Visioning your New Year – 2017
Every year, for the past twenty-five years, Stephanie and I have undertaken an exercise which we have found to be incredibly helpful in creating the lives we want to lead.
It began as an informal review on New Year’s Eve soon after we started living together. We looked back on the year that had passed, and then we talked about how we wanted our lives to unfold in the year that was about to begin.
Each year we developed this exercise, which many people undoubtedly undertake informally. Such an activity feels very natural, and of course the idea of the New Year’s resolution arises automatically out of this process of looking back on the year that has been, and then forward to the year to come.
But as we developed the exercise, we started to experience the fact that once we built on, intensified and elaborated, the two fundamental activities the exercise engages – of reviewing and envisioning – it became an experience that was truly magical, truly creative. It became, in essence, a means for us to create our future.
You can read about the exercise we have developed in detail here.
And there’s a great little booklet that works well with this exercise that you can download from a website here: called YearCompass: A few questions to help you close 2016 and plan 2017.
2 Responses to “Visioning your New Year – 2017”
Hi Philip,
I carried out this exercise and I found it greatly comforting when I did the Reviewing on 31/12/16. I discovered that although there had been lows in my personal live during 2016 there had also been many highs as well. A few days later on 03/01/17, my 60th birthday, I carried out the Visioning & thought of how I would like my personal life to evolve in 2017. The following day I received word that a landline had been connected to my flat in order to accommodate a telephone & Community Alarm. Later the same day I got word that my Community Alarm would be installed the following day! There followed a mad search online to get an inexpensive phone from Argos with Fast Track delivery. Alarm & phone successfully connected 05/01.This was one of the things that I had envisioned.
The following week I got word that there was a flat ready to move in to in Sheltered Housing – this was the second of the things that I hoped for!.. Long story short I move in on 20/02/17!
Oh & I have just received a full refund of rail fare from Virgin East Coast for a journey I cancelled in November due to ill health
AND I had my results from my latest Diabetic Blood test & the results show that has greatly improved.
So three weeks after doing your exercise three wished for and envisioned things have already happened & one unexpected, that could be seen as fulfilling a better financial year have happened. Put together with the feeling of calmness & greater relaxation that I got from the Reviewing I can say that this, certainly for me has been a worthwhile exercise & I fully recommend following it.
Anne
That’s so lovely to hear Anne! It really does seem to ‘clear the way’ somehow! 🙂 All the very best for more months of good things happening for you! Blessings, Philip
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