Happy New Year.

Our planet has completed another orbit around the sun, signifying the end of one calendar year and the beginning of another.  We’ve also recently passed the shortest day of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere) and are on our way toward days with more light once again.  Our lives are full of such transitions: day to night, autumn to winter, sun to rain, happy to sad.

This is also a time of year when many of us find ourselves looking back and looking forward.  Some could say the timing is arbitrary: it’s based on a calendar we invented to track our planet’s movement around the sun.  But why not use this transition as a time to reflect? I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t do it whenever you need to; I’m simply saying it probably doesn’t hurt to take stock when the conditions are ripe for it.

For me, 2010 will be a year in which I create a rebirth in my professional life.  I’m overdue for it.  I have been working full-time in this field for 14 years, and if I include the preceding years when I used the principles of conflict management and win/win negotiations in my previous profession, I am approaching 20 years of using these concepts.  This is a VERY long time in my book.  There was a time in my life when I changed CONTINENTS every 2 years, let alone jobs.

It’s time for an important evolution to take place.

Sure, I’ve been continuously evolving how I teach these ideas and how I apply them with my clients and in my life, but I’m talking about a more substantial shift.  I’m talking about a new paradigm: finding different ways of bringing the ideas across, creating different and deeper impacts on my clients, bringing these concepts to new audiences, and most importantly, sharing new ideas and theories that I have developed over the years.  This, I believe, will allow me to rediscover a level of passion that has been missing for a while.

I have ideas about what the new paradigm will involve, but the exact form has yet to take shape.  And that’s just fine. What matters is that it’s happening.  I began working toward it in earnest last fall, and the pieces are now falling into place.  I need some time yet for this to germinate and for me to have the energy to bring it forward, but I can feel the shift inside of me.

All of this is well and good, but what makes this topic a worthy blog entry?  And, why would I choose to share something like this that’s fairly personal with you?

I’m sharing this with you to encourage you to do the same in your life if you’re feeling a need for renewal like I described above .

If you’ve lost the spark you once had for something that you spend massive amounts of energy and time at, maybe it’s time for you to make a leap to something new.  Even more, if you’ve never had passion for your work, maybe it’s worth finding something you can get excited about that you can invest your energies into.

Don’t get me wrong though; I don’t want to pretend that life is always as simple as that.  I know plenty of people who simply use their job or profession as a way to pay the bills and put food on the table, and who would be hard pressed to replace their income (or earn sufficient income, at least) with something they would enjoy.  Fair enough.  If that’s your situation, I still think it’s worth finding something healthy and productive that ignites your spirit.  It could be a hobby, a past-time, something.

May we all have the courage and persistence to make this a good life – not just a “good enough” one.

My very best wishes for the coming year.