As we navigate through life, we come to points in time when we must decide what and who can continue to travel with us.
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A friend of mine was planning to vacation with her family this month. She and I appreciate traveling and clothes, so I asked if she had started packing for their trip as it was right around the corner. To my surprise, she hadn’t! Although my family vacation isn’t until spring, I’m ready to go now! So, I easily rattled off my outfit ideas which I notice are constantly changing. Why? I know where I’m going, so destination isn’t the issue, but I must consider a few things when packing; luggage allowance for the plane, weather conditions, and activities. Although I have numerous outfits in my closet suitable for vacation, I can’t take them all.
In our everyday environments, there are places we go where there are things we can’t take with us. If you go to a sports arena and you haven’t finished your outside beverage or tobacco product before you enter, someone tells you, “You can’t take that with you.” To get through the TSA checkpoint there are things you can’t take with you. It’s not only a matter of where we’re going with our lives, but also what don’t we need to take with us throughout our lives.
Quality of life assessment is an ongoing process in which goals and intentions are strongly impacted by the things we can’t take with us. So then, being attentive to and evaluating behaviors is valuable if we want to live our best lives and fulfill our highest potential. We who are on the path of lifelong learning, personal growth, and transformation are keenly aware that certain social behaviors, unethical behaviors, and uncontrolled emotions are self-sabotaging and detrimental to our success. But other less obvious behaviors are also impactful; excessive non-productive screen time, lack of clear relationship boundaries, and investing more in entertainment than in personal growth are a few that come to mind. As we perform our individual quality of life assessments, we identify the excess baggage, things that no longer fit, and other aspects of our lives that no longer need to journey with us. Might I suggest you have a cup of tea or coffee and ponder the question, What things can no longer journey with me? Coloring inside the lines? Avoidance? Wastefulness? Grudges? What???
Now, what can you take with you into 2024?
Curiosity — Curiosity keeps us open to unconventional ideas and perspectives, encourages problem-solving and innovation, and fosters engagement and willingness to explore diverse experiences, all of which are necessary for those who are on the path of lifelong learning, personal growth, and transformation.
Discernment — Discernment helps us to understand people, and to interpret and evaluate situations and opportunities accurately. It helps us to grow in our ability to wait for the best timing and not react prematurely or irrationally. I endearingly refer to discernment as “ The Whisperer.” Because she does not yell or scream at me, I must be in tune with her soft voice. Discernment helps you to determine the best path forward.
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Gratitude — Be appreciative of all that is good in your life no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. No matter what is going wrong, be appreciative of what is going right. Nightly, before bed, I reflect on my day and focus on at least one thing for which I am grateful. I write it down on an index card and place it in my gratitude box. For years, this has helped me to end my day in gratitude and go to sleep with a positive thought.
Resilience — Because life is unpredictable, we will always face challenges and adversity. Life’s practices in adversity help build our capacity to adapt to the unfamiliar, to bounce back from setbacks more quickly, to be able to pivot and shift when necessary, and to surrender the illusion of control to divine guidance. Resilience is crucial to the transformation process; that is the changing of our character and our nature into its highest form. In this journey, there is continual inserting, deleting, and reconfiguring of life’s variables because everything is subject to change.
Spirit of Collaboration — It’s important to understand that we don’t make life happen alone. Even if you think you must “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, you have to get the boots from somewhere or the material to make the boots or the skilled person to construct the boots. Life doesn’t happen alone nor does success. We can grow in our efforts to work more harmoniously with our business partners, in the community, and culturally.
It’s mid-January so by now you most likely have a clear destination of where you want to land this year. To that end, be clear and decisive about what you can’t take with you.
Always encouraging reflection!
WandaP
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