Closings and new beginnings: An end of year reflection

Learning from our experiences helps us to develop over time, and to be able to harvest these learnings, reflection is a powerful tool. Everything that we experience in life can serve us with learnings and insights that support us in being and becoming. 

At Hyper Island we apply experiential learning in our education and this includes the application of The Learning Spiral as a process of learning new skills, knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes. Similar to life, this means that we can have a tangible experience, reflect on it, extract and internalize learnings, and then make adjustments by applying the new learnings to the world around us to see what results emerge. It is a continuous process of iteration and emphasizes the notion of lifelong learning. 

In this setting, we can explore this from some guiding themes such as:

1. Challenges

What were the most significant challenges you faced this year? How did they impact you personally and/or professionally? What valuable lessons did you learn from these challenges? Can you identify an instance where you successfully overcame a difficulty? What strategies or resources did you use? In what ways have these challenges contributed to your growth and development?

2. Achievements

What are the achievements or milestones you are most proud of this year? What skills or strengths did you develop or discover in yourself while achieving these milestones? Were there any unexpected successes? How did they come about? Who or what played a significant role in your achievements, and how would you like to express gratitude towards them?

3. Personal growth

How have you grown personally over the past year? In what areas do you feel you have made the most progress? Were there any significant changes in your mindset or perspective this year? How have these changes influenced your life? How did you manage to balance your professional and personal life? What worked well/not so well for you in maintaining your well-being? How have your relationships (personal and/or professional) impacted your year? Were there new relationships that brought significant value/challenges to your life?

Another way to approach this is to think about your significant or meaningful experiences from this year and reflect on these questions in connection:

• What happened during the experience?
• How did I feel and what were my reactions?
• What insights or conclusions can I draw from the experience? What did I learn?
• How can I apply what I learned to improve future experience? What actions can I take based on what I learned?

Gratitude is more than just saying 'thank you.' It is a deep recognition of the blessings, big and small, that enrich our lives, often going unnoticed. Taking the time to notice, reflect upon, and express gratitude for the various aspects of our lives is cultivating a mindset of love and appreciation and it grows stronger with practice.  

Whether it is the warmth of the sun, the support of a friend, or a personal accomplishment, acknowledging these gifts can open our hearts and minds to a world of positivity and abundance. This practice is not about ignoring life's challenges but about balancing our perspective, recognizing that alongside difficulties, there are also reasons to be grateful.

Spending a few minutes of gratitude each day will supports me in fostering this mindset.

• What is one thing that I appreciate about my surroundings right now?
• What is one thing that I appreciate about myself today? 
• Is there a particular moment from today that I am thankful for, no matter how small?
• Was there an interaction or conversation today that left a positive impact on me? 

In my daily gratitude reflections, I often find things like ‘the snow falling into the water outside the window’, ‘that I stayed home reading the whole day’, or ‘my partner made pancakes today’. Another thing that comes up every week is ‘the sauna and the water’. This helps me with awareness and also gives me the ability to be in awe, or just feel a twinkle of total happiness inside at random times and in seemingly ordinary situations.

In this chaotic world, I think we need more love and understanding, fewer things, and more connection. It starts with self and this is something that I can control that also helps me to feel with others. 

And in a yearly reflection, here are some examples of questions to reflect on:

• As you think about the past year, what are the top moments that come to your mind that you are most grateful for?
• Looking back on the year, what was the most significant personal growth or learning you are grateful for?
• Are there any relationships that you feel especially grateful for and why is that? 
• What do you appreciate most about yourself as a human being? 

Energy follows attention, and so where and to what we choose to put our attention, energy will flow. When we are intentional about our attention, it can lead to both transformative and deep growth, cultivating a mindset that helps us to navigate our inner and outer world. 

Where or what we are, and where or what we want to be, is connected to both inner and outer factors. Intentions are a way to work with our inner factors, what we can own and control. Our mind, our body, our heart, and our soul. Who do you want to be? For yourself and in your relation to others? How do you want to live your life? What is alive in your heart?

See the time that you set aside for yourself to do this as a gift. And be kind to yourself - always include self-love in your reflections.