New Year - You Choose

A new year presents a time to make changes, make a decision, choose a new path. It's the beginning of a new cycle, a fresh start, a time to set goals and make choices about our lives. It's a very empowering time.

So, have you set your goals? Do you know what you want to have achieved by the end of 2010? Whatever your individual goals, here are some thoughts for the beginning of the year:

1. Greet each day with Love in your heart, as The Drawingroom Mantra says. And be gentle with everyone you meet, whoever they are and whatever they do. You never know what challenges they are facing.

2. Clear a space for new things. Physical clutter which preys on your mind, can also create blocks in your life. Shred your old bills, move the furniture, pass on clothes you never wear and get rid of things you never use (anyone want a bread machine...?). During a stagnant time in my life, I moved the sofa and 2 weeks later I was in Malawi in East Africa, counting hippos... but that's another story...

3. Do something you've never done before. Learn a new skill, discover a new passion, re-kindle an old one, book that creative workshop, take a train to somewhere you've never been, go dancing!

4. Stick to your Values. No-one can take away from you the core of who you truly are. Work out what this is and what's important to you and live your life by it.

5. Be authentic. If you are always yourself, you will never have to put on an act or try to remember how to behave. You will feel confident, and people will have confidence in you.

6. Take time to be. Whether you use meditation, yoga, thai chi, Qi Gong, or just go for a walk, still, reflective time is where we find peace and relaxation, which is essential for our health and well being. It can also allow creative thoughts to flow without the interruption of busyness.

7. Don't wait for perfection. If you always wait for the perfect time, the right amount of adjustments, the right feeling, you will never get anywhere. Perfection can be the enemy. Just do it!

8. Face your fears and take a risk. If you're avoiding doing something because you're afraid, of failing, of being disappointed, of rejection, you will never move forward, never know until you try. What's the worst that could happen, really...?

9. Take responsibility. My wise and wonderful friend, Psychologist, Gill Garratt of Happy Talking, once said to me "The only person responsible for your Happiness, is you." Only you can choose how you respond to your life, events, situations and challenges. Once we embrace this, we can stop getting stuck in blame and start reclaiming control of our lives. This is equally true of our feeling of responsibility towards the Happiness of others. Do your best by everyone, the rest is up to them.

10. Look after your health. Only you can take steps to heal your aches and pains, and explore the reasons for the inconsistencies in your health and well being. Conventional medicine isn't always the answer. For a bountiful resource of alternative health practitioners and healers in the Chesham area, see The Healing Tree Network.

This year is yours to do with what you will, as is the next 24 hours, tomorrow, and next week. It is your life. You choose.