New Year’s Evaluation Wrap-up
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Insight is a significant step toward change. However, the pursuit of insight can be painful as we attempt to look at areas of our life in a different way. In order to lessen the pain, it helps to be curious rather than being judgmental as we look at ourselves. Living out the gospel means that we have nothing to hide and nothing to prove. This is true of our relationships with others, but also of how we look at ourselves.
Tools for Gaining Insight
In January, we started a series to help with what we called a “New Year’s Evaluation.” Over the last two months we have published blogs in the following areas to help each of us gain insight into significant areas of our lives:
If you were not following along each week, you can go back and do an evaluation now or you could return to the blog articles every year to gain new insights.
Plans for Change
Once you have completed the evaluation, it is time to take those new insights and convert them into action. What tangible changes can you make now that you have a greater understanding of these areas of your life? Often, many of our insights are linked together. Like dominoes, we can make one change that has a cascading impact on multiple areas of our lives. For example, what we eat is connected to our emotional, physical, and financial health. What change could knock over the most dominoes? This is a process of prioritizing and operationalizing change so it can have the most impact.
Communicating Plans
Finally, a crucial step in change is communicating the changes that you are going to make. Communicating our desires and plans has multiple impacts. It brings us closer into relationship with people. It makes the plans more “real” as we move them from just being thoughts in our head. The difference between a dream and a goal is the written or spoken word. So, find someone you trust, someone who has your best in mind, and take a further step of investment in that relationship by sharing your insights and goals with that person.
If You’re Stuck
If you are having trouble knowing how to get started or gaining the necessary insight to move the process forward, it might be a good idea to sit down with a therapist. Being able to tell that you are stuck is good insight in and of itself. And since this process is best done in a state of curiosity rather than judgment, and living the gospel means you have nothing to hide and nothing to prove, there is no shame in seeking guidance from a professional. Please feel free to reach out to any of our counselors. We would be honored to walk alongside you.
