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Lessons to learn from last year…

By Gayle Oliver | Friday, February 1, 2008, 07:51 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The advent of a new year gives each of us a chance to evaluate our prior year with the clarity that hindsight allows if you are willing to look at the past before declaring your goals for the future.

Usually each year of our life is full of lessons learned, some with heartache and others with ease. Each year of your life provides a chapter to your story that warrants reflection as well as opportunities for enrichment because of the roads you have traveled.

This past year I found a creative outlet - pottery - which has taught me much. This form of self-expression has allowed me to uncover things about myself that I never knew a hobby could.

I have found many life metaphors in this past-time. I’d like to share a few. While spinning a wheel of clay, you must not hold on too tight, yet you must maintain unwavering boundaries.

You must stay extremely focused on what you are attempting to create, but you can’t over control the endeavor or your clay becomes unbalanced. Centering your clay is the foundation upon which the rest of the art form will be based.

Achieving appropriate centering is the only way to build a piece successfully. Careers seem to be very analogous to these ideas. Often in your career, if you hold on too tight, you breed insecurity.

If you fail to sustain good boundaries, you open yourself up to being taken advantage of professionally. When you don’t find a way to remain centered in your life, you can lose what you love most - family, friends, and self-respect.

I encourage you to look back on 2007, ask yourself what it taught you and how you are going to apply those principles so that you can begin scripting the life you most desire, professionally and personally, in 2008.

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