Forget the Monday Morning Resolutions; Your Future is Now!Written by Jacqueline Cornaby
Forget Monday Morning Resolutions: Your Future is Now by Jacqueline CornabyEvery Monday morning millions of people make resolutions in an attempt to positively change their lives. I’m going to start my diet. I’m going to get rid of my debt. I’m finally going to end this destructive relationship. I’m going to start exercising every day. The list is endless. Yet, by day’s end over half of us have already broken our resolutions, and within two months, remaining 50% don’t fare much better. What went wrong? Some people blame their lack of success on outside events. They claim that kids, their job, their spouse, and their prior commitments took up so much time that attaining dream became impossible. Others blame their own goal setting strategies, believing their resolutions were too lofty for anyone to achieve. The fact is that when it comes to positively changing your life, resolutions are not enough. The key is to look inside and determine not what you want to achieve in next few months, but rather, who you want to be for rest of your life. What vs. Who When people say they want to achieve something, they naturally look to outside factors for support, advice, and direction. For example, they can only quit smoking if their stress level is down; they can only exercise each morning if kids don’t need to be driven to school; they can only earn more money if economy would change. The mentality is: “As soon as…then…” However, when people decide to positively change their perception of who they see themselves to be and choose ownership instead of excuses, then they are personally accountable for their future and don’t need outside factors to guide them. They can say no to that dessert because instead of trying to achieve weight loss or being ones always on a diet, they are committed to becoming healthier individuals. In order to change your perspective of yourself and reach your personal goals, you can follow a simple three-step process that enables you to turn your future vision of yourself into current reality. By doing so, you create your future today and assure that coming months and years will be different and grander if you choose. 1.Create your vision. If you could design ideal life for yourself, what would it look like? How would you feel? What would you tell yourself to ensure your vision would become real for you? Would you be ten pounds thinner? Would you have at least an hour’s worth of free time in your daily schedule so you could focus on you? Would you be able to make smart financial choices so you could increase your net worth? Whatever it is you create for yourself, that’s vision you need to focus on to bring your future to you now. When you neglect to create your vision, you essentially allow outside factors to determine your life’s course. Creating a vision is about taking control of your future and accepting responsibility for choices you need to make. It’s a proactive approach to life that says you refuse to let external circumstances get in way of your dreams. By keeping your vision firmly in mind, you give yourself strength and conviction to transform your beliefs so you can finally become who you really want to be. As you create this initial vision, take time to examine other areas of your life and then determine focus for each individual aspect. For example, you could have a vision of your physical health, your family relationships, your job, your community contribution, and anything else you can think of. The more focused you are on how each aspect of your life should be, more clarity you have on your future direction. 2.Create your identity in relation to your vision. What three qualities or values do you want to own or possess to make your vision real? Some examples are “happy,” “peaceful,” “unstoppable,” “strong,” or “committed.” Because your external world is a reflection of your internal world, what you create in your life will only be as strong as who you are inside. Identity is about taking ownership for your vision and for who you want to become. Without identity come excuses – all those reasons why you can’t make your vision real. I can’t enjoy life fully because I’m so stressed from my job. I can’t have quality of life I want because I don’t have enough time. I can’t lose weight because I don’t have willpower to resist dessert. I can’t get out of this bad relationship because I’m afraid of being alone.” All these excuses occur because of a lack of an empowering identity. A person’s identity is a powerful force within human psyche. Why not choose one that serves you? When you choose qualities you want to possess, you prohibit outside factors from slowing you down. You choose to feel at peace so you can enjoy life. You choose to be strong and healthy so you can lose weight. You choose to be happy so you can release a draining relationship. Essentially, your job, your family, your friends, and even current events can no longer dictate who you are or who you become. Creating your identity frees you from others’ control and enables you to finally act upon goals you have set for yourself. It’s a matter of realizing that there is no becoming; there is just declaration of all that you already are right now.
| | Listen to your WisdomWritten by Lisa Martin
Being a good listener starts with paying attention to yourself—your own inner dialogue. We all talk to ourselves, but how many of us really listen? Sometimes inner dialogue doesn't even shape itself into words. It's a song that's been running through your head for a couple of days, or that twinge of intuition that you've been pushing to back of your mind. Listening to yourself is about connecting with your inner wisdom, your deepest desires and dreams, and understanding what is truly in your heart. It's listening to that little voice that wants to guide you to your best life. Intuition is your Inner Compass As women, we understand power of our intuition and how valuable it can be in steering our lives in right direction. "Women's intuition" we say by way of self-congratulation when things go our way. By better understanding what intuition is and how it works, we can proactively access and leverage our wise self to chart best course for our lives. Intuition may appear to be random thoughts or beginning of a subtle knowing. These rambling thoughts may or may not be well-formed arguments for or against something in your life, but you need to pay them attention nevertheless. Often, intuition begins not as a loud scream but rather an inkling that something is not right or, conversely, that something feels good. When we listen to these messages and follow through with our "gut" feeling things work in our favor. On other hand, if time isn't taken to listen to your inner dialogue, to be with yourself, you may find ability to connect with your intuition compromised. And, chances are, you may make decisions that are not in your best interest. Create Space for your Thoughts Silence and patience are prerequisites for accessing your intuition. You may remember insightful words of Simon and Garfunkel's song from 1960s The Sound of Silence. "Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again. Because a vision softly creeping Left its seed while I was sleeping, And vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within sound of silence."
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