New Beginnings
Author: Kim Eickhoff

The celebration of the New Year brings hope and new life to old dreams. Things that didn¡¯t seem attainable or possible suddenly seem as though they are right within our grasp as the next year arrives. Are our dreams any more attainable then they were a day, a week, a month earlier, most likely no. However, there is something in our perception of what the New Year brings that gives us new hope and new life in our dreams.

New beginnings. That is what the New Year is about for many of us. It is a time to reflect over the past year and think about what we accomplished, what we didn¡¯t accomplish; what we finished and what we never even started; what we changed in our lives for the better, and what we have denied or ignored. As we take the time to think about all we would still like to do, and we make our ¡°resolutions¡±, there are 3 main steps that I believe are pertinent in creating change in our lives.

The first step is to be honest with yourself. Sometimes it is difficult to admit what is wrong in your live. By admitting it, it feels as though you have failed. It is so easy to deny or at least alter what is really true. I say that you will never get your life where you want it to be if you are not honest with yourself. Look at your life. Be honest with yourself. What is working in your life, and what is not working? Just because there are things you need to change, it doesn¡¯t mean you have failed. We all have areas of our lives we know we need to work on. That is what life is about after all. So be honest, be brutally honest. Sit down and make a list of 5 things that you know are not working for you. You might need to be honest about problems in your personal life such as your physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health; or your professional life, such as your career; or relationships with friends and family that for whatever reason are not working and bri! ng you pain. Write them out. Be honest. There is no ¡°right¡± or ¡°wrong¡± to this, there is just working and not working. If you truly want to make great changes in your life, if you want your external life such as your career, your relationships, your activities, and your behaviors to be in sync with whom you are internally, you have to be honest. You have to dig down deep and figure out who you are through your values, your beliefs, your needs, and be honest with yourself as to what areas of your life are not in alignment with those qualities. This is what makes life meaningful, this is what will make you happy. Living your life authentically. However, to get there you have to move from denying yourself to acknowledging the truth.

The second step is to take accountability for wherever you are in this present moment. Once you are honest with yourself and admit that there are certain areas of your life that are not working, you then must take responsibility for those areas. This is not about placing the blame. There is no judgment involved, it is simply that if you are unhappy with an area or even areas of your life, you are responsible for that unhappiness. You choose to perceive the situation the way that you do, you choose to stay in that situation, and even when you are not making a choice, that is a choice as well. By being accountable for all of your life, that which is working and that which is not working, puts you back in control. You may not always be able to control the situations that happen to you or around you, but you can definitely control how you respond to those situations. You can either use your experiences, however painful, to discover more about who you are as an individual an! d grow and develop through that pain. Or you can roll over and be a victim and remain miserable and unhappy. If you use your experiences to educate you as to what makes you happy, what your values are, and what your needs are, then you will begin to create more awareness as to what healthier choices you can make in the future to create the life you really want. You will begin to choose life consciously instead of just living automatically. So be honest with yourself, and then take responsibility for those things in your life that are not working. It becomes apparent that if you are responsible for the things in your life that aren¡¯t working, then you are also responsible or what is working, and this gives you the control in creating and living your best life.

This takes us to the final step, which is action. Nothing in your life will change if you do not take action. Sometimes fear stops you, sometimes doubt, sometimes you need to get the resources in place before you can take action. Whatever is stopping you from taking action, challenge it. Challenge the fear and challenge the doubt. Your emotions are always created by your thoughts. If you can become more aware of what you are thinking, you will be more in control of your negative emotions. However, just becoming more aware will not create change all by itself, you have to take action. So set a goal, come up with the steps necessary in accomplishing that goal, and do it. What have you got to loose? Being happy, being satisfied, and being fulfilled? That¡¯s a lot to loose.

As each New Year brings new beginnings, so does each day for that matter. With each sunrise, and the sun does rise each day whether we can see it or not, it brings with it the chance to begin again. It brings the opportunity to make that day better then the one before. It brings the opportunity to make it count, to live deliberately, and to live authentically. No matter what is going on in our lives we are accountable and responsible for those situations as well as how we respond to them. We are accountable for taking action, or not taking action. We are accountable for making changes or not making changes. If your life is not what you want it to be, then make it what you want it to be. Identify your goal, lay out a plan, and take action. It is as simple as that, although I know it is not always easy. But you only live once. This is it. There is no dress rehearsal as they say. So take this New Year, take this day, and make it a new beginning. Create your best lif! e!








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Kim Eickhoff is a coach who helps people create their best lives from the inside out. For more information visit her website called Working it Out, Within, at http://www.workingitoutwithin.com.

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