“Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.”-Winston Churchill
How fast this year has gone by. Like a flash, 2015 is upon us and will be here before we know it. I would like to wish everyone a blessed and Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season. I feel truly blessed and honored to be a part of the Athens Now family. I pray and hope a bright and wonderful New Year for all of our readers.
As we get ready to start this 2015 journey, I challenge each of you to take a moment and “press pause” for some much needed self-reflection, review, and examination of life, not only for this year but for your life as a whole. Reflect on your accomplishments, blessings, betrayals, happy times, sad times, never-tell-anyone times, missed chances, and gained opportunities, as all these make up the life we have lived to date. One thing we know for sure: life stops for no one. It is the take-aways that matter!
We often start to reflect on life a little bit more closely when something happens to us to slow us down or halt us in our tracks, possibly an unavoidable scare, sickness and/or death of family and friends. Recently, I started thinking about all the things I have done in this life. Let’s say this was my “pause moment” to stop and reflect on the good, the bad, and of course the best intentions that just never made it to fruition. Yes, I’m talking about those items on our life’s “to-do list” toward which we have taken several steps, but somehow along the way we fell short of making happen. Guilty as charged!
I have realized when you press pause, and truly start reflecting for clarity on the lessons learned in this life, you grow and gain wisdom. That is, if you allow yourself to see it (your past) for what it is worth. As we get in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I leave with you a few questions to ponder and then answer as you continue to define your life’s journey while on this earth.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” ? S Kierkegaard
1. What is my gift to the world?
2. What good and bad have I deposited into the lives of others over the years?
3. What obstacles have I overcome in my personal and career life?
4. What actions should I start, stop, and continue?
5. What things/people am I holding on to that I need to let go?
6. What can I do to make my family and/or friends a top priority?
7. What are my biggest time wasters/destroyers?
8. What legacy am I leaving for those who come after me?
“Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.” ? Y Woon
Until Next Time, Be sincere, Kind and Intentional
Jackie Warner, Career Development Facilitator
The Bridge “Where Community Matters”
Email: thebridge.us@gmail.com
Checkout our events: http://thebridge-us.yolasite.com
