A New Year - making positive changes

There’s something about a new year that inspires us to see things differently and to believe that we can do things differently.

And yet, as I’ve written before, – most new years resolutions fail.  In that previous post I encouraged you to review the past year and to build on the things that had gone well.  To take a strengths-based approach to making changes and use the energy and motivation from previous positive and satisfying experiences to plan the next year.

This time I want to suggest you take a longer-term view.  There’s a positive psychology exercise I often use when coaching that helps people to consider how they might be in the future if everything worked out the best possible way. (Developed by Sonia Luybomirsky) 

Research shows that people who have done this exercise have experienced increased positive health and well-being outcomes as well as higher positive emotions and higher self-efficacy (a form of self confidence). 

It can also help to clarify goals, reduce goal conflict and increase motivation towards those goals, so it may help with your New Year’s goal setting exercise. 

So I encourage you to;

            ‘Think about your life in the future –chose a point 5 or 10 years ahead. Imagine that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. You have worked hard and succeeded at accomplishing all of your life goals. Think of this as the realization of all your life dreams. Now, write about what you imagined.’[1] 

Journaling about it for 20 minutes for three successive days without editing or censoring your writing may provide you with some valuable insights –or it may just leave you feeling more positive about the future.  And that’s an outcome to be appreciated!

Wishing you well-being and growth in 2017 wherever you are.

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[1] [1] King, L. A. (2001). The health benefits of writing about life goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 798-807.