“Before you can change anything you need to know where you are, how you got to where you are, and what direction you’re pointing.”

-James Van Praagh

Imagine you’re going on an amazing trip. You have your destination picked out, and you’ve been dreaming about all the things you’ll do when you get there. You even have a guide book where you’ve highlighted travel tips, restaurants, and museums.

When you’re ready to book your travel, what’s the first piece of information you’ll need?

It’s pretty obvious in this example.

Before you focus on where you will be landing, you must know the place you will be departing from.

In other words, the first step of any journey is knowing where you are now.
It’s exactly the same when you are charting your life’s path. Every successful plan for positive growth begins with an honest assessment of your current situation.

Taking a personal inventory.
I don’t wait till I have a goal in mind to take a look at my current state of being. At the beginning of each calendar year, and again on my birthday, I spend several hours alone with my journal. I consider everything: my physical and emotional health, the state of my relationships, my work/life balance, where I’m spending my time, and what my intuition is telling me.

I write everything that comes to mind down in my journal, letting the words flow without a lot of editing.

This ritual helps me to clearly see where I am, and from there I can decide what changes and actions will get me where I want to go. Because I’ve been doing this for many years, I am able to glance back and notice my progress, and spot patterns – both good and bad – that I might otherwise be unaware of.

Along with my practice of meditation and my daily mindful walks in my garden, my personal inventory is one of my “secret weapons” that allows me to continue to lead a joyful and fulfilling life.

Ready to try creating your own personal assessment?
If you’re taking inventory for the first time, this exercise will allow you to create a quick history so you can look back and identify important habits, trends and behaviors.

Follow these simple steps:

• Take a piece of paper and make four columns. On the far-left column, list the following items down the side:
• Relationships
• Career
• Health
• Education/Learning
• Hobbies
• Friendship
• Happiness
• Fun
• Fulfillment (am I living my purpose?)
• On the top of the second column, write 10 Years Ago, then on top of the next column 1 Year Ago, and finally, on top of column 4, write today’s date.
• Now, go line by line and rank on a scale of 1-10 how satisfied you are with each area listed. For example: relationships are on line #1, so start by rating how happy you were ten years ago, one year ago, and today.

Fill in the rest of your chart, and if you’re not sure of an answer, tune into your

intuition. Your body will give you all the clues you need.

When you’re done, you will have an outline of the areas in your life that need love and attention. Are you focused on work and neglecting your health? You know what you have to do. Set some goals to incorporate healthy eating and exercise into your life!

It’s crazy how this simple exercise can help you see things clearly. You’ll be able to spot where you have made improvements, and maybe some area where things have gotten worse.

Something to consider.
There’s a saying – “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

And that’s if you’re lucky. Sometimes staying in the same old patterns can make things deteriorate over time.

Think of your health – if you’re feeling unhealthy avoid making positive changes, things won’t stay the same – they’ll likely get worse.

So, don’t ignore what’s right in front of you.

Positive change starts with awareness. In a few days, I’ll be sharing a free video series to help you live your very best life. I urge you to do a little soul searching and create your own inventory, so you ‘ll know where you’re starting and be ready to embark on your own amazing journey to health, happiness and success!