Reflections vs Resolutions
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While many people are focusing on New Years Resolutions this week, it felt more consistent with my current mood to focus on what I would like to reflect on to celebrate. The reality is that most people have had more adversity and challenges in the past couple years and while I do believe in strategic visioning and goal setting, I think it is equally important to spend time in reflection regarding what is going well and what has already been accomplished.
Here are some tips for healthy reflection:
1. Focus on what successes have occurred this year for you and your family. Brain science shows that we are more likely to focus on the negative and instead move on quickly when celebrating successes or milestones. What this research means to me is that it is even more crucial to spend time capturing those positive memories and achievements to make it easier to reflect on them later. Some of my favorite ways to focus more directly on positives and keep them at the forefront is to have individuals and families create visuals of successes that are easy to see such as:
-hanging up a photo of an event or achievement in a high traffic area in your home or workspace
-create collages of annual highlights
-journal about successes and review these journal entries routinely
-chart positives in a calendar and review it frequently
-spend time reviewing your Facebook or Instragram posts since people often capture highlights this way. Pro tip: looking at other people’s feeds can make people feel more depressed while looking at their own posts and highlights typically boosts people’s moods.
2. Ask yourself questions to help with self-reflection and family reflection. Some examples include:
-What is something you are proud of yourself for this year? Proud of your child for?
-What were your favorite memories from this year? Favorite family memories?
-What was something you didn’t think you could achieve this year, but you were able to? Something your child achieved?
-What is something that used to be really challenging that you don’t even focus on anymore?
-Which of your strengths did you really use effectively this year? Your child’s strengths? How can you use this personal strength or family strength even more in the coming year?
However you choose to reflect (or not reflect) on the year in review, we at Quest wish you a happy, healthy 2023! We look forward to seeing many of you in the year ahead!