As the year 2011 comes to a close, I often take time to reflect back and think about my year. What have been my greatest accomplishments, my greatest learnings and the things I am most grateful for. 2011 has been a challenging year but what stands out for me is that I stayed true to who I am and what is important to me. I am most grateful for the people in my life and that I get to do what I am most passionate about everyday. 

What about you?  What stands out as your greatest moment in 2011?

My theme for September is self-awareness. To be honest, up until this year I hadn’t really given this much thought. I’m mean, I’ve been living with myself for the past number of (insert small number here) years so I should have a pretty good idea of who I am, right? But how often have you thought about this? I mean, really thought about this. At the heart, I know the kind of person I am but let’s face it, if your life is like mine, I barely have a minute to myself so who has time for deep reflection?

Despite our good intentions, sometimes something prevents us from making a permanent change. How often do we vow to exercise regularly, lose weight, get more organized, clean out the closets, stay in touch more often, change jobs, be on time, etc. Sometimes it means making a simple change or designing a realistic plan. Other times we decide to make a change and we hold to it. Yet, how many of us actually stick to a new, consistently positive routine? Seems like a good idea at the time, but before we know it, time has passed and we're back to the "same old same old".