A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite movies.  We have a long standing tradition of watching it as a family during the Christmas season.  Each time I watch it, I notice something I hadn’t noticed before, as if, through the year, someone snuck into the cabinet and added something to enhance the value of an already rich story.  Or, perhaps, more likely, I am not the same person watching it from year to year.  Each year, I am ready to learn a new lesson.

One message carries through consistently.  Change is possible!  No, it isn’t usually as quick or as radical as Ebenezer Scrooge’s.  Charles Dickens didn’t write the script for our lives.  We’re on our own to do that.  But, alas, we can all look at our past, assess our present and design our future. 

For those of you not familiar with the story, here’s a very brief synopsis.  On Christmas eve, Scrooge is visited by his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley.   Marley has come to give Ebenezer a warning.  He (Marley) lived a life of negative habits and attitudes and has paid for his behavior in life by being sentenced to an eternity in Purgatory.  “I wear the chain I forged in life.  I made it link by link, and yard by yard;  I girded it on my own free will and of my own free will I wore it.”  He, (Jacob), has become aware that he made the choice to behave as he did and was 100% responsible for the life that those choices created.  He wants to warn Scrooge to make amends before it is too late for him and he is destined to a similar fate. 

We gain insight into Scrooge as we observe his life through his visits with the Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present and finally, The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.  We observe the behavior that comes out of his negative attitudes and beliefs, his broken relationships, his negative thoughts and assumptions.  We accompany Scrooge to his inevitable future, where he sees his own grave stone and witnesses how others remember him and what they say about him after his death.  It was this frightening experience of his own end and the revelation of his reputation that compel Ebenezer to transform.  

Jacob Marley didn’t learn the lessons of personal empowerment and possibility in life.  These lessons came to him, only after his death.  But, in life,  it is never too late to change and Scrooge ceases the opportunity.   

Based on his experience the previous evening, he awakens on Christmas morning transformed and giddily declares, “I am as light as a feather.  I am as happy a an angel.  I am as merry as a schoolboy.”  He proceeds to begin his new life as a generous, joyous, loving, happy man.

We all have the opportunity to review our past, assess our present and design our future.  Here are some useful questions to ask yourself in order to get started.

1. What are the things I have accomplished in my life and what do I still hope to do? 
2. Am I satisfied with all areas of my life?  What do I want to be doing more of?  Less of?
3. What relationships would I like to improve?
4. In what ways am I living the life of my dreams and where am I settling?
5. What contribution do I want to make to my community and the world?
6. At the end of my life, what do I want people to say about me?  What do I want to do in order for that to be possible?

While year end is a common time to take stock and New Year’s a time we often resolve to change, taking charge of your life and making necessary shifts to live fully can occur any time.  Carpe Diem!