Three hundred and sixty six days - that’s all the time the year had to make a difference in. Although the year was lucky as he had one more day than many years have to do it in. What he didn’t have was three hundred and sixty seven days though. One more day and it would be time for another year to take over. Relying on what had happened before wasn’t any good either because that was another year all together. So all this year had was his three hundred and sixty six days. Eight thousand seven hundred and eighty four hours. Five hundred and twenty seven thousand and forty minutes. And far too big a number of seconds to think about!

What to do? What to say? Who to see? Where to go? Decisions going around and around and around. Of course there were also things he knew he didn’t want to do, didn’t want to say, people he didn’t want to see and places he didn’t want to go to. Decisions! Decisions! Decisions! He did know one thing however and that was when it was all going to have to have happened by.

He was in danger of letting the feelings take over and, as they were in such a muddle and mess, he wasn’t sure that he’d end up making much of his three hundred and sixty six days. Excitement one minute, dread the next….. joy….. pain….. apathy….. fear. The more he thought about what he was going to do the more he felt confused. The more he thought about it the more he was convinced that he wouldn’t be able to do anything useful. He just had too much to do and no time to do it in.

He certainly had a sense of how he’d like to feel at the end of the year. Satisfaction of a job well done. Joy at the differences he’d made in other’s lives. Anticipation and excitement of what the new new year would bring. That was easy. He could even imagine the new new year congratulating him on all that he had achieved. He could hear the appreciation and gratitude of those he’d helped. He could even tell you what differences he had made, who he had helped and what values he’d demonstrated. He could also tell you the differences he could see in himself and in others and all that they had learned. In fact he realised he really did have a very strong sense of how life would be like at the end of his three hundred and sixty six days. The more he painted the picture and brought it to life the more real it became. Colour, texture, sounds, voices, feelings, movement, thoughts - each bringing the outcome into more clarity.

Of course as he thought about his desired outcome he started to relax and his thoughts became clearer. It was as if time itself expanded – it was as if he had all the time in the world to do everything he could ever dream of doing. Suddenly it all seemed so much simpler and so much easier. And perhaps he could even add a few more things into the desired outcome just to make it even better, even richer, even more satisfying and yes perhaps even more fun. Thinking about this made him realise that the decision was simple. All he needed to do was remind himself of what he wanted to have achieved at the end of his year, how he wanted to feel and the differences he wanted to have made. Knowing that as he did this he’d be moving from where he was towards the future he wanted - one delightful and exciting day at a time – every three hundred and sixty six of them!