Focus On Your Goals, Not Your Ego

“Do not feed your ego and your problems, with your attention. ...Slowly, surely, the ego will lose weight, until one fine day it will be nothing but a thin ghost of its former self. You will be able to see right through it, to the divine presence that shines in each of us.” ~ Eknath Easwaran

Are you focusing on your goals and intentions? Or, are you focusing on your ego? Are you following your heart because that is where your deepest desires reside? Or, are you listening to your fears, doubts and worries?

If you are focusing on your fears and listening to the voice of doubt, then this is your ego rising up to control you.

You must be so intention focused and value driven if you are to receive your goals. Revisit your BE words for the year. Remember, your three BE words? Those words are your companion and compass on this intention receiving journey. Your BE words come from your heart center and are your keys to unlocking any blocks to making conscious choices. When you are about to take an inspired action on your goal or intention, you may hear the voice of doubt give you reasons not to take the action. What do you do?

You STOP, TAKE A BREATH, revisit your BE words and ASK:

“Will taking this action bring me closer to my heart’s desire?”

“Is this action in alignment with my BE words?”

Remember, your BE words are connected to your inner values; going against your values will create conflict within. In a conflicted state, you cannot receive your heart’s desires; you only receive more unnecessary conflict and pain.

So, just for today, listen to your heart and not your ego to manifest your deepest desires.

Using Practices to Receive Your Goals

Ever thought about using your spiritual practices and rituals to receive the goals and intentions you have set? Your rituals and practices are what you do all the time – consistently. This is a great way to receive the goals and intentions you desire. If you consistently take the small, inspired and aligned actions each day to move closer to your desires, then soon your desires are very close indeed.

If your intention is to release a certain amount of weight, then you can make a ritual of taking a walk everyday after lunch, as an example. It doesn’t seem like much in the beginning, but over time with consistent action, you will be amazed at your increased level of energy and how great you feel. Then, you will look forward to your lunchtime walks and even feel it when you miss a day.

Receiving your goals and intentions don’t have to be difficult; we tend to make them more difficult than they really are. But if you are in alignment with your heart’s desire, then everything will fall into place and all will be well.

Friday’s Purposeful BE Question

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

It is said that the quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions.

This question comes from my coach Kristin:

If someone approached you on the street and said, “Wow, you are so ________, ________, and ________”, which words or phrases would you love to hear?

These are your BE Words for 2011.

“You can tell whether a woman is clever by her answers. You can tell whether she is wise by her questions.” ~ attributed to Naguib Mahfouz

You Are Your Goals

“Every decision you make - every decision - is not a decision about what to do. It's a decision about Who You Are. When you see this, when you understand it, everything changes. You begin to see life in a new way. All events, occurrences, and situations turn into opportunities to do what you came here to do.” ~ Neale Donald Walsch

When we set goals and intentions, they are not merely to achieve and receive the intended outcome; but to become a better and brighter person by the process. Every goal, every decision is about you and who you are becoming each and every day. Think about that one!

That is why we began with who do you want to BE in 2011 – this sets the tone of your goals and intentions, and it sets the tone of your year. When you know who you want to be, it is easier to make decisions because you make them from your beingness and not your current circumstances or your feelings. You also begin to see every event – the pleasant and the not so pleasant – as opportunities for growth and expansion.

So, just for today, STOP, TAKE A BREATH, and ASK (again):

“Who do I wish to BE in 2011?”

Set Goals With the End in Mind

"Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever." ~ Keri Russell

What do you want your life to look like? What do you want to be, to do and to have?

This is where you can begin your process of setting your intentions or goals. Envision what it is you would like your life to be. Make the decision that this is what you want. STOP, TAKE A BREATH, and ASK:

What would it take to make that happen?

What small steps can you take every day to reach that desire?

Taking small, consistent action will move you towards your desired intentions.

“You cannot make progress without making decisions.” ~ Jim Rohn

Don’t Spit At the Wind, Adjust Your Sails!

"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” ~ Confucius

When you set an intention or a goal, you don’t just dive head first into the goal. You must set action steps to receive your goal. These action steps must be small enough and inspired by your heart’s desire, or else you will not do them.

Chances are great that your goal is some lofty wish that you have not one ounce of passion about. Why is it that when you make New Year’s resolutions, you are so gun-ho for the first month and a half, then it all fizzles out? This is because you did not set your goal from your heart’s desire, and you did not break them down into smaller, inspired action steps.

So, just for today, take a look at your goals and intentions. See where you can break them down into smaller action steps. How do those steps feel to you? Are they manageable given your circumstances? Do they feel right to you? If yes, then go for it!

Set Passionate Goals

"If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes." ~ Andrew Carnegie

When setting a goal or an intention, make sure that it ignites your passions and draws out positive emotions. There is no point setting a goal that you are not excited about; or you won’t be happy when you have received it. Think about what it would feel like once you have your desired goal or intention. Get full of the feeling of being, doing or having it.

Just for today, feel your goal!

Friday’s Purposeful BE Question

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

It is said that the quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions.

“What are your BE Words for 2011?”

“What traits must you embody to BE?

“You can tell whether a woman is clever by her answers. You can tell whether she is wise by her questions.” ~ attributed to Naguib Mahfouz

To BE in 2011!

This is an exercise my coach does with me each year and I also do with my coaching clients. As you move forward to 2011, think of three BE words you wish to embody for the new year. Do you wish to be peaceful, compassionate, empathetic, courageous, prosperous, the list goes on. From the three BE words you choose for the year, all of the choices you make and the actions you take will evolve from your BE words. Your choices and actions will be congruent to who you are choosing to BE.

