Recently at our house, we watched Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" for perhaps the 100th time in my life. It's one of my favorite stories, even though this time it was the Muppet version of the story. One of the reasons I enjoy this classic so much is it offers many lessons about life and how to get the changes we want in our lives. In the story, Ebenezer Scrooge gets a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future and gets a glimpse of what his life and the lives of those he comes in contact with will be like if he keeps on doing what he is doing. It turns out to be a very powerful glimpse. With that notion in mind, as my holiday gift to you, I offer several questions for change, specifically designed to help you achieve the changes you want in your life. Playing off good old Ebenezer, when faced with a decision or course of action about your future, ask yourself: "When I'm old and gray and sitting on the front porch in my rocker looking back on my life (the Ghost of Christmas Future), which path will bring less regret and more of the satisfaction of a life well-lived?" What's in your life or relationships that you would like not to be there? What's not in your life or relationships that you would like to be there? In order to get the changes you desire, what are you willing to do? In order to get the changes you desire, what are you willing to no longer do? How will you handle the changes in your life? Will you let them knock you down, will you merely survive them or will you learn to ride the waves of change and make them work for you? If you have decided to make some changes in the coming year, which category do you fall in? I want to want to. I want to. I will and I am. This is the only category that works. It's been said that "hindsight is 20/20." But what if we could get that 20/20 hindsight now? Here's a way to go about getting it: If you could walk out to your mailbox and get a letter from yourself with the title "Things I Wish I Knew When I Was You" - one to five years in the future - what would it say? What does that you in the future know that you don't know quite yet? Instead of waiting until you get there, use that 20/20 hindsight now. Look around your life and ask: What's wrong with this picture? If you found things you would like to change, what could you do today, even right now, to get about changing things? |
