There are times when we feel reflective and miss our past. Perhaps it is a favorite childhood place we used to go. Maybe it is a loved one who passed away. Sometimes it can be both, or something completely different.
What do you do when this happens to you? Most of us sit in our feelings and so not do much of anything. That’s a shame because there are ways to reconnect with our past. Walk through the old neighborhood. You can email or call up a childhood friend. Visit the restaurant you used to like as a kid, if it is still around.
Food has a powerful way of connecting us. My friend Shannon remembered i liked dill pickle soup and told me about a new Polish restaurant that was featuring it. My grandmother used to make the best dill pickle soup. Margie and I made the trip there after the gym and it really took me back. Not only the soup, but there were several dishes I recall my grandmother making.
How do you reconnect with you past? What to you do with that self-reflection? Do you put it to good use? Next time, I think I will try making some of these dishes at home!
This post is released on a Saturday. One of the great things about the weekend is that we usually have a little more time to ourselves. If not, it would benefit us greatly to take some. In that time, I would suggest engaging in some self-reflection. Many of us are so busy playing the game of life, we rarely step back to see where we are on the game board. I certainly have been guilty of this with everything I have going on in my life. Time with, and for, ourselves should not be a luxury. We need that time to become the best version of ourselves. Self-reflection helps us to be a better spouse, a better parent, a better coworker and anything else.
Ask yourself the questions listed in the picture above, but do not stop there. Think of other important questions that need reflection. One of the ones I would include is, “Where do I want to go in life?” If one of your goals is to retire early, but you are spending money foolishly, it might be time to take a look at that budget. One really powerful question to reflect on is, “What do I have to be grateful for?” During the week we can be focused on everything that needs attending to in our life. Focus on fixing problems all week may cause us to lose track of all the wonderful things we do have. Pausing to reflect on them will not only lift our spirits, but have us feeling so much happier and abundant.
This does not have to be a weekly habit. In fact, I would recommend doing it as often as you can. Even taking five minutes to reflect on all you have to be grateful for before you start your day can have such a dramatic effect, it will feel like magic. How do you incorporate self-reflection in your life? We would love to hear in the comments below.
Today is my birthday! On this day, I like to do a little self-reflection. Who are we kidding? I like to do that every day. On my birthday, however, I do it a little more intensely. I review the previous year and look at where I am now. What did I learn? Am I better than I was last year? Are the things that are truly important to me still taking center stage. Most importantly, what can I do to improve all of those in the year to come?
This year, those questions have different answers. It is the second birthday 🎂 I have celebrated since my open-heart surgery. I still treasure each day that I am given. It is interesting how the emotions surrounding that creep up on you as time goes on. I learned one very important lesson this past year. By focusing on who I want to become, what I should do makes itself abundantly clear. Am I better than last year? In some ways, but there is certainly room to improve. A more concentrated focus on my health, and more to the point diet, would get me a lot further next year. Are the important things still taking center stage? More so than last year, but again room for improvement.
As you join me in celebration of the day of my birth, ask yourself these questions. You do not have to be celebrating your own birthday to have some productive self-reflection. As to who I want to be, that answer has become more clear. I want to be a person who has positively impacted as many lives as I can. I wish to be remembered as someone who left the world a little better than they found it. I think if we all did that, we would have a lot better world to share. As I parting gift for my birthday, I wish to leave you this bit of Native American wisdom to ponder.
Today is my birthday. 45 years of fun on this planet. Normally, I have a YouTube video for you all, but today my lovely Margie is taking me to some unknown destination. I will keep you all posted as to where that is.
In the meantime, there is something I would really like to discuss with all of you today. As I am sure a lot of you do, I happen to reflect a great deal on my birthday. For many, it is a time to look back at the year. If that is you, I hope you are doing it with a sense of gratitude for all that you have had in your life. The peaks and the valleys. We learn and grow from everything. For some it is a time to look forward. How many more years on this round ball of fun do I have? Some just like to celebrate the present! I made it another year. Still undefeated. I like to do a little of all three.
To begin with I like to look back on the past year and celebrate how much further I am than I was a year ago. It is true not everything may have gone as I had planned, but even the lessons taught me things I needed to move forward. There are things that I had planned to do this year that did not get done. That should do one of two things. Make me decide that may not have been as important as I thought, or increase the passion and sense of urgency to get it done in the coming year. Which leads us to looking forward to the year ahead. I do so by reviewing a lot of my actions. Asking myself the question quoted in our first picture – Does this support the life I’m trying to create? There are some that are indeed moving me in the right direction. Maybe I just need to be persistent in my actions. This could be applied to my going to the gym six days a week. Sure, I am not where I want to be, but I am moving closer to the body I want to create. Then there are actions that may need to be tweaked a little. My book and writing promotions. I will need to do slightly different actions if I would like to expand the influence of my message.
Then there are the actions that I am doing to maybe please others or that just do not serve my purpose. Spending too much time concerned with items at my day job or on pleasing other people. Yes, even someone who has been in the self-improvement field for over two decades can use some reflection and improvement.
In closing, I would like to leave you with a short birthday wish list, if I may. To help me celebrate my 45 years on this planet I would love any suggestions or assistance in helping me to spread the message of positive self-improvement and life-fulfillment that we share here on this blog. Although it is my birthday, I want to leave you the gift of one of my favorite quotes. It demonstrates the kind of thinking I do my best to foster here, and will be looking to build on in the next 45 years.
When I hear people complain about problems that persist in their lives, I am reminded of myself in my early 20’s. I found the same drama-filled people going in and out of my life. No matter where I seemed to go I found myself in some dysfunctional situation. Sound familiar?
What I leaned was that I was looking at the situation all wrong. It seemed like I was a victim, but really I was at worst causing all of my problems, at the very least I was allowing it to exist in my life.
What I soon realized was when I became the person I wanted to be, the people and situations around me changed. By changing who I was, different people were attracted to be around me. That went a long way to changing the situations I found myself in.
Instead of looking around for other people and things to blame I took a long hard look in the mirror and said to myself, “Neil, why are you allowing this stuff into your life?” After getting over the fact I was talking to myself in the third person in my own bathroom I had done tough decisions to make.
I urge you to check in with yourself and ask yourself am I the kind of person that the people I want in my life would want to be around? Also ask if there may be some people and situations that would be healthier left behind. You only get one life, don’t give it away to anyone or anything else.
SECRET 2 AN AMAZING LIFE 