Sitting on some cliffs above the Stones River

There are many different ways to approach a challenge, issue, problem, or opportunity, but one of the common ones is taught in life guarding:

1. Survey the scene – you need to grasp what is going on, the status quo, and what resources are available.
2. Check the individuals – the general question is “Are you OK?” – gathering more information on more specific parts of a scene that you cannot get from a distance.
3. Call for help – contact 9-1-1 or Emergency responders, or the appropriate professionals who are better equipped to help long term.
4. Preform additional evaluation & take action

Going into the Thanksgiving holiday, third weekend in November in my part of the world, I try to do a similar approach as if I was an outsider approaching the scene of my current life. It is vitally important that on a regular basis I take time to reflect on a deeper level then I normally do. It is necessary for me to review my days, weeks and months soon after they happen, but mostly to keep account of what happened, this period of time is different. It’s to force me into looking at longer periods of time, comparing to the goals I had set, and seeing not the individual threads in the rug of my life, but the big picture the best I can.

The goal: To reflect on this past year, find the good parts [the wins], and be thankful for it all.

First I take time to look at the past year and the major changes that occurred over the last 12 to 16 months. Then I look closer at the seven areas I view my life. By the time I celebrate Thanksgiving I should have a good list of accomplishments, treasures, moments, and praises both for me and for others. After Thanksgiving I typically go to work on steps 3 and 4 with goal setting, education planning, and targeted networking, but this writing is focused on just the first two: Surveying the Scene & Checking the Individual parts of a life.

Over the next 20 days or so, the plan is to write about what I am focusing on, maybe not at the exact time, but on a regular basis releasing a new item or area. To get started, the seven areas of life are:

• physical – taking care of your body is important
• mental – your mind determines much of your abilities and how far you will go
• spiritual – deep inside you, you know there is something you don’t observe in the physical
• production – career, jobs, it all comes down to providing or producing value to someone else
• personal finances – inflows and outflows of money, dealing with giving, spending, and saving
• family – the closest people around you, no matter if they are biologically related or not
• social & community – the broader group of people you interact with on a regular basis