2011 Retrospective Part I

This year has been extremely busy. Here in my house we have worked hard and accomplished a lot trying to make life easier. The result is we are all tired, once he had no much time to vacation. But, is getting that time of the year where we all love and expect to be more cheerful: Thanksgiving and Christmas! And this year, I deserve to have some fun and me and my family are going to enjoy the most we can.

So, I usually make a retrospective of the year in the very end or in the beggining of the next, but, as I want to enjoy family and friends more this end of the year, I am starting it early this time.

First of all I want to thank all those that interact with me one way or the other. Sometimes you have participated on my life, as I am a native observer, and you don’t really know. Anyway, I want to tell you that every single one of you are important to me, for the person I’ve become, and for my Spirit.

What have I learned this year? As the time goes by, I can see I’ve changed through it.

I am the kind of person that makes goals every Reveillon. This year I wanted to focus on Health. I wanted to feel better inside and outside, phisically, emotionally and psycologically, and why not to say spiritually. Through hard work, much prayer, and a lot of effort, and also good friendship, I will tell you of a few things that improving those have made me happier.

1) Being yourself

That’s the main reason to live life. We can try to impress who we love, who we work with, who we neighbor, doesn’t matter. Just being ourselves is when we can be truly happy. If someone falls in love with us for something, let that be our special character and our extraordinary mind. We should never pretend to be someone we are not nor make anything that is not us. That’s also the way to find out good friends. When we are ourselves, people sometimes can feel betrayed, or probably run from us, but, after all, if we do have enough self respect to be loved for what we really are, this is the people that doesn’t count. This year I have sealed who I am, accepted that I am not perfect, and assumed that I will be all right.

2) Confidence

Just because being yourself alone isn’t enough. We also have to believe in ourselves. Life can low our self-esteem. Yep! Been there, done that! The worst we can do is compare ourselves with others, because will always have people that are better than us, and others that are worse. For this reason there are people in depression, single if not for a choice or lonely. It doesn’t matter how we look, if fatter than most, poorer than most, uglier than most. What matters is what we think of ourselves. We really don’t need to go out and start promoting ourselves if first we don’t recognize by being grateful all the good treats we all have.

3) Self Control

As we go through life we sometimes make a fool of ourselves. In a date with someone, with our In-Laws. The word to be avoided here is overreact. I understand life can make impossible to see the big picture, or we can be too loud or too invisible. For a long time, I assumed that I would say anything that would pop into my head and people needed to accept me that way, because I believed that is the way I was. I am so happy to know I was wrong!!! In fact, that happens when we are worried and nervous about what people will think of us. There is no reason to be stressed if we respect our inner being and if other won’t, patience. We just need to relax, take a big breath and do the best we can, when we can.

4) Humor

Everyone wants the company of a friendly and happy person. This is something we will develop as we improve our self confidence and acceptance of who we are. Having humor is more than having a good mood. It’s making a difference and have a good attitude about everything. Complimenting people for their advancements, smiling, try to get the positive side of every situation. Appreciation for life and for others. It has to do with gratitude. The best marriages and best partnerships are not so much because people are beautiful or fit, but because there is respect, friendship, comprehension and empathy between each other.

We don’t need to use a mask and pretend that everything is all right all the time. It’s okay to show vulnerability. Being ourselves requires that we assume our emotions and deal with all of them, being kind and respecting our inner soul.

The love we share with others grows inside our mind, our heart, and is happily shown through our soul in our relationships. The most important relationship we have is with God, and with ourselves.

I probably already knew all that before this year. But this was the time in my life where I've had opportunities and moments that helped me to focus and observe what I needed most to become what He wants me to become in those areas of my life, and appreciate myself for my progress.

Accepting yourself always trying to improve our edges towards our perfection takes time. More than a life time. In the end, I am sure He will not be concerned with the level of perfection we achieved, but all the effort we put into it.

Have a great Halloween! Put your scary side (that one that will give you a heart attack, a cancer or a stroke one day) behind you definitely, and live to make the best you can to yourself, so you will be making others happier as well.