Looking back, looking forward……

December is a month filled with holiday celebrations and time with family and friends. Hopefully the focus is on enjoyment of moments of gaiety and connection. I want to emphasize the importance of keeping a clear perspective on the meaning and value of being together as a communities of friends and family. There is no perfect holiday and stress from trying to produce an “imagined” Hallmark movie scene distracts us from the beauty of shared gatherings.

December also affords us the opportunity to take a mindful moment and ask ourselves a series of questions as we look forward to 2020. “Personal daily monitoring” gives us the power to be mindful each day as to how we are feeling and how we are doing. Taking this to the added perspective of an annual check in empowers us to be aware and be mindful regarding our personal pathways. There is a very natural process of checking the weather daily, temperature, rain, snow, etc so we can properly plan around it. Establishing a natural daily check in and with December, a year in perspective and a year coming ahead, teaches us awareness, intentionality and being more deliberate with our selves and our lives.

There are many things over which we have no control. However, there are many aspects of our lives over which we can assert positive choices: sleep habits, nutrition, exercise, substance use, relationships, purpose and meaning, self talk.

As adults, we must harness the power of ourselves as role models and use our messaging for our youth to help them use the tools of:

• Personal Daily Monitoring
• Personal Annual Monitoring

Learning to be mindfully checking in:

How am I feeling?
How am I doing?
What would I like to change?
What would I like to enhance in my life?

The act of daily and yearly check in’s help us be accountable, intentional and deliberate with keeping tuned in and empowered over our well being.

Happy December!