A new year will soon be upon us. So it is time to take stock of what we did during the last 12 months, where we stand today and then decide what we should do in the upcoming year.

Did we make friends or enemies last year? How is our relationship to God and our family? Did we learn anything new or just continue on our way through life? Did we help anyone or did we hurt people instead? Are we happy, satisfied with our lives, and at peace or are we angry, dissatisfied and stressed out?

Based on what you find when you look back, now is the time to decide what you did right last year and plan to continue those things. It is also time to look at where you may have "gone wrong" or not followed through. Perhaps you started out with good intentions that fell "by the wayside" or circumstances changed and those things were no longer as important.

If they lost importance, there was no need to follow through on those items. If they simply fell "by the wayside", how can you change your goals and/or intentions to help prevent that from happening again this year.

Sometimes the best way to make a positive change in your life is to simply pick ONE area that is the MOST important to YOU and work on that until you are satisfied with the result and/or some other area becomes the MOST important one to work on.

So what needs the most work in your life and is important to you: God, friends, family, work, education, neighbors, your health, stress, your community, etc. Pick one thing and then decide how you are going to start making a change. Then do it! It doesn't need to be a major change at first.

If it is your relationship to God, you don't have to become a priest, rabbi, nun, etc. to become close to God. You can start by simply setting aside a few minutes every day to think about God or read about him. Perhaps start with services on the radio, TV or Internet - you don't have to suddenly start going to church, temple or a synagogue every time they hold a service, meeting, study or class.

If it is friends you don't have to start "living in their hip pocket". Mend fences, call for no reason, invite them to share something with you or even make new friends.

Start working on your MOST important area for improvement one small step at a time and next year it may still need some work, but that's OK as long as you made progress.

Learn more about this author, Ginger Kazay.
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