So, think about the characteristics you want to embody, and start being. Doing this will move your life in the direction of your highest ideals.

Being Before Doing

Incorporate your To-BE list with what you want your day to look like. If you want a peaceful and serene day, then you need to be peaceful and serene. If you want a creative and productive day, then you need to be creative and productive. Remember, before you can do something, you must first be something. When you are truly being, your doing will naturally follow.

Think about what you want your day to look like, then be the person who lives in that kind of day.

Who Are You “Being” in 2011?

"If you want to be happy, be."  ~ Leo Tolstoy

This week, we will discuss your beingness for the new year. I have found that the best way to create the life of your desires is to begin with your “I AM.” Who do you want to be in 2011? Your “I AM-ness” is extremely powerful because what you add to I AM gets added to you.

I am sure you have said something like, “I am so stupid,” or “I am so fat,” or “I am such a retard.” Sound familiar? It is true that labels follow you wherever you go; but it is even crueler when the label is created by you. “I AM” is the name of God; and you are a divine expression.

I know many of you cannot see yourself as a divine expression because of past programming. Well, it is time to de-program and renew your mind to the truth of who you really are. When we fail at relationships, at jobs, at finances, at whatever, it is not because of the relationships, the job or the finances; it is because we are not being who we were created to be.

If you want to have a peaceful life, then embody peace. Whatever you choose to have, you must first be. Sound confusing? We will pull this apart more this week.

So, just for today, STOP, TAKE A BREATH, and ASK:

“Who do I choose to be in 2011?”

Is it peaceful… more patient… healthy… prosperous… compassionate… loving… wise… fill-in-the-blank…?

"God has given you one face, and you make yourself another." ~ William Shakespeare

Purposeful Question for Spiritual Goal Manifestation

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

It is said that the quality of your life is determined by the quality of your questions. So, what questions are you asking?

“What do you truly wish to be, to do or to have in 2011?”

“You can tell whether a woman is clever by her answers. You can tell whether she is wise by her questions.” ~ attributed to Naguib Mahfouz

Day 4: Spiritual Goal Manifestation

“Write down the vision and make it plain.” ~ Hab 2:2

Very often, when we set a goal or an intention, we tend to think about it and do nothing else. Believing that the mere thought of our goals and intentions are enough to manifest, it continues to swim around inside our heads with all the other thoughts and things to do. This does not set the goal apart allowing us to work on it

God told the Prophet Habakkuk to write down the vision he saw on tablets and write it plainly. This is a perfect model for goal manifestation. Any goal, dream or desire we are wishing to manifest must be written down simply and plainly. In our heads, it’s only a wish or a fantasy – our ideal story. But set down on paper, it becomes ready for reality.

Something happens when you wrote down your desires. First, the action of writing not only engages the mind but also the body. Seeing the words on paper creates new images which create new neural pathways in the brain. Then reading your desire aloud brings in the auditory. It also makes it more real to you.

Your goal or vision must be plain, that is, it must not be confusing or cloudy. It should be understood by a six-year-old and long enough to be committed to memory and recited often.

So, what is your goal or desire for 2011?

Write it down, make it plain and read it often.

Day 3: Spiritual Goal Manifestation

Once you have discovered, or re-discovered your heart’s desire – what you truly wish to be, to do and to have – then you must set about manifesting it. To make it a reality in your life, you need to begin with the end in mind. You know what you want your results to look like, so begin by creating your ideal day. What would an ideal day in your life look like if you were living your heart’s desire? 

Begin with how you would feel living your ideal day. Would living this ideal day make you feel excited, elated, peaceful, at ease, or fill-in-the-blank? Avoid saying you would feel less stressed or no longer fearful – use positive, high vibration emotions. The Universe and your subconscious mind do not recognize negatives.

Continue to create your ideal day – visualize it in the theater of your mind and write down what you see. If you don’t like some aspect, simply erase it and create it anew. Don’t focus on what you don’t want. Simply be with the images of what you would like to be, to do, and to have. The more you focus on it, the more you refine and fine tune your ideal day. 

Only begin with one day. Life is made up of single days; so take one day at a time. There is no need to rush through this; that only creates more stress and tension. You want this to be a “no tension” process; easy and relaxed. Soon, you day will follow this “no tension” process and flow easily and effortlessly.

Day 2: Spiritual Goal Manifestation

Are you dusting off your same goal from the last year, hoping to finally achieve it in the next year? If you are, you need to ask yourself some very important questions:

“What was the goal from last year that did not manifest?”

“Why do you think you did not achieve this goal?” (Answering “I don’t know” is not enough; you must go deeper. Did you lack the resources, the finances, or the information; was the goal to broad or too big? You need to get very specific.)

“What will you do differently next year to manifest this goal?”

Sometimes we pull goals or New Year’s resolutions out of the air because we are feeling a certain way and achieving that goal will fill the immediate need. Because we are in some kind of unpleasant space, we resolve to eliminate that unpleasant feeling. This is not how to go about goal creation. This is like going grocery shopping when you are hungry – you will buy everything to satisfy your immediate hunger and not what you truly need.

You must take the time to STOP, TAKE A BREATH, and ASK yourself some questions. Begin with those mentioned. Be very honest with yourself. Then ask:

“What is it that I truly desire to be, to do and to have?”

When you get crystal clear with this answer, then and only then you will see everything else begin to harmoniously fall into place.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s exciting episode on Spiritual Goal Manifestation.