This year is almost at an end and the new year is almost upon us. This time of year is often used for reflection and preparation. 

Rainer Maria Rilke advised a young poet to love the questions and to live the questions, that he might eventually grow into the answers.  Although that advice was offered to a young man, I find it useful, when at most I can be considered young at heart. 

We can reflect by asking ourselves questions and answering as truthfully as we can.  We can think of this as taking an ethical inventory of how we are living our lives. It can be a scary process, but we can be kind with ourselves, knowing that no one can ever live as perfectly as one wishes to. I recommend that you start with appreciating what you are already doing that you are pleased with.  It's important to be able to affirm ourselves, to notice what we're doing well.  

Here are some questions you might ask yourself:

• how did I spend this past year?
• overall,am I pleased with how I spent the last year?
• what did I do that I'm especially proud of? 
• what did I do that helped others and how did that affect me?
• have I elicited the best in others? in myself? 
• were my actions in accord with my values? 
• was I kind to people? did I act with care?  
• how have I acted in my relationships - those with people I am close to, those who are in wider circles, and those in the world?
• have I acted to make the world a better place?
• what have I done that I wish I had done differently? 
• what things had I hoped or planned to do and didn't get to? 

You will have your own questions too, ones that relate to your life.  

Once you've done some reflecting on the past year  you can ask yourself how can I use those answers to affect my actions in the coming year?   You might ask yourself what do I especially want to continue doing, what do I want to change?  How will I live my values?  What do I need to live as ethicaly as possible?

What do you want your next year to be like?  You can share your answers and your  questions by replying to this blog.