Happy New Year to you all!
My apologies for not posting last Sunday, I was recovering from jet lag and had no brain.
So many of us start off the new year by setting New Year’s Resolutions, which we usually abandon by mid-month. Others decide on a word for the coming year — something which will direct you or something to strive for. (My word for the year is Satisfaction — what I’d like to feel as I work my way through 2026.)
Another great way to start the year is by asking pointed questions about the year just past and then similar questions for the year to come. I did this yesterday in a guided way with the incredible Angele McQuade (she writes, mostly, about financial issues, but is well-known in some writing circles for this very seminar that I attended yesterday).
Imagine, sitting in a darkened room with only the barest light coming in from the rainy day outside and the glow of a power point presentation on a screen in front of you. Truly, there was barely enough light for people to see what they were writing if they were using a notebook and pen. And in the meager light, a pleasant, soft voice asks you to answer questions that sound so simple, but when you go to answer them you are called upon to delve deep into your memory, emotions, and sometimes, even the deepest secrets you keep even from yourself.
That is what I experienced yesterday.
Did I come away a changed person? No. But I did come away with a confused mish-mash of ideas, hopes, goals, and wonderings. Here are some of the questions Angele asked:
What is your happiest memory from 2025?
How did you celebrate your most hard-won achievement last year? Or if you didn’t, why not?
What did you not do either out of fear or due to some other constraint?
Who is one person who made a positive influence in your life?
Whose is the one voice (alive or not) who you needed to ignore?
What gave you the most joy last year?
What did you create that you are most proud of?
What do you wish you could have finished or started that you didn’t?
On and on for an hour the questions came, leaving only just barely enough time to write an answer. This, I’m certain, was deliberate. She wanted our immediate response, not for us to sit and ruminate because it’s usually the first thing that pops into your mind that is actually the right answer.
We then took a break and were encouraged to take a deep breath to exhale all worry and regret from the previous. And then we dove into 2026:
What is your big list of goals, hopes, and dreams (assume infinite time and money)?
Who are three people you’d like to create a closer connection to in the coming year?
Who do you need to let go of?
What relationship do you need to repair?
What habit would you like to set in the coming year?
What habit do you need to rid yourself of?
What financial step do you need to take?
What physical health related step do you need to take?
What emotional health related step do you need to take?
Who do you need to say thank you to?
Who do you need to apologize to?
Who do you need to forgive?
Who will help you in the coming year? And how will you show gratitude to that person?
What advantage do you have that others may not have?
How can you use that to help others?
What is one task you’ve been avoiding doing? And what is one step you can take next week to get that done?
What message do you need to hear in 2026?
What message do you not need or want to hear?
What do you want to feel on December 31, 2026?
What accomplishment do you want to celebrate?
After an hour of this I was both wrung out and exhilarated. There is so much to look back on from the past year and so much to look forward to. But for me, what I’d like to feel most at the end of 2026 is Satisfaction, my word for year.
How about you? Can you answer these questions? Do you have a word for the coming year, an intention you’d like to set?