When the clock strikes midnight ringing in the new year there’s a roar of celebration. Happy New Year is shouted enthusiastically around the world. Out with the old and in with the new!
Many times, the enthusiasm is due to hopeful expectation because the old year was not deemed good. But what if you could change that? What if instead of saying good riddance to the old we could deem it good?
There’s a way to make a year good. I have 5 things you can do to make this next year good. In fact, you can make every year good even when bad things invade it.
You can make every year good even when bad things invade it. Click To Tweet
FIRST THINGS FIRST – GRACE
To make it a good year, the first and most important thing you need is grace. Grace for yourself and grace for others.
Grace reminds you that you’re human. Grace reminds you that others are human. Grace empowers you to not expect perfection of anyone. Perfectionism is destructive. The only thing that’s perfect is God so you need to give yourself and others grace.
That may sound simplistic because the power of grace can elude us. I know it eluded me for a long time. I knew it as a religious term. I was familiar with how the Bible says we’re saved by grace, but I didn’t grasp the magnitude until the Spirit of Grace showed me.
Grace is all the powerful goodness of God.
We can call for it by saying Grace! Grace! (like in Zechariah 4:7) and the God of all grace hears us and responds. When we call for it, all that powerful goodness is invited into the situation.
The meaning of life. The wasted years of life. The poor choices of life. God answers the mess of life with one word: ‘grace.’ – Max Lucado
SECOND – GOAL
The second thing you need to make it a good year is to make it a goal. Not a flimsy new year’s resolution where you cross your fingers and hope things go good. That’s not a goal, it’s a wish.
Making it your goal to make it a good year is how you make it. It’s intentional, not reactionary.
It’s important that you remember grace with a goal. It’ll empower you to look at goals without pressure. Before I understood grace, goals were oppressive to me. They were pass/fail, live/die, it’s the end of the world when I fall short.
But a goal with grace is something you’re aiming at. It isn’t difficult.
‘Your help will not come from your own strength and power. No, your help will come from my Spirit.’ This is what the Lord All-Powerful says. – Zechariah 4:6
THIRD – FOCUS
The third thing you need to make it a good year is to focus on the good. Our lives move in the direction that we’re looking.
For example, I remember last summer when I was helping my granddaughter learn how to ride a tricycle she would constantly look at her feet.
Because of this, she’d veer off the sidewalk onto the grass and I gently reminded her to watch where she was going. When she looked straight ahead she stayed in the middle of the sidewalk.
We’re all like her, we get our focus off and need reminders.
I have just the thing to help you keep your focus on the good. It’s what I call a Good Things Jar. I started doing it a couple years ago and love how it keeps my focus positive. I’ll share how you can have one but first let’s finish our 5 things.
Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them. – Jack Canfield
FOURTH – NUNC COEPI
The fourth thing you need is related to the first – grace, but a little different. It’s the term Nunc Coepi. It’s Latin and means now I begin.
Nunc Coepi is for when you need to start over.
We all fall down. It’s unavoidable. Something will happen in this new year that will not be good. When that happens, you might be tempted to scrap the entire year in a moment of time.
You might be tempted to say things like…
this always happens, why does this have to happen to me? why do I always do this? this is the worst year of my life, etc.
Talking like that will not help you make it a good year. In fact, talking like that will help you have a bad year.
But you can catch yourself. Remember
- you have grace
- making the year good is your goal
- get your eyes back on the good
- and then Nunc Coepi – begin again
You can do this over and over as many times as necessary. There is no limit to how many times we can Nunc Coepi.
“in our prayer, in our habits, in our relationships, in our profession. Whether you made a bad grade or didn’t so well on a project. You must begin again.” – Phillip Rivers
FINALLY – CELEBRATE
The fifth thing you need to make it a good year is to intentionally celebrate the good along the way. Make it a point to recognize and appreciate the good in life and celebrate your everyday victories.
These good things and victories don’t need to be huge. They just need to be real.
For example:
- it was a beautiful day for your outdoor party
- you found a great parking spot
- you got up without hitting the snooze (or only hit it once)
- you got to spend time with a friend
- you said no to that donut at the office (or pizza)
- you got a great deal on gasoline
- etc.
By recognizing and celebrating these things you’re focusing on the good.
Writing them down is a way to celebrate and will help make it a good year. We remember things better when we write them down.
You could use a notebook or journal or what I mentioned above – a Good Things Jar.
Good things and victories don’t need to be huge. They just need to be real. Click To Tweet
HOW I DO A GOOD THINGS JAR
How it works is every day you write down something good and put it in the jar.
I do my Good Things Jar in the morning. Every morning I sit and ponder the prior day looking for the good. Some days are easier than others. The first year I did this was a difficult year and doing this exercise was how I made it a good year.
Some days I write one thing and other days I write a list. Whatever it is, I celebrate the good.
Every single day, 365 days a year, I write at least one good thing down on a colored piece of paper, fold it up and put it in my jar. You don’t have to use colored paper, but it makes it fun.
On New Year’s Day, I dump out the jar on the ground and look at the pile of evidence that I’ve had a good year.
Then I sit and I read them remembering all the good things I’d forgotten. I celebrate all over again.
I remember celebrating during the year and celebrate that I’ve focused on the good.
I’ve accomplished my goal – I made it a good year.
I’m looking forward to dumping this one and starting to make this next year a good one too. Will you join me?
WHAT NEXT
- How did you close out this last year?
- How are you beginning this new year?
- Remember – you can Nunc Coepi any time – even if it’s not the beginning of the year.
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“Our lives move in the direction that we’re looking.” This is so true! Just about every day now for a few months, I’ve made a habit of writing down things that I accomplished that day and specific things I was grateful for, no matter how small. It really does make a difference. I’m gaining positive momentum as a result in it’s not just my imagination — it’s unfolding externally.
That’s wonderful you’ve been doing that. AND that you’re seeing results.
Awesome. Thanks for sharing, Kate!
I like your good things jar. It helps you be grateful. Instead of focusing on the negative, you’re looking for the positive— the good things. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome, Belinda.
I know it has helped me so much because some days can be difficult. But there’s always something to be thankful for even on those days. Finding the good in the midst of the difficult is empowering.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.