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Happy New Year friends!
Every year, about this time of year, you no doubt hear
people talking about their “New Year’s resolutions.” I can’t count the number
of times I’ve heard, “Next year I’m gonna do _____.” Next year I’m gonna lose weight, next year I’m going to quit smoking,
next year I’m gonna exercise more, etc, etc. Yet, once the new year rolls around, how many people actually
follow through? Not many, I’m afraid. Maybe you’ve been there yourself. Frustrating,
isn’t it? Then, after “failing,” confidence is deflated, your energy around it
wanes, and you feel even less likely to succeed than you did before! Not
exactly what you had in mind, is in?
The word resolution means to be resolute, to be firm and
unwavering in one’s position. When you are resolute, you have a powerful
intent. When one is truly resolute, one will not fail. Clearly, we’re having
trouble with the resolution part of our New Year’s resolutions. Being resolute
is hard. It takes the deepest commitment. And if you’re that ready to make a change, you won’t be waiting for New Year’s to
do it. So maybe we need to view New Years resolutions in a different way. The
advent of a new year is, after all, an
opportunity to make a new start. Any excuse to wipe the slate clean and do
better is a good one, right? So how can we make the most of this new year?
Here’s some suggestions I hope you’ll find helpful.
Setting Goals
Instead of thinking about resolutions, I like to think of it
in terms of New Year Goals. Goals aren’t something you can succeed or fail at.
They’re things you choose to work on, that you’re moving toward. So, as Jack
Frost drives us to hunker down indoors in search of warmth and comfort, we quite
naturally move into a time of reflection and assessment.
My own “looks within time” each year often begins with reading
my old journal entries for the past year or two. If you journal, this is a
great thing to do on an annual basis. I start by reviewing my previous goals,
evaluating how I have grown, what has shifted, and the accomplishments that are
manifest. This is important. We don’t want to be so wrapped up in looking for where
we fell down or what’s next that we fail to appreciate where we have been and
the good we have wrought. We need to rejoice in those things, pat ourselves on
the back, and thank Spirit for each healing, shift, and accomplishment. Have a
party, go out to dinner – do something nice for yourself!
Reviewing the Year
As I review my notes, I stay aware for any patterns that may
want to be uncovered, scanning for weaknesses as I go, and looking for areas in
which I have not yet climbed the lofty heights to which I may aspire. Lastly,
I scan the spiritual practices, activities, and activations I have performed or
engaged in throughout the year, reviewing how those worked out for me, how they
may have changed over time; reminding myself what direction I was headed. If
you don’t keep a journal, you can do the same thing by just setting aside a
good chunk of quiet time to mentally review your year, making notes if wish. As
you do so, recall your ups and downs, how you reacted to each, what came out of
it, and what you learned. As you review, stay open to Spirit, listening for
impressions, intuition, and guidance.
When I’m done reviewing, I spend time just listening to
Spirit. Sometimes this takes days, sometimes weeks or months. Some years the
listening process starts as early as September or October. Sometimes it doesn’t
start ‘til the last week of the year. It’s a process initiated and guided by
Spirit and, since I do it every year, I am aware when Spirit begins triggering
the transition into the energy of the new year. You’ll know when the energy is
right so, when the guidance comes, start your own “looks within time,”
regardless of the time of year.
Listening Time
Then, when the review is done and you’ve allowed time for
contemplation and synthesis of what came before, ask Spirit (which includes
your Higher Selves), “What yet needs to be done and what still wants to be
healed?” Hold this question in your consciousness for as long as it takes. Remind
yourself at the start and end of each day that you intend to receive an answer.
After a while, you’ll begin to receive guidance, usually through your strongest
“channel.” For some, that may mean flashes of intuition, for others it could be
unexpected emotion popping up around a certain activity, event or issue. For
others it could present through synchronicities or body awareness. Let these
“hits” come without trying to be intellectual or rational about it and, slowly,
you will see them begin to form into goals.
The Quest for Goals
Goals for the new year can be anything from minor projects
to the most far-fetched spiritual maneuvers. I’ve been doing this every year
for decades, almost as long as I can remember. Some of my goals in past years
have included:
- I will
and intend to hold Love and faith where fear and doubt now live.
- I will
and intend that I AM a successful healer, helping others to break free of
physical, emotional, mental and spiritual patterns that hold them back
from their full potential.
- I will
and intend to experience increasing awareness, knowledge, growth and
understanding regarding the relationship of food to my entire well-being
and to have the desire and commitment to live in accordance.
- I will
and intend to find an artist to do cover art for my book.
When setting goals, look for three things:
1. What
have you already accomplished? How can you go deeper into those areas where you
have already been successful? How would Spirit have you broaden those horizons?
2. Look
for areas of weakness in your life. What still troubles you? Do you lose your
temper or get hurt easily? Do you still fear committing to love? Do you have a
health problem you’d like to see vanish? Do you need to change your diet? Can
you improve your practice of forgiveness of yourself and others? Do you need to
change a belief you hold? Look at these
areas, asking Spirit for a direction in which to move in order to resolve these
issues.
3. Get
in touch with your deepest desires and passions. My deepest desire is to be the
master I Am, to ascend on earth and help it move to a place of love, and my
mission is to help others come along with me. What is your deepest desire? To
manifest the right livelihood, to find a partner, to have a spiritual breakthrough? Let this passion infuse your goals with
energy and guide your priorities appropriately.
