WRITE TO FLOURISH
Tap into renewed positivity and use the power of the pen to pick out and appreciate the best bits of your year, writes Jackee Holder
Many of us start off the new year with little memory of what we did or achieved in the outgoing one. One way to really embed the positive experiences and milestones of the previous year is to curate an end-of-year review. The selection of prompts below has been borrowed from a list generated by US psychotherapist Margaret Robinson. I’ve found them to be an excellent writing tool to ensure that journalling does not become a repetitive loop of rumination and worry but, instead, a way of demonstrating how writing down your responses can move your self-reflection towards concrete, practical actions. Try this series of prompts for a laser-focused new-year review:
●Where were you this time last year?
The key to mining this prompt is to get specific with your reflections. Ask yourself what happened this time last year that was wonderful and meaningful. What was unexpected, harmful, or worse? When were you at your best, and what were you doing then? When were you at your worst, and what were you doing then? Highlight the key moments in your year that respond to this collection of prompts. The elixir in mining these end-of-year questions lies in tracking the details, the patterns, the seasonal changes and triggers. As you work through them, note how you are feeling, and what you are noticing and discovering about yourself.
●Why are you doing what you are doing?
What’s your purpose? These questions are often luminous at the start of the year. Your end-of-year review will give you space to check in on how well you have lived out your purpose over the past year. How well have your values been expressed? How well have you kept on track with living out your values? What are the principles you will focus on this year, and how will you put them into action? I was unexpectedly surprised when I reviewed my year, which brought home how my value of kindness had been played out in abundance in numerous ways over the months. Had I not completed the review in writing, these acts would have been easily overlooked and forgotten.
●Finally, try this batch of prompts to synthesise your takeaways.
What have you learnt? What do you still need to learn? What is the overarching lesson or big takeaway? Set aside five minu
