It's a really, really bad idea to set yourself up to join all those people who are at the gym in January and gone in February! Or whatever the equivalent goal is that you're thinking about setting for yourself. If you're anything like me, the goals you think you should set for yourself are based on someone else's ideas about what would be good for you - maybe even ideas you got when you were a child or ideas you got from the media. Ideas about how you should look, what you should do with your time and money, what kind of car you should drive, what your home should be like, and anything else you can think of that would (you think) make you more socially acceptable. None of those goals actually originate from you - from the real you - from your heart and soul. So maybe they aren't even what would benefit you.
Of course, there are some almost universal goals that probably would benefit you - things like eating healthier in 2013 or exercising more, or getting more sleep. The thing is, if they are just "shoulds" in your mind, the deepest part of you isn't going to help you achieve them. What has worked for me is a whole paradigm shift from "shoulds" to "living from the heart."
Since "living from the heart" sounds so lofty and inaccessible, I will just list a few things I've done and still do at the beginning of each year to give myself some direction:
1. Make a collage using poster board and pictures from magazines. I take 30 minutes (set a timer) and rip out pictures that just seem to speak to me. I deliberately pay no attention to what I'm thinking. When the time is up, I just make a collage from the pictures I've accumulated. I still don't try to think about why I liked the pictures. When the collage is done, THEN I look at them and think about what those particular pictures say to me about how my deepest self wants to live life in the next year.
2. Spend some quiet time thinking about how I can best take care of myself this next year. What kinds of things do I enjoy that I've not gotten around to lately. Make a list of those.
3. Spend a little more quiet time thinking about the people I love and what I could do that would make them feel even more loved this year.
4. Last but not least, I spend a little more quiet time to think about what I would do with this year if it were the last one I had on the earth. Usually some thoughts about my life purpose are part of this meditation. I believe all of us know unconsciously what our life purpose is and even just a little time asking ourselves what we can do this coming year to advance that purpose - whatever we believe that is - will, when added to the about three activities - give us direction that we will really WANT to take - that will take very little or no willpower to acheive.
Empowerment enhances the ability of individuals or organizations to make choices and transform those choices into positive outcomes. Empowered people have recognized their own value and strength and their capacity to handle life's problems. In turn they are better able to influence the course of their lives. With information and support, most people can find within themselves the power to direct their lives and reach their dreams.
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