From where I sit…..
Terri Kruschke, Senior Trainer at MONERE Development Services
What do you see here? From where I sit, this is beauty. Green fields, lovely clouds, a bit of blue sky, and no snow! I grew up in western Minnesota, where the snow could start to fly in early November and continue all the way through April, with temperatures down to -30C and snow up to the windowsills of the house. I was married on April 30th, many years ago, and two days before our wedding, we had a snowstorm across the plains with 30+ cm of snow. It almost ruined the day, but fortunately it melted on the Friday and was 20C on Saturday. How things change, perspectives change, but also how – even though I have lived in Ireland for 14 years and could take all of this green for granted – I don’t. All because I know what it’s like to live in extreme weather. And I am grateful once again, this December, to see a view such this every day when I look out my front window.
As a trainer, a spouse, a parent, in my volunteer work as a radio presenter, I tend to be quite reflective. I think deeply, ask questions, consider ideas, and work hard to understand the events of my life and how I can learn the lessons of today to move towards a more positive tomorrow. In this blog, I’d like to give you the opportunity to do the same.
As we come to the end of 2021, I’d like you to consider a few questions as you look back on the previous year, to record that information, and to use that information to look forward to 2022. These cover a range of personal and professional questions and can be answered from both contexts.
In 2021:
- What would I consider my top three accomplishments?
- What three emotions/feelings did I feel most often? How did they affect me?
- What tends to be my “Achilles Heel” on a consistent basis?
- When did I last apologise to someone? Did it make a positive difference?
- Who are “my people” – the few that I will answer the telephone for no matter when it rings?
- Did I do something kind for myself in the past year?
After answering these “looking back” questions, let’s continue the journey and answer a few questions “looking forward”.
In 2022:
- What is one skill/activity/hobby I would like to try over the coming year?
- Are there any habits that I would like to eliminate or reduce?
- How can I increase my personal or professional network in a way that will benefit my wellbeing?
- In 12 months’ time, what would I like to be celebrating?
For me personally, I spend quite a lot of time in reflective thought, and I have journaled regularly for over 30 years. Do you have a habit of journaling? Have you tried it, but were not sure how to proceed after the first day?
The practice of journaling has many benefits, some of them are as follows:
- Helps improve recall of past events
- Tracks personal growth
- Records trends of accomplishments and “let’s try again” goals year on year
- Give opportunity to celebrate wins both big and small
Maybe for 2022 you might consider developing a habit of reflective journaling. There are many resources on Google to get you started, including ideas around gratitude journaling, asking yourself questions, and more. A great place to start, however, is with the basic “who what when where why and how” method of recording events. Not just a diary of what happened in the day, but who was involved? Why was it noteworthy? How did it make you feel?
I’d love to chat with you more about reflective journaling if you’re interested, send me an email at terri@moneredevlopmentservices.com and share your journaling wins OR challenges, I’d love to hear about them!
I hope that you have a very happy and peaceful Christmas this year. Despite the losses, changes and disruptions we have encountered through the past 20+ months, there are reasons to be grateful, and I hope you have the opportunity to reflect on the good things of 2021 and are looking towards a positive 2022.
From all of us at MONERE, we want to say thank you for your continued business and relationship throughout the past year, and we would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year!