For a Mindful New Year

I work part-time as a freelance editor. Recently I was editing a chapter about goal setting. While actually editing, I gave attention to my work, but later I realized that the content made me uneasy. Why? Because I don’t set goals with anything near the precision recommended in the chapter.

My inner guidance was telling me that I now needed to do this. The call to action awakened all of my resistance. Lists and discipline weren’t creative and spontaneous; they were boring. I felt like a child stuck in school on a sunny day.

The truth, though, was that lack of accomplishment was frustrating me. Since inner guidance was speaking to me, I asked it how I could reconcile the desire to accomplish goals in a systematic way with the desire for creativity and spontaneity.

The answer I got was that sometimes mindfulness means having a list and giving one’s full attention to its items, one at a time, and that in a given moment there is one thing to do. The practical analogy was that I didn’t wait for inspiration to wash the dishes, but that with a clean sink and counter area, I had lots of space to create an imaginative and delicious meal. And when I brought mindfulness to both the dishes and the cooking, I could get equal satisfaction from both tasks.

My inner guide wasn’t done with me, though. It also reminded me that for over a year, I’ve been moving from crisis to crisis. I have successfully handled all of them, but I felt as if I was constantly deflecting curveballs from the universe. I didn’t feel as if I were initiating plans of actions. I was responding to each new crisis that wreaked havoc with my plans.

The law of attraction states that whatever you focus on will grow. In retrospect, I see that I was focusing on crisis. No wonder they increased. I found crisis management easier than consciously taking command of my life and moving forward.

I’m not beating myself up for this. Humans do these things. However, now that it’s 2016, I intend to mend my ways, and this is the method I’m following.

Discover your most important dream.

List the steps needed to accomplish.

Get specific and break these steps into smaller steps.

Whenever I accomplish even the smallest step, I will pause to congratulate myself and celebrate my achievement.

To make this stronger, I’m going to state my intentions here. I have two goals in mind. I may end up choosing one over the other. That’s part of the plan.

My first goal is to make more money from my writing. I haven’t finalized my financial goal; that will be part of the process.

My second goal is to launch a career as an EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) coach.

I am going to break down each of these goals into steps. I am going to assess my progress weekly. I am going to celebrate all accomplishments, no matter how small.

And I am going to report my progress here. By the way, in writing this post, I accomplished one of my small goals.

I welcome anyone who so chooses to list his or her goals as comments. You have my full support.

And Happy New Year. May it be an enlightening and mindful one for all and one in which you fulfill your most heartfelt dreams.