Make this New
Year a great year by living your life well every day.  I have put
together a list of good advice that I have come across over the years to
consider as you go forth into another New Year.

Good advice:

1. Live in the moment. By all means have long term
   goals but then avert your attention and focus back to today. Be fully
   present in your life and don’t check out of life and live for a future
   that hasn’t arrived yet.
2. Give up comparing your life to
   others. We
   are all here to accomplish different things at different times. Success is
   not liner and success isn’t necessarily financial stability or a full
   social calendar either. The more you are true to yourself, the less you
   will worry about what others are doing. You might rejoice in their
   successes but you won’t use it as a competition or a reinforcer to remind
   yourself that you are failing.
3. Stop overthinking. When you are in your mind you are
   in ‘enemy territory’. I like that saying as I have found personally, and
   in my professional work, that people can be very hard on themselves and
   tend to default to negative, self critical thinking. Use your thinking
   time to find solutions and make action plans. The moment you find you are
   ruminating over the same topic without much progress it is time to
   distract yourself and do something else.
4. Maintain balance in your
   life. It is
   hard in modern times to find time to pamper ourselves and when we do we
   tend to invariably feel overwhelmed with guilt. Part of honoring and
   loving ourselves is accepting that we deserve love and care and that we
   owe it to ourselves to spoil ourselves – take a holiday, go for a
   massage…everything should have it’s place and a clear even balance between
   work and play must be followed if you want to function optimally in life.
   Get used to rejecting guilt – a wasted emotion that you can choose to
   reject.
5. Reach out to loved ones. Take some steps to inspire more
   connection with your loved ones in the new year. Set aside time to send a
   few quick texts or make calls to your family or friends you haven’t spoken
   to in a while. Update them on how you’re doing and ask for the same in return,
   and if a goal is to improve your relationships in 2024, be sure to do this
   often throughout the year to keep those connections strong.
6. Open your mind to the new
   possibilities that lie in the unknown. Be willing to try new things. Make
   a conscious effort to get out of your comfort zone; this can include
   pursuing new career/job opportunities or learning/skill activities that
   you may have never considered before. It can also include unexplored
   relationships or—for that matter—even new types of food and entertainment.
   With the right perspective, you can consider stepping outside of your box
   of your known world as a great opportunity and welcome it with open arms.
7. Forgive. As long as you live in a human
   skin, forgiveness is the one practice that you’ll need to master because
   nothing will keep you stuck in the past more effectively than resentment
   and non-forgiveness. Think of it this way: What (or who) you don’t
   forgive, you drag into the new year with you. To forgive is to erase the
   negative energy that keeps you from entering the new year with a clean
   slate; this includes forgiving yourself as well.
8. Finish tasks.No one wants to start off the new
   year with a long list of errands to run and tasks to complete. If there is
   anything on your list that you didn’t get to finish, now is the time to
   cross them off. Start the year with a clean slate, and a fresh to-do list
   will help you feel ready to start the year.
9. Set realistic goals & write
   them down. Goal
   setting is a vital component of creating anything new. However, it’s
   important not to set yourself up for failure by declaring goals that are
   so lofty—so far out of your box—that you know, in your heart, can never be
   reached. The practice is to come to the edge of your comfort zone and lean
   over just enough to make yourself uncomfortable, taking small, achievable
   steps that allow you to see still the possibility of arriving at the
   finish line. 
10. Have more fun and laugh a lot. Be adventurous, be daring and
    learn to try new things regularly. How else will you learn about your
    strengths and weaknesses? Get out of your comfort zone and meet others,
    try things you feel scared of. This is the best way to conquer fear and
    gain confidence and you will be able to look back on your life with fewer
    regrets and “what ifs”. Life doesn’t have to be that serious…