The 2009 New Year- a Time for Leaving Things Behind

Well its 2009 and most of us have made some plans and new goals. Most of us do this every year, only to find by the end of the year that we have failed and gone back to our old ways. This year it can be different if you really want it bad enough. This year can be different if you first take these steps:

Know thyself

New Years for most of us means a chance to put the old year behind and have a better year. We write down our goals whether it is for diet, weight loss, or business and expect the changes to work like magic. To change our life for the good we first need to do deeply evaluate every area of our life and our relationships to determine their effectiveness. This needs to be done with blinders off, our ego set aside, and our mind and heart open to hear the answers. You cannot lose weight unless you determine first what got you there in the first place. Are there emotional triggers? Are there physical triggers? What are you thinking or feeling when you eat too much? Every problem has a reason it has become so severe and answers. Every unachieved goal has a reason why it is not attained. It is not easy to dig deep and face the answers but it is the only way you are going to make this year different from the last.

Take time with this 2009 New Year to really do this and not put it off for another year. This is a good time to get rid of anger, pain, hurt, and old memories that are getting in the way of your happiness. Your old goals may be just fine, only the roadblocks need to be removed. Your present relationships may be fine but just needing some new emotion and heart to perk them up. Perhaps you have not told someone you love them in a very long time or not at all. Perhaps you need to tell them that you need them and how important they are in your life. Perhaps you have just have not given them all of our heart or kept them away because of fear. Sometimes relationships and goals die from neglect rather than from abuse.

What about your child who is sick or your husband who is out of work? Sometimes there are roadblocks that cannot be removed just yet. Perhaps the only thing we can do is to accept that nothing can be done but to accept the situation for now. We cannot always change the person or situation but we can and do have control over our own attitude and reactions. We can stop being angry or sad or disheartened.

Happiness is a choice even in the darkest of times. Happiness is not dependent on everything being right in our lives but if we are right in our heart. Perhaps we need to look deeply into our heart and face what we are doing that is negative or self defeating. What are we doing honestly to make our job, our life, and our relationships more difficult? Most of the time, fault lies on both sides of any situation.

If our attitude did not work in 2008, perhaps we need to give ourself an attitude adjustment.

If it is a situation with someone we love, it may be the reality that we need to use tough love or get professional help. Just admitting there is a problem, is at least a first step.

Are we being true to ourselves is a good question all of us need to ask once a year.

Are we being true to our beliefs and our ideals?

Are we avoiding decisions that are tearing us apart or giving us pain?

Is the pain we are feeling really justified or we just using it as an excuse or a reason to wallow in self pity?

Where are we in our relationships and in our life?

We need to ask and answer these questions before we can create a new plan for this year and our life. Knowing the answers to these questions is the basis for really having a better, more successful 2009!