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  • Make time for reflection
  • Carve out and schedule the time for this activity
  • Consider how much time you want to dedicate (a full day, half a day, a series of days, etc.)
  • Think about where you'd like to do your audit.  Is there a particular place that is ideal, or are there things you need to do to create an optimal space for yourself?
  • Get quiet
  • Get a notebook
  • Set the tone (turn off notifications on your phone, prayer and silence can help support you getting mentally and physically prepared)
 

Review the past 12 months. Crack out your agenda/calendar of the last year and look at your weeks, months, and quarters.  Highlight events that stood out and helped to shape your year.  Give an account for your time (hours worked, learning opportunities, fun time, personal and/or spiritual development, etc.).

 

How do you feel about the use of your time?  As you reviewed and reflected on your time, what feelings came up for you?

 

Write out what was most meaningful about your year.  What things pleasantly surprised or impacted you? Consider things you would do again, and think about how you could recreate similar events in the next 12 months ahead.

 

Reflect on what was less meaningful over the past year, and write why.  Resist denying disappointments or regrets.  What disappointments did you experience? What surprised or impacted you in negative ways?  What regrets do you hold?

 

Admitting what you'd do differently is a great way to understand what makes you tick and can help you strategically plan for the coming year.  What can you differently next year?  Consider what unfinished emotional 'business' you still need to work through.

 

What meaning have you made of the events of the past year?  Examine mindsets and potential limiting beliefs you may have picked up over the past year.

 

Consider ways you can unpack, heal, and grow from the harder parts of the past year.  What is the plan to confront them, and who can you reach out to who can support you to do this well?

 

Benefits of Journaling:

  • Relieve stress

  • Helps maintain your mental health

  • Allows for introspection

  • Keeps an account of your journey

  • A place to organize your thoughts

  • Helps you determine and set goals

  • Bears witness to your life

Examples of Journaling Styles:

  • Free Writing

    • No holding back, write freely without stopping the flow of your thoughts.  Instead of thinking about if what you're writing will make sense when you re-read it, you allow your thoughts to just flow.  Anything that pops in your mind to write, you put it on the page.

  • Bullet Journaling

    • Often uses a notebook that has grids or without any line.  It is an open space for you to organize thoughts, activities, future plans, and to track important things.  There are many creative ways people use bullet journaling that can help to manage the many things that consume and take up space in your mind.

  • Lists

    • Tracking the various things that need your attention. From groceries, to tasks at work, to things you don't want to remember, to ideas for upcoming projects.  You can create a list for just about anything you can think of.

  • Reflections

    • Considering the particular thought or question and focusing your writings on that.  With reflections, you are going deeper into your feelings, and allowing yourself time to soak in your thoughts, and consider what meaning you're making from those thoughts and feelings.

  • Plan Your Day

    • This can help bring order and calm to a mind that is raging with priorities and worries about getting it all done.  To ensure you don't miss the most important things, jot down the sequencing of your day.  What needs to happen first, and go down from there until the end of your day.  You can choose to include only the major events, or you can account for the uber small things like what you'll eat during your break.

 

Journaling Prompts for End of Year Reflection:

  • What I am most proud of this year

  • What I found myself struggling with the most this past year

  • Interesting things I've learned or re-discovered about myself this year

  • Funny things that happened that continue to make me laugh

  • Answered prayers

  • Prayers I'm carrying over into the New Year

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