In anticipation of the events happening in the next two days, surely thousands have already worked out the plans they have for the next 365 ( or approximately 8,760 hours) to come. However, in your pursuit of self improvement remember that it’s a journey rather than a destination. As much as you’d like to fast forward to your goal completed, it would be a mistake to miss out on all the steps that took you there. Because each one holds in it a refinement of who you are, and no detail should be forgotten. It is within the work of self improvement that you’ll find the greatest lessons. Each New Year, thousands of confetti pieces ( a square inch in size) with wishes scribbled on them rain down on the heads of revelers in New York City’s Times Square. I should know as I was one of the hopeful Souls to write my wish on a little piece of brightly colored paper, along with others every Year. It seems sad that these sentiments will be swept away by street cleaners after the celebration ends. Yet even so, the authors of the wishes will not forget them. One wonders how many will come to pass, and how they will be fulfilled. By sheer self determination? By chance? By Life’s own serendipitous ways? It’s difficult to leave anything up to fate, as we tend to relish control. But,……. Newsflash! The only thing you truly have control of is your response to the circumstances of Life. So, you do get to choose. Will you choose to be defeated or work towards victory? When your carefully laid plans are unexpectedly derailed, how will you choose to respond? This is as important of a question as it is to chart your goals for the coming Year. Because as any survivor of trauma will tell you, plans change, people change, and you will change right along with them. And that’s okay. In fact it is inevitable that you will change in the face of a derailment. Except, in which direction will you choose to change? For the better, or for the worse? If the goals you set for this coming Year go terribly awry will you choose to work towards them irregardless? Or in a dark mood, will you scrap them? I have a better (and diifficult) suggestion. Keep going after them. Not only will this help maintain your motivation, but guess what? In spite of a perceived loss, you will gain, gain, gain.
