December Daze #14

Sometimes I spend too long at the end of the year planning for the new year ahead, so something like #reverb12 is so good for me. 

This year was so full of change for me and mine that it feels like it wasn't a "good one". While I welcome the fresh breeze that change can bring, too much change just leaves me itchy and skittish, the ground loose beneath my feet. Then, when things settle again and the road ahead looks smooth and delightful, I think - what's next? 

But I need to remember to look back at the winding path before I start walking.

My question is: what was the most important thing you learned in 2012?


Reading that day's prompt helps me realise I am not alone in thinking things through so much and in feeling "skittish" with the great changes that happened for me over 2011/2012. So to look and see the most important thing I learned was....

I have the capacity and the skills needed to continue to LIVE the life I want and to be the person I want and need to be. I just need to draw on all the other lessons I've learned recently and in the past. Things like..

• the Pause- taking time between the stimulus and the response and taking time to savour the moment;
• Reflect on my week and plan for the coming week- it helps me feel centred and eat properly!
• Sharpen the Saw!

Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have--you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. Here are some examples of activities:

Physical:	Beneficial eating, exercising, and resting
Social/Emotional:	Making social and meaningful connections with others
Mental:	Learning, reading, writing, and teaching
Spiritual:	Spending time in nature, expanding spiritual self through meditation, music, art, or service

As you renew yourself in each of the four areas, you create growth and change in your life. Sharpen the Saw keeps you fresh so you can continue to practice the other six habits. You increase your capacity to produce and handle the challenges around you. Without this renewal, the body becomes weak, the mind mechanical, the emotions raw, the spirit insensitive, and the person selfish. Not a pretty picture, is it?

Feeling good doesn't just happen. Living a life in balance means taking the necessary time to renew yourself.  You can renew yourself through relaxation. Or you can totally burn yourself out by overdoing everything. You can pamper yourself mentally and spiritually. Or you can go through life oblivious to your well-being. You can experience vibrant energy. Or you can procrastinate and miss out on the benefits of good health and exercise. You can revitalize yourself and face a new day in peace and harmony. Or you can wake up in the morning full of apathy because your get-up-and-go has got-up-and-gone. Every day provides a new opportunity for renewal--a new opportunity to recharge yourself instead of hitting the wall. All it takes is the desire, knowledge, and skill.  (Source Stephen Covey- Seven Habits website)