DEBRA PONEMAN: Don't you just love the New Year? There's something so fresh and energetically exhilarating about a new beginning alive with all possibilities - and I have a feeling that 2011 is going to be an especially powerful, exciting and rewarding twelve months for us all.

I'd like to offer a few tips to help ensure that 2011 is all you want it to be:

First and foremost, take the time to review your wins and successes from 2010. Since what we put our attention on will continue to manifest in our lives, this is a good practice to ensure that all good will come in the coming year. Make a long list of everything good that happened, large and small - all the rewarding things you experienced, the desires you fulfilled, the knowledge you gained, the people who were there for you, the lessons you learned.

One of my favourite New Year's practices is to have a gathering of my closest friends and family members, stoke the fire, pile the coffee table with pots of tea and hot apple cider and go around in a circle sharing with each other what in the past year we are most grateful for. It feels so delicious to express gratitude and, of course, expressing gratitude for the abundance of gifts we've received will always create more abundance. At my gathering last year as the energy grew we spontaneously moved on from what we were grateful for in our own lives to expressing gratitude for the warmth of the fire, the honking of the geese as the flew overhead, the movement of the planets around the sun, the way our heart beats without us even thinking about it, all the people on earth who are doing good work and then we started naming them. We just couldn't stop!!!

Sometimes we tend to look at what others have - the big houses, the best-selling book, the perfect children - and it causes us to contract. I suggest that if that ever happens to you, come back to your own life and look around and think: What if these people or these things in my life disappeared tomorrow? This is a great exercise for bringing us back to a place of gratitude for exactly what we have.

But I digress...

Second, write out what you intend to manifest in 2011. When you do this, be bold. Think huge. Write out everything you desire in all areas of life. Don't worry about the how. Just know what you want and the how will be revealed to you.

Did you ever wonder why the tradition of writing out your resolutions at the beginning of the year has withstood the test of time? Because it works. In every tradition, resolutions are made at the beginning of the year because the energetic soil is fertile and if you plant your seeds now, they will grow and bear marvellous fruits.

Next, I recommend that you take these last few days of the year to finish off any incomplete business that might be hanging on. This could be money owed to someone not paid or debts from others unacknowledged, correspondence not sent, feelings unexpressed or communications left unclear, borrowed items not returned, projects not completed, promises not fulfilled. All of these things can hold you back from sailing towards the full success that you want and deserve. Make a list of all the incomplete business in your life and then work on at least one item at a time until they're all taken care of. You'll be amazed at the feeling of freedom you begin to experience as each item is checked off the list.

And finally, give your year a name. What is the one main theme you want to have guiding your year? Some suggestions might be: "The Year of Living My Passion;" "The Year of Being Love;" "The Year of Perfect Health;" "The Year of Owning My Power;" or "The Year of Knowing God." Write this across the top of your 2011 Manifestations sheet and then watch how the higher power that guides all things works in wondrous ways to bring it about for you.

Have a happy 2011 filled with great happiness, great accomplishment, and great fullness in your heart. And let's all make this the year of expecting and accepting the highest. We deserve nothing less.