The Tribune

By MICHELLE MILLER

Here we grow again. Another brand new year has graced us with its presence; giving us another chance to finally do the darn thing!

There is something magical about the presence of a new year. Not only do have you a spanking new page, but an amazing new book filled with 12 months of clean, blank pages on which you can write your higher goals and positively redirect your life. You can also reflect on the last 12 months to see where you want to shift.

Essentially, a new year gives us a new opportunity to develop an improved overall outlook for our lives. The question is, what will you do with your new year of blank pages – will you get better or bitter; will you be more optimistic or more pessimistic?

I’m hoping you commit to adopting a more optimistic and grateful attitude.

I know for sure how quickly life can change, as January 2016 met me hospitalised in Orlando, Florida. So I’m especially grateful to welcome 2017 and extend oceans of gratitude for my incredible journey from then to now.

For sure, I have an optimistic outlook for my life 2017, which I’m declaring as a year for inner transformation.

I want to focus on aspects of today’s question. The first is optimism.

Optimism is a quality that we should all seek to harness, considering Winston Churchill’s famous quote that “a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Research indicates that optimism improves your overall well-being; stimulating the immune system, preventing chronic disease, promoting healing and helping people cope with the challenges of life. From my own vantage point, I know for sure that it was my optimistic attitude that strengthened my capacity to deal with my medical setback of 2016.

It is also noteworthy that gratitude is connected with optimism. Grateful people are purported to be happier, less stressed, more amiable and are less depressed.

Research also suggests that the optimists and pessimists approach problems differently, which affects their ability to successfully cope with adversities. It is for these many reasons that you owe it to yourself to spend some time developing this wonderful trait of optimism.

This brings me to the importance of your outlook for your life.

First things first, recognise that your outlook is more often only a reflection of your ‘in look’. It is said that we see the world not as it is but as we are. The main reason this is so is because only by changing your world within you can change the world without. Meaning that when you get your inner world ‘straight’, your outer world follows suit.

Accepting that you have the power to change your life is the key to experiencing any real change. Too many people are too quick to outsource their power to some ‘life guru’ to fix their lives and make it better. This kind of thinking only keeps you shackled in the chains of fear; blaming and complaining but not experiencing any life improvements.

As a life coach/counsellor I remind my clients that they are their own problems and they are simultaneously their own solutions. My role is purely to support their desire for change by helping them set higher goals and holding them accountable for changing themselves in order to change their life.

Life is only about change. Since you know it is about change, you have an opportunity right now to choose the changes you want and get busy moving towards making those change happen.

Leader to leader, in this brand new year of 2017 make up your mind to build an optimistic outlook for your life. Forget the habitual routine of resolutions. Instead, set some higher goals and consider joining my Goals Outlook Coaching programme to help you redirect your life. It takes an optimistic outlook to live an empowered life. Yes, you definitely can do it.

What do you think?

Please send your comments to coaching242@yahoo.com or call 429-6770.

• Michelle M Miller is a certified life coach, communication and leadership expert. Visit www.michellemmiller.com; mail can be sent to PO Box CB-13060.