Thrive – Page 3 – Positive Woman Connection

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My favorite time of the year is the week between Christmas and New Years. Of course, there is the obvious reduced stress level, with all of the wrapping and entertaining put to rest. The kids are happily playing with their new toys for a few days at least. I enjoy the sense that everything seems to slow down and shift into relax mode. This is the perfect time to prepare for the coming year with deliberate prayer, reflection and resetting of priorities and goals.

I want to encourage you to set aside some quiet time of reflection during this special week. Here are a few of my thoughts:

Pray – Ask the Lord to direct you and guide you in the coming year. Thank Him for the blessings of the past year and for His care and comfort through the challenges. Seek His wisdom as you make new plans and ask for His favor and direction. Pray for your family members, your friends and your business. Most important, pray that His love flows through you in all you do.

Reflect – Consider the things that went well throughout the past year and think of ways to continue to build on your strengths. But also think about the things that were not so good – things that need to change or be adjusted. What do you need to do differently going forward? Each year, I prayerfully ask the Lord to give me a Bible verse to focus on during the year (my 2016 verse was Romans 15:13) and to give me one word to focus on from that verse (my word was hope). As you take time to reflect, allow the Lord to lead you toward a verse and a word for 2017. I’ll tell you mine in next week’s blog.

Reset – The new year offers us an opportunity to reset with a fresh outlook and positive goals. Ponder and dream about what you would like to accomplish this year. What do you want to learn? Who do you want to get to know? What organizations do you want to join and what do you need to cut out of your schedule in order to take on new responsibilities? How do you plan to strengthen your physical health? What books do you want to read? What do you want to memorize? Think of all the areas in your life that you want to reset toward improvement.

That’s what I love most about the new year – it’s an opportunity to reset with a fresh start! I hope it is a wonder-filled week for you this week. Be intentional about being still and allowing true relaxation to take over. Often we find our strength and guidance in those quiet alone times. Listen and love well, and don’t forget to write your Thank You notes.

Join us at Positive Woman Connection. Donna Skell will be our speaker.

Tuesday, August 24 from 12 – 1 at Prestonwood Country Club.

Here are some thoughts about facing disappointments.

In a Rut

Are you stuck? I mean emotionally stuck, grieving or frustrated by the way things turned out. Getting stuck can happen to any of us, often without our even recognizing it. We may be traveling delightfully along life’s pathway, when—boom!—things change, and we must adjust. Often our emotions are still lingering in pain. When our heart sinks at the loss of a dream, we can be deeply saddened because things didn’t turn out as we thought they should or would. We can grope through a wide range of feelings such as frustration, disappointment, anger, and grief.

We must adequately face our grief, but we must also accept our new set of circumstances and move on. The challenging question is how do we move through grief and toward acceptance? Most of us have never taken a course in “How to Handle Disappointment.” We simply stumble through the emotions and pain, hoping to find joy once again. How do you know if you are stuck in a rut? Ask yourself the following questions:

Are your thoughts constantly consumed with your disappointment?
Do you continue to rehash the situation over and over again in conversations?
Are you holding a grudge against the person who hurt you?
Do you keep playing the if-only-this-hadn’t-happened scenario in your mind?
Are you savoring a poor-me mentality?
Do you repeatedly tell people who are trying to help you, “You just don’t know how hard my life is”? (Exception: if you are in an abusive situation, be honest. Get help and tell a counselor or friend how bad it is immediately.)

If you identified yourself in any of these statements, you may be stuck, but you can move forward. I know it has been hard and you must grieve over your loss, but there comes a time when you need to climb out of your sadness and grief and move on. Honestly, it is easy to wallow in a rut without recognizing it. Some people stay there because they like playing the victim role. Others enjoy the attention they get from their sad story. Many people stay in a rut simply because they don’t recognize they have fallen into it, and they haven’t thought about how to get out. They just don’t know how to take a first step toward happiness again. Yes, we must grieve our loss, and at a certain point we must move on. Next week’s blog will talk about some steps to take in moving forward.

This blog entry comes from an excerpt of my book Thrive, Don’t Simply Survive – Passionately Live the Life you Didn’t Plan (Howard Books, Simon & Schuster)