Questions To Consider Before Your Next Birthday

No matter where your birthday lands on the calendar, there is something about turning another year older that makes it feel like you have a fresh start. It makes it feel like it’s day one and you have 365 days in front of you - 365 days that you can use to evolve in a desired direction.

This feeling of a new start is empowering and the feeling of empowerment can be used to fuel your motivation to make some adjustments.

Here are 6 questions to help you start thinking about the direction you would like to go into on the first day of your next birthday.

1. What do I cherish the most in my life? How can I appreciate it more?

We all take the things we have for granted. We forget to stop and think about how much we cherish our blessings until they start to slip through our fingers.

You know that nothing lasts forever. As such, what are the things you want to be more present for from day to day so that when it exits your life, you will feel like you have experienced it fully?

2. What is stopping me from valuing myself in times of difficulty? How will I overcome this?

People who read self-help material have read enough about the importance of self-value. And many of these readers have been able to embrace the philosophy of self-value and event practice it occasionally – that is, until something goes unplanned.

But even the most dedicated self-help students abandon themselves during difficult times.

Does that ring a bell?

If so, you’re abandoning the one person who has the most power to help you overcome any challenge.

But think about it, why be tough on yourself and minimize your skills and characteristics when they are the very attributes that will help you recover.

Devaluing yourself isn’t something that is based on reason and careful examination of the situation but on experiences you have lived through in childhood. Are you sure you want to be controlled by the past?

If not, why let your thoughts minimize yourself?

3. How will I accept the things I cannot change?

We’ve all had birthdays where we looked back with regret on how things have worked out – or not worked out according to plan.

Whether you’ve made bad choices or feel you had no control over the way things out, it’s important to accept the things you can’t change. After all, the way things are is your starting point. Spending time ruing your actions over the unplanned and unforeseeable, keeps you from living with a peace of mind and using mental resources to move forward.

Instead of ruminating on the problem, ruminate on a plan to move on.

4. What is the ONE thing I MOST want to change between this birthday and the next?

A new start wouldn’t feel as hopeful if we didn’t set or re-confirm a goal we want to achieve for the next year.

I am a fan of working towards one major goal at a time. If you have too many important goals your attention will be scattered and you will achieve minimal progress or you’ll abandon all these goals after feeling overwhelmed and like you are working towards something insignificant.

I recommend you chose a goal that is important to you and that will meet your personal needs; a goal that will solve your top of mind problem.

Figure this one out so you can spend the next 365 days working on it. If you spent at least an hour on this goal every day, do you think you would achieve your goal? You’d have to admit, you’d make quite a bit of progress.

5. How is my current attitude holding me back? What will I do about it?

One of the toughest things to change about ourselves is our attitude. It requires a very high level of awareness, the ability to self-question our emotions, logic, and actions, and then to admit to ourselves that there could be different way of approaching life.

But questioning our attitude is a little like trying to identify a weed when you are surrounded by weeds. After so many years of thinking the way you do, it’s hard to identify any chinks in your thought process. After all, your attitude of many years has turned into your personality. And your personality is a habit. And after all this time... isn’t his just the way you are? It’s all you know unless you make a conscious effort to think about doing things differently.

6. How will I nourish my mind and soul?

Many of us are too focused on the body, to the point of obsession. We constantly think about how our body falls short of what it ‘should be’ and time after time we set goals to improve our body – but with limited success.

Have you forgotten the unseen - your mind and soul? Nourishing these two is just as important for your emotional health. In fact taking care of your mind and soul improves your psychological well being and puts you in the position where you can take care of the body successfully. The body gets neglected and mistreated when we don’t take care of what’s going on on the inside.

This is your start, think about these questions and make a move.

Make your next Birthday count the most!