Yes, 2009 is coming to a close!

I personally love this time of year. For me, I try to use the end of the year as a time to reflect and dream about the future. No matter how great or painful a year has been, the new year always brings a sense of hope.

I know that it may just be psychological, but there’s something fresh about the beginning of each year. Although January 1st may be nothing more than the day after December 31st, I think if we choose to refocus our lives on the things that really matter to us, we will end up experiencing life at a whole new depth.

Here’s what I do each year around this time:

• I take time off the last week of December just to decompress from the year. This year, I’ll be going away for a couple of days with my wife (without our kids). In fact, I’m away now thanks to technology (i.e., this post was pre-scheduled before vacation). This is a time just to be. Work can wait. Emails can definitely wait. Even a day or two away can make a world of difference.
• Next, I usually take a day or two during the first couple of weeks of each year to get away by myself to think, pray, and get focused for the year. For me, I’ve found that trying this during the Christmas season rarely works. I don’t go away overnight, but rather, take a block of hours during the day just for myself. This is probably one of the most significant times for me during the year. It allows me to refocus my values, mission, and spirituality.
• I also take time during this season to pray. I know that many of you don’t come from a faith perspective, but for me, I need this. My faith is a source of great focus, foundation, and inspiration for the work that I do. I usually make a list of specific things that I would love for God to answer during the year. Here’s my criteria for what makes it to the prayer list:
  • It has to be a prayer request that honors God and supports his mission of love toward humanity.
  • It has to be a prayer request that ends up making me a better person.
• After this time of prayer, I send myself an email (using www.futureme.org) in the future (usually scheduled for December of the same year) listing these prayers. Over the past 5 years of doing this, I’ve seen over 75% of my specific prayers answered. I try to make the prayers specific so that I know it’s God who answers.

I really encourage all of you, if you don’t already, to create an annual tradition of refocusing for the new year. This is so much more beneficial and attainable than a “new year’s resolution.”

If you have any personal traditions you practice during this time of the year to help  you refresh and refocus, I’d love to hear about it. Please share.

Life Scribbles is a blog category I created to jott down quick notes about various topics and personal interests. These notes (including questions) are meant to be short, thought-provoking, relatively open, and purposefully unresolved. I’m hoping that these Life Scribbles will challenge or refine perspectives, create meaningful conversations, and lead to further inquiry about the topics presented.