10 Suggestions for the Best Year Ever

by Susan Tate

Do you set intentions or goals for the New Year and forget them by January 3rd? Here are suggestions designed to propel you into action and keep you motivated as you create the best year ever.

1. List your top five accomplishments for 2008 and share them with a trusted friend. Clearing out the old year by recognizing the great things you have done paves the way for expansive opportunities in the New Year. After congratulating yourself for your accomplishments, make a list of five goals for 2009. Beneath each goal write two or three action steps that will move you closer to your goals. Mark these on your calendar to be sure you will remember them!

2. Make a list of the balances for your checking and savings accounts, retirement accounts, loans and credit card balances. (Yes, take a deep breath; retirement accounts are included in this list.) Have you spent decades looking the other way and wishing, hoping or envisioning some miraculous windfall would land in your bank account, propelling you into financial ecstasy? Then 2009 can be your year for a serious turn-around. Take the emotion out of the numbers and get downright serious about paying off debt and spending and saving wisely. Suze Orman’s latest book provides practical advice if you really are ready to take control of your financial well-being.

3. Remember—what you focus on expands. We have a choice of whether to concentrate on the doom and gloom of the nightly news or turn our attention toward our desires. This may mean limiting news-watching or watching or reading the news as if you were visiting from another planet.  You can observe, with a sense of curiosity, how things are spun into disasters and note that the good news is rarely reported. You can concentrate on what you don’t have, or on what you already have and want. It’s that simple, and yet not always easy.

4. Take care and control of your health. Whatever your current health status, do all in your power to take control of your health. If you have a chronic or life-threatening illness, focus on how you want to feel or on the little successes. Avoid attaching the word “my” in front of an illness. When (and if) you are ready to do that, you will gain a sense of well-being that can’t be measured through any blood test or MRI. Whatever level of health you have, amplify it. Eat well, think well and move (exercise) with pleasure. Think of yourself as always reaching a higher level of healthiness.

5. Never complain. Complaining is like praying for more of the same. It keeps you focused on what you don’t want. Commit to 21 days without complaining and observe how much better you feel three weeks later.

6. Love intensely. Just do it—love intensely any chance you get. And in times of conflict ask, “What would love do now?”

7. Forgive, forgive, forgive. This applies to forgiving yourself as well as others. It has been said that un-forgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Forgiving doesn’t make a person’s actions right, it frees you to move forward. How would 2009 feel if you give yourself the blessings gained through forgiveness?

8. Be a pleasure-seeking missile. Become aware of what excites you to the core and if it’s legal and doesn’t hurt anyone, DO IT! Look for simple pleasures and create extravagant pleasures when you can.

9. Share what you have. Donate items to the thrift store, send money to your favorite charity, give money anonymously, give books to your local library or give your full attention to hear someone sharing their grief. Even when times may be economically challenging, keep the flow going by sharing what extra you do have to give. We all have something to give.
   
   
10. Thank God for all you have. Well, Amen to that! Happy New Year.