“What Are Your Personal Goals?” by Joan Y. Edwards
Happy New Year! Thanks for reading and/or subscribing to my blog.
I recommend five personal goals for this year.
- Celebrate
- Have Faith in Yourself
- Be Thankful
- Accept Yourself As You Are
- Relinquish Control
1. Celebrate
It is great to celebrate any time and every possible moment in your life.Oprah Winfrey said, “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
- Have a picnic on your living room floor.
- Read your favorite book.
- Call a friend.
- Sit at the edge of your yard and watch for wildlife.
- Sit at a window and rejoice that you are comfortable.
2. Have Faith in Yourself
The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen…Frank Lloyd Wright
- Don’t feed your mind with negative thoughts. If you do, you will come to believe them…Catherine Pulsifer
- If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning…Gandhi
- It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action…Lin Yutang
- Believe in yourself and try not to take anything personally…Chris Kattan.
- Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string…Ralph Waldo Emerson.
3. Be Thankful
- Albert Schweitzer quote: “In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit
- Buddha quote: “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”
- Thornton Wilder quote: “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”
- Yogi Bhajan quote: “Gratitude is the open door to abundance.”
If you want something other than what you have, be grateful for what you have. If you are unhappy with the situation you are in, be grateful that it’s not worse, and believe it can be what is better. Focus on what you want. Be grateful for what you have.
4. Accept Yourself As You Are
For the last three years I have been studying with Hale Dwoskin about letting go.
Letting go of expectations allows you to enjoy the moment as it is.
Letting go of wanting and trying to get control of the people in our lives, frees us to enjoy the gifts they have to give us.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t set goals for yourself. It means to stop spending all of your energy resisting the way things are. When you take back your energy, then you make a better pathway for your new and improved life to enter.
I think a lot of unhappiness comes from not enjoying things as they are and wanting something else.
I think the saying that the following saying that was prevalent in 2012 is very powerful and healing: “It is what it is”
5. Relinquish Control
It’s amazing how much human beings want control of things. When you don’t know how it’s going to turn out, you are afraid to venture into the “unknown.” If you know it’s going to turn out okay, then you are willing to take a chance. When you get your belief system straight, you realize that all events lead you to your goals. They may be interesting detours, but if you reset your beliefs and restate your goals, you will get there.
Resources:
- Brainy Quotes. “Believe in Yourself:” http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/believe_in_yourself.html#8WmP1bXCydDPA7xX.99
- Brené Brown. “The Power of Vulnerability:” http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html
- Darcy Pattison. “Shame, Vulnerability and Hiding:” http://www.darcypattison.com/writing-life/shame-vulnerability-and-hiding/
- Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance
Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards
Copyright © 2013 Joan Y. Edwards. All rights reserved.