Body - Mind & Spirit - Resolutions vs Solid Goals
November 3rd, 2007 | by Naimp | Posted in Self Improvement |All too often, in a recipe for failure, New Year’s resolutions are made lightheartedly with little consideration on the true level of commitment that is required to carry through. For a more appetizing recipe please read on.
As the year fades from 2006 and brightens into 2007, maintaining the delicate balance between reflections and planning are vital to remaining optimistic and eager. While we want to look back to analyze where we have been and we want to consider both the bitter and sweet moments, we should not dwell on either. Pulling out the painful, embarrassing, and stumbling times to examine them is important so that we can learn from mistakes, but while doing so, we must be mindful to be gentle with our souls.
Set aside a specific time to open each foible, blow off the dust and mourn the follies. Examine them carefully and take away only what is beneficial. Lock up the emotional baggage that accompanied the errors.
After a day or so, when the lessons are digested and ingrained into our being so that instincts steer us away from the lesson’s bitter sources, it is time then to look at the joys of the year that has passed. Look at each passing month with your eyes closed and your heart opened. Savor soft memories that made you smile and warmed your heart on a cold winter’s day in January. Remember the way you felt upon giving your love a heartfelt gift as though giving a part of your self. Contemplate the lightness of your soul on the first warm day of spring when the grass turned green and the flowers bloomed. Hear the laughter of the children playing in the sprinklers on a hot day in August. Listen to the quiet calm following the children’s return to school at summer’s end. Watch the turning of the leaves through the crisp October air. Revel in the excitement as the snow started to fall and you knew you would be with family again over the Holidays. Once you have this solidly in your heart, open your eyes and spend the next day or two contemplating your blessings.
Now it is time to mix the foibles and joys together to create a recipe for success and happiness in 2007. Based on the feelings that you’ve experienced over the last few days, what stands out? What are your prime ingredients? What will you avoid at all costs and what will you try to include more of? What do you want to saturate your recipe with? Spend the next couple of days thinking about this.
Since the beginning of this process a week or so has passed. Now it is time for decision making. Make a plan. Base it on what made you smile. Was it time with family or the vacation you finally took? Was it staying at home or being with children? Was it a promotion at work or completing the degree you’ve been working on? Was it moving into a new home or working on the one you already have? What made you sad? This becomes your list of things to avoid.
The next step is to write down only four steps on how you are going to have more of the things that make you smile. Pick one thing you know you can accomplish in three months. Once you are happy with the results, move on to the next step to build on your joy. Isn’t it better to succeed in moving slowly through just four goals than to fail at just one?
Lastly – act and set aside three days at the end of each quarter just for you. Act on one goal; then the next; and the next; and finally the last. At the end of each quarter (March, June, September and December), take three days for you. On the first day, examine the bitterness of the last three months, take the lessons and lock the rest away. On the second day, taste and revel in the joys of the last three months. On the third day, revise your plan and move on to your second goal. By this time next year you will have a lot more to smile about and a lot less to regret. Keep this recipe handy and repeat it as an annual New Year’s tradition.
Jeanne Mullis
Sr. Executive Director
Nutronix-Automatic Builder