entering a new year

December 29, 2014 in Uncategorized

There are a lot of words of wisdom about starting a new year–choosing a word for the year to represent your intention, for example (we all need some way to make decisions, and a word is as good as any other metric). Pinterest is full of pins about organizing your life in 2015. Organization is important, indeed. So is messiness.

There are exercises to make sure you are living your best and fullest life. I’m also a big fan of living your average and ordinary life. All this advice is out there, waiting for you to discover–something will resonate with you, I’m sure. The others will show the ways they do not fit your life by the speed with which they are forgotten.

I’ve narrowed my New Year’s exercise to two questions over the years, questions that if I ask them honestly and truly, can create great direction of intention for me in the coming 12 months. They are simple questions:

1. What do I want to create in this new year?

2. What do I want to let go of?

That’s it. These are questions that deserve our attention. There is a flow to life, of in and out, and these questions allow for that. In order to create new things, we must let go of others. What are you willing to let go of in 2015? An outdated story about what you can and cannot do? Toxic people? Procrastination? The “stuff” that keeps you from creating?

What is it you want to create? It need not be epic. It can simply be a deeper quality of engagement with the people you encounter in this new year. It turns out, that really is epic.

So I leave you with those two questions. May your energies in this coming year support and sustain you.

p.s. Also, please remember in this New Year that there are two kinds of problems: Figure-out-able and Not-figure-out-able. Let go of the latter, since you can’t figure them out anyway. That will free up some time in this coming year.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.

8 comments to " entering a new year "


Susan

December 29, 2014 AT 8:16PM

Like the brevity, Patti. The older I get, the more I appreciate getting straight to the point. A hard-won advancement for a storyteller like myself. Flow is probably one of the least appreciated qualities I can think of ~ most people seem to think that more is always better and the more they get, they more they want. Money comes instantly to mind as an excellent example. Love might come in second. I’ve been pondering whether or not to even set a New Year’s resolution … in part, I feel I’m already late with it, since from my perspective, the “real” new year is the day after Winter Solstice … the day when the sun starts its annual return. However, it’s important not to get stuck on minutia and heed the bigger picture. I’ll consider these questions and perhaps post whatever comes after that perusal. Thanks though, for the points to ponder. I really appreciate it.
- Reply
  
  Patti Digh
  
  December 29, 2014 AT 10:15PM
  
  Susan, I love your attention to the return of the sun. Perhaps think of these questions not as prelude to a New Year’s resolution, but as part of flow itself.

Jill

December 29, 2014 AT 8:25PM

Thank you
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  Patti Digh
  
  December 29, 2014 AT 10:16PM
  
  You are most welcome, Jill.

Tammy Vitale

December 30, 2014 AT 10:27AM

All right! These questions have great resonant energy! I’ve already had a stab at a review and look forward vision journal page, this looks like a good impetus for a vision journal page this afternoon. Thank you!

Jeff

December 30, 2014 AT 3:48PM

Good equation. Forget about organization. Just attend to what comes in and what goes out. It’s kinda like thermodynamics. In fact, the flow will keep entropy at bay. Good equation.

Tracy Mangold

December 30, 2014 AT 6:18PM

I love this. I am finding the older I get the less I need. More and more I see this. I am creating more space in the time I have each day and I want to continue that in the new year. I think I will post those two questions up where I can see them each day as a reminder. It’s a lovely one that works on a daily basis. Thanks, Patti. :)

Christine

December 31, 2014 AT 5:05AM

Lovely post. I too appreciate the brevity here. While I agree that the two questions are “simple” because of the clear, concise way they’re stated, I don’t find them simple questions at all if asked sincerely. The letting go list in particular can be a bugger. An authentic list requires getting real with yourself. Nothing simple about that–it takes courage. Thank you for the nudge.