Here are some more suggestions to get you started:
- Make a
list of everything you want and believe you need. Then let it lie for a
while, listening to Spirit over time about the items listed. What things
seem to fall away and which continue hold your interest or begin to feel
more urgent? Move them around on the list. Keep doing this until you feel
like the things on top are what’s really resonating for you at this time.
- Use
the words “I choose” or “I intend” when writing your goals. Appropriate
goals are not things you think you should
do; they are things you choose to do, so take responsibility.
- Sometimes
it helps to organize your list by issues or areas of life so you can
better see what you’re doing. For instance: material goals, task-related
goals, relationship goals, spiritual goals, and emotional goals could all
be separate groupings.
- When
finished listing all your goals, summarize those in each area down to one
or two over-arching, general goals. This is helpful if you have a long
list. It makes the goals appear more manageable, more do-able, and gives
you an abridged version to tack on your wall where you can see it every
day, reminding yourself of what you’re working on. For example, if you
have a lot of goals around your body and health, your general goal may be
something like, “I choose to be healthy in all systems, organs, cells, and
molecules of my body.”
Breaking it Down
Once you
have your yearly goals sifted out of your dreams, desires, and weaknesses, you
can further break them down, as appropriate, into weekly, monthly, or seasonal
goals. For decades, for example, I have had a monthly goal to always perform a
full-moon ritual. The ritual changes with the years and seasons of my life but
it does, nevertheless, continue to be a monthly goal. You can also have goals
inside of goals. Every month, for example, I determine what I choose for my
body, mind, spirit, life and relationships for that month. With each new month,
I decide what I need for the next month and consciously intend for that.
Describe your goals to the smallest detail possible.
Again, this helps them feel more realistic and do-able. For
instance, if you write, “I intend to quit smoking,” that’s fine and good but that’s
a tall order! How about if you intend, instead, to a) check online and with
your doctor about aids for quitting, b) find a support group with others who
wish to stop smoking, and c) make new friends that don’t smoke? This way, you’re
setting up goals that you understand and can implement. If you don’t know what
to do to reach your goal, include a goal that says, “I intend to diligently
look into how I can stop smoking. I intend to do this by Jan. 31th, 2009.” This is the date by
which you will know everything you need to know to help you quit smoking, not
the date by which you will quit. Now you’ve reached step 1 in your goal. The
next goal would be something like, “I intend to synthesize that knowledge and
choose which aids I will use (ie. how I will quit smoking) and to begin to
implement them by Feb. 28, 2009.
(Note: If you set date goals for yourself, make sure you
transfer them to your calendar, appointment book, and/or online reminder
program. Set them up with reminders for 2 weeks before the deadline, 1 week
before, 3 days, etc., to keep you mindful of getting it done.)
Ritualize
You now have a precise, spirit-inspired, comprehensive list
of what you want to learn, heal, achieve and acquire. Good for you! You’ve done
some nice work! Now it’s time to get the ball rolling by announcing your
intentions to the Universe. Ritual strengthens intent, deepens resolve, and
sets energy in motion.
You can do this by yourself, with your family or close friends.
Sharing with a group, that agrees with and supports each others’ goals, further
compounds intent. (I don’t recommend it as gathering, however, unless it is with
people you are comfortable being quite intimate and vulnerable with.) Call in any
guides and helpers you wish and/or do whatever you choose to set apart this space
and time as special. Now read your goals
for the next year aloud, concentrating on each as you do so. If you are sharing
the event with others, it usually works best if each person reads their entire
list before moving to the next. This allows you and your witnesses to more
strongly direct focus and intent on each individual’s goals. (Whether you are
alone or with others, it is important to read them aloud, for this brings an added
vibration to bear, and your body hears it as well.)
After each person has read his/her list aloud, getting
oriented to the ideas and energy they represent as a whole, now go back to the
beginning. This is your time to declare to yourself, your friends -- the entire
universe – that you can and will accomplish these goals. So instead
of just saying the goals, you now get to restate each one, with full intention
and intensity. This is no time to be a wimp. Now is your time to access Power,
channeling it through the Void, to bring each of those things into being. State
loudly and clearly – put all on notice – that you “will, command and intend
that ______.” State each goal separately and powerfully in this way, letting the
joy, the excitement; the anticipation of each fill you up. When all are done,
then jointly declare “It is so. So be it, so be it, so be it!” and release it
all to the universe. Thank Spirit and all your guides and helpers for being
present, close your sacred space, and have fun!
Be Mindful
Finally, make sure the goals are somewhere you will see them
every day. Post them on the wall to read while you brush your teeth, set time
aside to meditate on them daily, read the list before you get out bed, whatever
works for you. The important thing is to intend beforehand how you will stay
mindful of your goals, not letting them get buried in a drawer, metaphorically
or physically. These are the things you choose to work on, your own dreams and
desire. It’s up to you to honor yourself enough to allow a growing
consciousness around them to evolve. Then, by the time the end-of-year review rolls
around, and you once again begin the process for a new cycle, you may just be
surprised how much you’ve really gotten done!
Today is the first day of the rest of your Life!
Make it Count!
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
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