What a year it's been! Good stuff, bad stuff, new challenges, new problems, new gifts, new projects, new points of view, dreams that come true, nightmares that come true, things gained, things lost, more of this and less of that. But to me the important thing in all of these life changing events is how I changed as a result of all of the things that have happened to me over the last year. And the only way I know how to do that is to reflect on my experiences, to connect the dots of cause and effect.

There's something about the end of the year that makes us kind of melancholy and reflective. It's the end of another cycle and we've been conditioned all of our lives to acknowledge cycles. I always try to look back over the last year and take note of the areas my life has gotten better and where it's gotten worse. And more importantly, I try to see how I've gotten better, as well as acknowledge the areas I have back peddled. I think we all have a natural tendency to end cycles this way. It's part of how we grow and evolve.

And then there's the media. Over the next week the media is going to look back and reflect as well. The only thing is, they are not going to be interested in any kind of introspection or self awareness. They are going to try to convince us that what is really important to us in the last year is the triumphs and tragedies of the rich and famous. I guess for some of us those things are very important or the media wouldn't be serving it up.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with following the rich and famous. Of course following and obsessing are two different things. I'm just saying that we might better serve our selves by putting more attention on how the last year has affected us than how it has affected people we really don't know, people who for the most part just entertain us.