I’m Trying a New New Year’s Goal for 2012
This year for the New Year I thought I’d do something a little different rather than the traditional goal-setting. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge believer is setting goals. Only by writing things down do we truly make them actionable. I have lots of goals written down…many I intend to accomplish before the end of the year. For 2012 I wanted to focus not on goals, but on the good things in my life, of all the things I am grateful for. Hence, I started on New Years Day with the goal of writing down 2012 Gratitudes. I’m calling it the Gratitude Project.

As the days of 2012 go by, I want to cut through all the craziness of daily living and remember the things that are important and that make life wonderful. I’ll be jotting down five or six things I’m grateful for every day. As with all goals, things aren’t so difficult when you break things into smaller more achievable tasks.

Research suggests that cultivating gratefulness is good for you. It increases your satisfaction, vitality, happiness, self-esteem, optimism, hope, empathy, and willingness to help others. For just a few minutes every day, you can change the way you think about your life and the world around you. Here’s my list of gratitudes for today:

I’m grateful for…

1. Starting to get a little more balance by focusing on the moment
2. Making progress on eating more vegetables with every meal
3. The sound of a baby’s laughter
4. Sunshine on the mountaintops
5. Gentlemen who still hold the door open for a lady

What about you? Would it help you to shift your focus from the day-to-day madness and concentrate on what’s important? What are you grateful for today?