As I reflected on my January 2022, I asked myself- what was the word I would use to sum that month up?
My word: Challenging
I like challenges! Usually the self imposed ones, though! January seemed to be filled with challenges NOT of my choosing- LOL. You know what I mean. The used the Serenity Prayer a lot, I used intentional breathing a lot, and a couple of other things helped me, too.
As I reflected on January I thought about what I could have done differently to help myself move through some of the challenges a little more gracefully. I didn’t have to think long as I immediately turned to my current theme.
Gratitude is my January/February sub theme and Align is my theme for the year.
You’ve heard this before- what part of your challenge can you have gratitude for? It is not a silly thing to ask yourself. Yes, some challenges seem beyond the scope of gratitude. When I picked up the pace on my gratitude practice mid January, I started sleeping better! What?? When I started to really search for what I could be grateful amongst the challenges I saw things! Good memories, my courage, my growth in my actions and reactions, my self responsibility and so much more.
In the align category I turned to my strengths. One of the best, strongest powerful tools to use is to align your strength with the challenge for new insights and answers. Think about what your greatest strengths are. If you want to know more I suggest the VIA Character strengths which I use exclusively with my coaching clients. Visit www.VIAcharacter.org for more information and to take the free assessment.
You don’t have to know from a test what your strengths are- you know what they are- so just pick one. As yourself this great question:
How can I use my strength of ______________ to help me with my challenge of __________________?
You WILL have answers. And they won’t be the ones you would have had without asking this question and tapping into your strength. Do this with every challenge, ask the question with every strength to see the variety of answers your brain gives you!
So just a couple of tools to start using today to get more aligned with what you want in February and less consumed by the challenges that life will always provide.