26 Dec How to End Your Year on a Positive Note
SUMMARY
-
End Your Year on a Positive Note by Acknowledging the Darkness, and Accentuating the Light
ACTIONS
-
Write down all of the struggles and challenges you experienced during 2018
-
For each thing on your list, ask yourself the following questions:
-
“What can I learn from this experience?”
-
“How can I improve this?”
-
“How can I let it go?”
-
-
-
Write down all of your wins, victories, and breakthroughs that you want to acknowledge yourself for
-
For each thing on your list, take some time to really steep in the positive feelings associated with each memory
-
May this practice help you end your year on a positive note, so you can bring in more joy, happiness, abundance, and gratitude into the New Year!
To Your Total Health,
Dr. Titus Chiu
p.s. know anyone who could benefit from this simple yet powerful practice? Then share this article with them! It may just transform their life.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
[The following is the full transcript of this video blog. Please note that this video, like all of Dr. Chiu’s blog videos, features Dr. Chiu speaking extemporaneously–he is unscripted and unedited for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!]
Hey guys, and happy holidays! I am here today to talk to you about how I usually end my years on a positive note. Oof late, life’s been pretty hectic, pretty busy, had a lot of big projects that I completed this year that I’m really happy and proud
One thing I noticed though is, just life was just, kept moving and moving, and coming at me so fast that I didn’t have time to really sink in and actually enjoy all the different things that I had accomplished this year and so a few years ago, my wife and I, Dr. Natasha Fallahi, we actually started this practice where we would sit together and just review our year.
Ever since I’ve been doing that, it’s just been really helpful in terms of not only the things that I realize that I’ve accomplished but more from this mindset place of health. Of emotional health and really enjoying and steeping in the experience that we’re actually going, we’re really looking to create for ourselves in the first place. So what I want to share with you today is the practice.
One of the things that I do, that I have been doing at the end of not only the year for the past few years, but also just recently, I started keeping a journal where I actually keep track of things weekly as well as daily. I found that to be so, so really helpful and beneficial, really, for my mental health as well as my emotional health. Again, in my life there’s a lot of things that I have going on, that I’ve accomplished, but I’ve learned that if we don’t just slow down and steep in those experiences, life just passes you by, so that’s what I want to do is share with you guys this practice that I really hope that you guys will find of value.
Part of the year in review that I do, that I’ve been doing, or rather the weekly reviews and the year in review that I’ve been working on the past few days, over the holidays, is really steeping in all the different things that happened over the year.
I’m a really big fan of Carl Jung, and his exploration of what really creates an integrated human being. So I came up with these words, really these phrases. So when it comes to your year in review, I really encourage you to, number one, Acknowledge the Dark and the Darkness, but just as important to accentuate the light. What do I mean by that? It’s really a simple, practical exercise that I encourage you guys to do. So what I mean by Acknowledge the Dark, just take out a piece of paper when you get a chance over the next few days, over the holidays, and just list all the different things that you’ve been working on, or things that happened to you that you’re struggling with, or was challenging, or frustrating.
I encourage you just list every single thing that was “not so pleasant part of your year” list it all. Once you have that listed, I encourage you guys list all your struggles, all your challenges. Then, answer these questions for yourself. Once you have everything listed on a piece of paper, look back and ask yourself, what can I learn from this situation? All the different things that might have been challenging or a struggle for you really sit down and think about, what can learn from the situation?
I am a firm believer in personal development and growth and I found that in my life when things got tough or I was in situations that were really challenging and really brought out the dark side of my experiences, whenever I sat down and asked myself, what can I learn from this situation? That’s what got me through it all, so I really encourage you after number one, step one, list every struggle, every challenge that you can recall that’s still in our psyche so to speak. List it all and then, ask yourself, what can I learn from this experience?
Another great question that can help shift your mindset is if you’re still struggling with it, is how can I improve this? What are some things that I can do to shift or improve these experiences that are challenging or that you find that you are struggling with? If you’re still struggling with it, finally, I’m a firm believer in just letting things go.
So ask yourself this question, how can I let it go? That’s really the first part of this exercise. Acknowledge the Dark. Really, number one, list everything that you’ve been struggling with or that’s been challenging in your life. Then, ask yourself the question, what can I learn from these experiences?
Again, I am firm believer when you can learn and you can pull from all of the crap that life throws at you sometimes and all the darkness you can really become a much better and broader human being and more expansive experience of yourself and of the world.
The second thing you can also ask yourself is, if you’re still struggling with the situation, how can improve this? What are some things that I can do to improve? Do I need to have a conversation with someone? Do I need to completely walk away from this situation?
Finally, the third thing is, if it’s still really weighing on your psyche, the third question I encourage you to ask yourself is, how can I let this go? Okay? So that’s the first part of this exercise, Acknowledge the Dark.
The second thing is, more importantly how to end your year on a positive note is, ask yourself what are the things you can do to Accentuate the Light? So the second list, I want you to take out another piece of paper, and just write as much as you can remember or recall all the different things, all the wins that experienced. All the different breakthroughs you had in your life. All the accomplishment. You can also write about things that you’re grateful for, the people or experiences or memories.
Again, because in my life, I’m just so busy and seeing patients, I’m working other projects, I wrote my first book this year. All those things are wonderful but I find that if I don’t sit down and really just let it sink in and integrate, it’s just like, what’s the point then, right?
So I find this practice, Accentuating the Light, ever since I started doing it, it’s really deep in my experience, it’s taken certain experiences that might have been really stressful and overwhelming and really helped me grow as a human being.
I encourage you for this second part of the exercise, Accentuating the Light, I want you to, again, write down as many wins, as many breakthroughs, as many things that you’re grateful for that you’ve experienced throughout the year. Then, in those situations just really not only list them out, as a rote exercise, more importantly really go back and sink in and steep in those experiences. How did those wins make you feel? Did you feel proud, because when you do that, when you kind of relive those experiences, then actually allow yourself to steep in it deeper, you literally create what we call, Neuroplasticity, which is your brain’s ability to change its shape. When you change the shape of your brain, you change its structure and when you change its structure, you change the function. You can also change your experience of yourself and of the world around you.
So I really encourage you for the second part of this exercise, really sink in and steep in those experiences, really relive all those positive memories. So by doing this, it can help really allow you to end your year on a positive note.
Again, in review, number one, I want you guys to Acknowledge the Dark, list everything, all the struggles and the challenges that you’ve experienced. Ask yourself the question, what can I learn from these experiences? Then, the second thing, most importantly, Accentuate the List. Really steep in the positive memories that you had.
I guarantee you that your brain will thank you for it. Thanks so much for tuning in.
If you enjoyed this little video, please share it with your friends, comment and like the video.
You can also learn about me, my practice and my unique approach to brain health at drtituschiu.com.
Happy Holidays!