This is my second time beginning to write this post.  My first draft I thought I had saved. I had taken a break, feeling stuck about what to say, and when I came back I could not find it- couldn’t even remember what I had called it! So I am starting fresh. Which seems fitting as I wanted to write about the importance of not necessarily starting from a blank slate, but beginning the New Year with where you are.

Where is that? For each one of us it is a different place, literally and metaphorically.  There is no one “right” place to start. No one right way to begin.  We each need to discover for ourselves where it is we are in order to begin to move forward to where we would like to be.  But that isn’t quite right. I dont’ mean to create an expectation of living in the future.  It is more about coming into who you are by acknowledging where you have been, where you are and where you would like to BE.

This BEing is about being you, truly you. The process of becoming who you are in a sense is not about change, but more about uncovering.  You are already in there. Sometimes we forget who we are.  This digging into where we’ve been (metaphorically speaking) via reviewing our year  is how I like to connect more with myself. I was talking with a friend of mine the other day and while I was showing her my Creative Biz and Life Planner she commented that she never likes to do the sections where you review the ups and downs of what was accomplished in the previous year, she just wants to “move on”.  In order to move on there needs to a starting place from which one moves. It can be difficult to focus ahead if we don’t take the time to honor where we’ve been; it is in these “ups and downs”, goals achieved and mistakes made, that we can pull from to come to a realization of our strengths.  Staying in the present, leaving the past behind, does not mean that past is not still with you in some way, it is how we learn after all. Staying present and being is about anchoring ourselves in the here and now, knowing that who we are is part of our past, present and future selves.

When I make vision boards I am Opening to Vision, my vision of me. By engaging in this process I am connecting with those inner parts of myself; some call it intuition, inner wisdom, internal guidance, or Self.  And when I am connected with Self in this way I can be more of who I truly am.

This year I invite you to take the time to reflect on all that you have accomplished and in doing so recognize your tremendous strength. Accomplishments do not have to be awards, monetary compensation, or compliments and pats on the back from others.   The dictionary defines  it many ways:

Perhaps you had a difficult year, but you managed to navigate through the turmoil.

Maybe you completed a project. Even if it was not “successful” it is an achievement from which you can build future accomplishments.

Whatever the accomplishment, no matter how small, how few, it’s YOURS- celebrate it and use it to guide you into embracing 2016!