Learning. [Resolution 1]

Yeah....so, it's almost 2012 (insert bad cliche about time flying here). This is the first post in a series on New Years Resolutions; mine, and others.

This time of year is used for a lot of things: family, vacation (maybe a vacation from family), finishing up the end-of-the-year tasks, prepping for the year ahead. It's a busy time. We're supposed to write resolutions: the things that we're going to work on over the next 365 (or 366) days. Usually, these are about losing weight, spending more time with family or cutting back on habits like smoking.

My main resolution is a little different, though. Something I've noticed about myself is that I don't take a lot of time for reflection. Do you? I'm trying to reflect more (hence the purchase of this lovely item, props to Sarah) and that's part of my resolution. Something that I'm prone to do, though, is look back and focus only on the mistakes I've made. I end up kicking myself for the actions I took or the words I said.

There's sometimes a place for regret, especially if those actions or words caused someone else pain or sorrow. But more often than not, I'm judging myself too harshly for not doing what I think would have been the "right" thing to do, based on what I know now. That's the thing, though. My opinion about my former actions is based on hindsight.

With that said, this year's first resolution:

 [Obviously it's not mine; it came from notsalmon.com (via Pinterest).]

Isn't that a great idea? View your life with kindsight. 

Like I said, I think know I'm too hard on myself when I look back at what I've done. So I'm going to be nicer to myself over the next year. I'm going to reflect on my days (weeks and months, too) with the question of "what was I learning?" instead of "what was I thinking?".

When you look back, are you too harsh on yourself? Would you benefit from a cleansing breath, instead of a forehead slap? Remember to view your life with kindsight!