Image courtesy of Kittisak at
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
With Christmas all unwrapped for another year, our attentions will soon turn to the next milestone on the calendar, New Year’s Day. If we haven’t already, we will begin to outline our New Year’s resolutions for 2013 and plan out some goals we hope to accomplish in the next 12 months. But before we leave 2012 behind, maybe it’s a good time to look back and contemplate a bit on the past 12 months.
I came across a website, thoughtquestions.com, that poses one thought-provoking question each day. The questions are wide ranging, and actually make for good journaling prompts. Two of my recent favorites are “What makes you irreplaceable?” and “If not now, then when?”
The site offers some reflective questions for the end of the year. Among them are, “What memory from this past year makes you smile the most?” and “What could you have done better this year?”
I pondered those questions for myself, and found them rather challenging. First of all, my memory is so poor that looking back for poignant moments is a bit frustrating. Even the negative recollections don’t carry much emotional impact for me in retrospect. So what makes me smile? I would have to say my best memory of the year is the family get-together that I hosted just last week. Maybe that’s cheating since it is hardly old enough to count as a memory. But having my loved ones together and having the wherewithal to be able to host something like that meant a lot to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
As far as what I could have done better this year… Although I had a lot of struggles this year, my overall sense is that I did pretty well with handling them. There is, of course, always room for improvement. I could have exercised more, eaten more healthfully, cleaned the kitty litter boxes more frequently…
I landed in the hospital this year, lost my job, suffered two sprained ankles and continue to face financial challenges. But despite the “bad” things, I still feel I have been fortunate this year. All in all, I am pleased with how 2012 turned out for me. Maybe this is where a poor memory comes in handy.
I can put 2012 behind me with few regrets. So it’s on to the New Year and coming up with new resolutions. Another plus side to the whole memory thing: I forget my resolutions soon after making them, so there’s no guilt come March or April when I haven’t even started acting on them.
Maybe I should resolve to improve my memory next year.
Naw, forget it.
Maggie
How would you answer the questions? Leave a comment.
I came across a website, thoughtquestions.com, that poses one thought-provoking question each day. The questions are wide ranging, and actually make for good journaling prompts. Two of my recent favorites are “What makes you irreplaceable?” and “If not now, then when?”
The site offers some reflective questions for the end of the year. Among them are, “What memory from this past year makes you smile the most?” and “What could you have done better this year?”
I pondered those questions for myself, and found them rather challenging. First of all, my memory is so poor that looking back for poignant moments is a bit frustrating. Even the negative recollections don’t carry much emotional impact for me in retrospect. So what makes me smile? I would have to say my best memory of the year is the family get-together that I hosted just last week. Maybe that’s cheating since it is hardly old enough to count as a memory. But having my loved ones together and having the wherewithal to be able to host something like that meant a lot to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
As far as what I could have done better this year… Although I had a lot of struggles this year, my overall sense is that I did pretty well with handling them. There is, of course, always room for improvement. I could have exercised more, eaten more healthfully, cleaned the kitty litter boxes more frequently…
I landed in the hospital this year, lost my job, suffered two sprained ankles and continue to face financial challenges. But despite the “bad” things, I still feel I have been fortunate this year. All in all, I am pleased with how 2012 turned out for me. Maybe this is where a poor memory comes in handy.
I can put 2012 behind me with few regrets. So it’s on to the New Year and coming up with new resolutions. Another plus side to the whole memory thing: I forget my resolutions soon after making them, so there’s no guilt come March or April when I haven’t even started acting on them.
Maybe I should resolve to improve my memory next year.
Naw, forget it.
Maggie
How would you answer the questions? Leave a comment.
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