This step is for those who had a wish practice last year and want to celebrate all the wonders that have flowed into their lives. This step is also for anyone who is starting a wish practice. Even if you didn't have a wish list last year, take a moment and reflect on the miracles - large and small - that materialized in your life.
Together, let’s talk about four different activities that are all part of the year-end wrap up and new year launch…
Your “Have” List
Your Accomplishments List
Your Gratitude List
Your New Year Wish List
Your “Have” List
As you are crossing off wishes that came true during the course of the year (or rejoicing in miracles), always take time to appreciate that you now have this in your life! Either as you go, or at the end of the year, take that list of wishes come true and make note of them in your “Have” list. If you like the visual impact of a long list of “haves”, take each wish that came true and change “I want” to “I now have…” Or, if you like “quick and easy”, just copy the wishes to a separate document on the computer. If you are handwriting wishes, which we highly recommend, you can photocopy the page in your journal and paste it on a page entitled “I now have …” Whatever works for you! Take the time to celebrate all these miracles - large and small - that you now have in your life!
Your Accomplishments List
In last week’s post, we talked a lot about accomplishments lists. Take a moment to read it, if you haven’t already, and start listing and celebrating your accomplishments for 2021! If you had setbacks, if the year was exceptionally hard for you, find even the smallest accomplishment and celebrate it. We are available if you need help with this.
Your Gratitude List
Why gratitude? If you Google “benefits of gratitude”, you get over 2 million results in less than one second. Gratitude is the “secret sauce” to success, happiness, serenity, and health. It is the key to making wishes come true. We cannot recommend strongly enough mindfully acknowledging all there is in your life for which to be grateful.
There are so many ways to create a gratitude practice, but we have two we particularly like:
Creating a “Gratitude Email Exchange”
Following the weekly “Sunday Challenge”
Barbara has a friend with whom she emails at least once a week listing ten things she is grateful for and her friend replies. They have been doing this for over a year now, and there’s no turning back! It is such a precious part of positivity, hope, comfort, connection, and more.
Margie has the “Sunday Challenge” where she lists five “joys” every week. A “joy” is the same as a thing for which you are grateful. You can do this in a journal, Word document, online, in an exchange with a friend, or any other way that suits you.
Your New Year Wish List
Last, but by no means least, your wish list is the final piece of the annual “transfer” from the old year to the new. Start right away to imagine and visualize how you will feel at the end of this new year with a whole list of wishes that have come true!
You can read all about the steps for creating your wish list in this “Wishing Basics” section. The “Sunday Challenge” is one great way to populate a wish list. The full “Sunday Challenge” is to write five joys - those go on your gratitude list - and three wants - those go on your wish list. That way you compose your wish list for the year one week at a time. You’ll find other suggestions for sitting down and writing an entire wish list in one sitting, or in two or in three. Or you may prefer a monthly wish writing session. There is no right way to doing this. Use what works for you to create your wish list.
Whatever you do, we hope you will keep these practices in the forefront of your daily living. For us, life has never been better, and we know that the top reason is our mindfulness of all the Universe has brought to us.
Next time, our blog will be brought to you by the letter “F” in our “ABCs of Wishing” section.
Until then,
Peace and All Good,
Margie and Barbara
The Wish Mavens
Photo Credit
The photo featured in this post was taken by (and is copyrighted by) Barbara J. Dickinson.