Your Personal 2024 Reflection Heading Into 2025

How we choose to use these last few days of 2024 will set the tone and determine next year. 

Many sit down at about this time of year and for the most part, simply make a list of “resolutions” of all the things they want to do differently in the upcoming year. It ends up mostly looking like a “to do list” of things to accomplish or goals to achieve like losing a few pounds, exercising more, that sort of thing. It can oftentimes leave us feeling like we didn’t do enough or we missed the mark of attaining certain goals we had set for ourselves. It ends up being shallow at best and by the time February rolls around, we can already see the areas where we haven’t kept our commitment to achieving them. 

This year, we’re going to take a different approach. We’re going to go beyond resolutions to reset and realign ourselves in a much different way. 

If you can, set aside about two hours to deeply reflect on 2024 and your personal growth as opposed to what you did or didn't do. 

Every reflection we are about to embark upon isn’t really about the memory itself but of the seed that will deliver insights and actions that shape the growth of the person you are becoming. It’s a different and much deeper cut at moving forward with awareness of who we are and who we are becoming. 

This exercise is not just about what I did but who I became this year. 

Grab a journal or open a new document on your computer and let’s begin:

Since January 1, 2024:

1. What were your KEY WINS: Consider your hopes, plans and ambitions. Again, remember, these aren’t goals. Instead, upon reflection at the end, you may notice that these were simply stepping stones to 2025.

2. WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES YOU FACED? Was there a financial setback, a loss of someone you loved, a relationship or job that ended, a family situation that still baffles you?

See if you are able to reframe the challenges as teachers as opposed to looking at them as failures.

3. WHAT GAPS DID THESE CHALLENGES HIGHLIGHT? For example, “I saw that I am not consistent in boundary setting,” “I saw that I pretended not to notice something that needed my attention,” 

4. WHAT STRENGTHS DID THEY CHALLENGES HIGHLIGHT?  i.e. “I saw my ability to trust my own intuition better than I have in the past,” “I saw my ability to let go of the outcomes of certain situations where I used to be so attached,”

Ask yourself: Have I become more patient? More disciplined? More resilient? 

5. Acknowledge these shifts

Sometimes growth feels invisible until we take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Again, this isn’t about what you did in 2024, it’s about who you became. 

Ask yourself: Have I become more patient this year? More resilient? More willing to take risks without knowing the outcome? Do I have better boundaries? Am I able to find peace in uncertainty where it used to cause so much anxiety? Do I have better self-awareness?

These are the tools I’ll carry into the future.

6. GRATITUDE: Recognize the value in every experience. 

Think about the moments that stand out to you about 2024, good or bad, that stretched you. Was there a tough conversation you navigated? The loss of your job? 

When we appreciate even the hard times, we shift from scarcity to abundance. This is the key difference between creating a list of resolutions versus taking the time to do this exercise. 

We’re not looking back at the year and dredging up all the times and places where we didn’t hit the mark and trying to set a goal or resolution to do “better” in 2025. Instead, we’re acknowledging the personal and emotional growth and challenges we’ve had this year and the opportunity they presented to us for growth in the future. We will be diving deeper into this practice at our weekly Sunday Community Meditation at Satsang House. Join us to start your year with reflection and openness!