going towards if you take every opportunity that comes your way and you also create pathways, where there were none.

I wish you all the best with the outcomes.  You have set the intentions, put it out there.  Now let go of expectations, surrender and just let life unfold.  It may seem like challenges at times, but what life has in store for you is even better than you could imagine.

Have the best year ever.