Published on 1/6/2022

Take Stock of Your Life to a New Beginning
Winnis Chiang

Whenever we enter a new year from the last, we will naturally look back and look ahead. This year, why not consider taking more time to evaluate your current life after reviewing last year and looking forward to the new year?

Who are you? What do you believe? What do you want? What do you really need?

When we discover who we really are, we stop living on autopilot and start to live with intention, focus and purpose. Our choices become clearer. We begin to make active choices in our life, instead of making excuses or passively living with the status quo. Here are a few questions to get you started. Have a journal or some way to record your thoughts. (Writing by hand keeps you in touch with your breath and your heart.)

• What do you want to express the most?
• What in you needs healing?
• What unique gifts, talents and skills do you bring to the world? How are you using them (or not)?
• Who do you need to forgive? Do you need to forgive yourself?
• What beliefs are holding you back or getting in your way?
• What can you let go of in your life?
• What makes you happy?

Don't forget to consider the vital information that other "parts" of yourself are giving you. When you use only your head, your experience of yourself and the world is more limited.

• What is your body telling you? When someone yells at you, does your stomach tie up in knots? Do your shoulders stiffen when you've been too focused on fulfilling others' needs and ignoring your own? Notice the messages your body is giving you.
• Check in with your heart. The heart is the home of what is most alive in us. What does your heart have to say about your job? Your relationships? About how you spend your days? Does it need more play, rest and recreation time? Is something missing? What, according to your heart, really matters?
• Listen to your intuition, your spirit, your "gut." Your inner voice speaks volumes, but often gets ignored. What is this voice saying now? What are you yearning for? What voices are you listening to? Don't forget: If you are in Christ, you are a New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Would you like to walk in the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16) moment by moment to live out your new life?

Don't forget to notice what you already have that is working. Acknowledge and give thanks for the gifts and the beauty and the miracles that are in your life right now. Write them down.

Tell the truth. Now is the time to start being honest about who you really are. Encouraging those unlived parts of ourselves to emerge can provide an exhilarating sense of discovery and optimism for the New Year and beyond.

May God protect the physical, mental, and spiritual health of you and your family. May the oldest psalm in the Bible be a prayer for you and me in the New Year: "Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:1, 2, 12).

Please visit ParentingABCtoday.com for additional resources.

Winnis Chiang
winnis@parentingabc.com

Winnis Chiang, LMFT and founder of ParentingABC.com, is passionate about helping Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking parents to get along with, enjoy, and positively influence their American born children.