When last have you taken time out to take stock of your life? Are you aware that every thriving enterprise takes inventory? What about you? Are you satisfied with your life, where you are now and where it might be heading? Are you planning for the future? If perchance you are not satisfied with your life, what are you doing about it? If you continue to do the same things over and over again, everything will remain the same. Nothing will change until you decide to take steps that will lead to a change in your life.
If a change in your life is needed, why not begin by recognizing that your present situation is not the result of your genes, parents, education, job, luck, timing, health, or environment. Rather, it is the choices that you have made and the actions that you have taken that have brought you to where you are today. If you are desirous to change your life, take responsibility for it. Change your choices and actions and you will change the results that follow. Understanding this is the first step to personal transformation. The second step is the action that follows, for, as Dietrich Bonhoffer (1906 – 1945) wrote, “Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.”
Are you ready to take that responsibility? If you are, you just might be saying to yourself where should I begin? What action should I take? That is easy. Start by taking a personal inventory. Every thriving business owner takes a regular inventory of stock. These inventories can be a useful business planning tool. They can reveal growth or decline in business productivity and identify possible obstacles to growth. These inventories assist business owners in making changes for a better future and they will do the same for you.
As we get older, it behooves us to stop ever so often to take an inventory of our lives. This will provide us with great insights that should help us to move forward. An inventory is a way of knowing what has happened, what is happening and, most of all, what to look forward to in the future. It can help us answer some very pertinent questions about the direction in which our lives are moving. Such questions as: Are we growing or declining in character development? Are we moving toward our life-goals? Are there hindering obstacles? Are we growing in our relationship with others and with God? What changes do we need to make to move ahead more effectively?
Self-evaluation is a needed tool for improvement of one’s self. A person who does not practice self-evaluation risks the possibility of being deceived and destroyed. Without self-searching, we could not see ourselves in reality. We all have done, said and thought things that were unproductive, impolite and immature at times. All of us have strayed into behaviours that took us far away from whom God created and called us to be. We all have experienced regret and shame for the way we unfairly responded or mistreated other people at times, so a personal inventory can prove useful.
Life is short. We should make each day count. Psalm 90: 10 states, “The length of our days is seventy years — or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.” This means that we have an allotted time and we need to make the best use of our life before it comes to an end. There is still so much we can do and so much room for improvement.
It behooves each of us, then, to take charge of our life or life will take charge of us. Every aspect of our life must be subjected to an inventory of how we are taking responsibility. Time is precious and our life is valuable so we cannot afford to waste it. We need to make our life count on a daily basis. We must be willing to forgive those who have wronged us, and be willing to allow God to reshape our life, to redefine our motives and to redirect our attention to look to him when we are tempted or tested in life. So if you are not satisfied with your life, the first thing to do is to take a personal inventory, take responsibility, and then change your choices and actions.
Always remember that it is not how hard you fall – it is how fast you get up that matters.
About the Author: Mrs. Marilyn Hodge owns and operates the Wellness Centre in the Farrington, Anguilla. The Centre offers Counselling Services by Appointment Only and has now published Positive Living Volume 3. Contact information: 476-3517 or email: marilynb@anguillanet.com. www.facebook.com/axawellnesscentre
