Monday, December 26, 2005
New Years Resolution...Win or Bust
It's that time of year again when people look to the future and imagine what they hope to achieve that would have their lives be more satisfying and successful. Most will think about making resolutions for the new year with resignation and default to listing the same promises from years past.
If we look at the motivation behind past resolutions, we discover the parts of us and our lives that we are less than happy about...parts that remind us of our limitations, failures and comparisons to others. Perhaps, this negative emotional attachment is significant in producing the repetitive incompletions of past years' promises. If we are able to accept ourselves as we are and identify areas we choose to alter with a positive motivational investment, we may alter the end results.
For example, if you promise to lose 25 pounds in the next 6 months, explore how much of that goal is attached to an already present negative assessment about your current body. That negative declaration then accompanies every action and intention around your weight loss plan and will predictably result in a weight gain, plateau, or at best, a temporary loss.
If, however, the motivational declaration is positive, exploring a new evolution of self, there may be a different end result. Declaring a commitment to enjoy expanded health and wellness as the context for your life will demand a shift in attitude, a new relationship with self and others, and will require different choices for activities that support aliveness. New choices may include quality and quantity of food intake and physical activities that enliven your body.
Making goals realistic and attainable can also increase the probability of success. If you cannot even imagine achieving the identified goals, it will be difficult to set up interim steps along the way. When you declare yourself as living in abundance and freedom, you have created a powerful foundation for a qualitative shift in thinking and behaving regardless of your current income, job and spending behaviors. Still it is important to measure increases in financial income and freedom in choosing how you spend money. Living out of resignation, defeat and deprivation will produce a very different outcome.
So write your New Year's resolutions by first stating the context and declaration of motivation that will carry you forward. Then list some of the specific outcomes you are intending as a result of this new context. Always return to the foundational declaration to assess whether it has been actively guiding you. For example, if you see less success in creating expanded income, assess whether you have been living consistently with your declaration about living from an attitude of abundance and freedom. Everything lives as an energetic flow that is moving with grace and ease or is being constricted with conversations that block or interfere with that flow.
When you have identified your declared intentions, make a picture collage that expresses the energy, the motivation, specific results and the essence of this vision for your life. With old magazines, cut out images that represent your visions and goals and paste them on a poster board. Place your vision poster where you will see it every day. Then allow you subconscious mind to engage with the subliminal messages every day.
Here are some examples of declarations that may provide a qualitative shift in motivation and perception.
1. I promise to live with honor and respect for myself and others.
Evaluative measures: decreasing my negative conversations and gossip, frequency that I take a daily walk, and maintaining regular communication with people that are important to me.
Note the increase in social opportunities that are available to you, the changes in your body size and stamina, and increases in networking referrals for you and from you to others.
2. I promise to live with an abundant energy of love and success.
Evaluative measures: decreasing my negative conversations about myself and others, focusing on my gifts and talents, discovering non-financial ways of contributing and gifting, celebrating what I am grateful for daily and acknowledging others for their contributions.
Note the status of your finances, resources that are gifted to you, and ability to sleep at night without stress.
3. I promise to live as though I "am enough" and "have enough".
Evaluative measures: decrease in "not enough" conversations with myself and others, focusing on "what is possible" rather than "not possible", and recognizing my fears and taking actions that move beyond them.
Note increased energy and freedom, achieving goals in different areas of your life, and expanded giving in different areas of your life.
http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/holidays/tp/resolutions.htm
http://www.washington.edu/newsoom/news/1997archive/12-97archive/k122397.html
If we look at the motivation behind past resolutions, we discover the parts of us and our lives that we are less than happy about...parts that remind us of our limitations, failures and comparisons to others. Perhaps, this negative emotional attachment is significant in producing the repetitive incompletions of past years' promises. If we are able to accept ourselves as we are and identify areas we choose to alter with a positive motivational investment, we may alter the end results.
For example, if you promise to lose 25 pounds in the next 6 months, explore how much of that goal is attached to an already present negative assessment about your current body. That negative declaration then accompanies every action and intention around your weight loss plan and will predictably result in a weight gain, plateau, or at best, a temporary loss.
If, however, the motivational declaration is positive, exploring a new evolution of self, there may be a different end result. Declaring a commitment to enjoy expanded health and wellness as the context for your life will demand a shift in attitude, a new relationship with self and others, and will require different choices for activities that support aliveness. New choices may include quality and quantity of food intake and physical activities that enliven your body.
Making goals realistic and attainable can also increase the probability of success. If you cannot even imagine achieving the identified goals, it will be difficult to set up interim steps along the way. When you declare yourself as living in abundance and freedom, you have created a powerful foundation for a qualitative shift in thinking and behaving regardless of your current income, job and spending behaviors. Still it is important to measure increases in financial income and freedom in choosing how you spend money. Living out of resignation, defeat and deprivation will produce a very different outcome.
So write your New Year's resolutions by first stating the context and declaration of motivation that will carry you forward. Then list some of the specific outcomes you are intending as a result of this new context. Always return to the foundational declaration to assess whether it has been actively guiding you. For example, if you see less success in creating expanded income, assess whether you have been living consistently with your declaration about living from an attitude of abundance and freedom. Everything lives as an energetic flow that is moving with grace and ease or is being constricted with conversations that block or interfere with that flow.
When you have identified your declared intentions, make a picture collage that expresses the energy, the motivation, specific results and the essence of this vision for your life. With old magazines, cut out images that represent your visions and goals and paste them on a poster board. Place your vision poster where you will see it every day. Then allow you subconscious mind to engage with the subliminal messages every day.
Here are some examples of declarations that may provide a qualitative shift in motivation and perception.
1. I promise to live with honor and respect for myself and others.
Evaluative measures: decreasing my negative conversations and gossip, frequency that I take a daily walk, and maintaining regular communication with people that are important to me.
Note the increase in social opportunities that are available to you, the changes in your body size and stamina, and increases in networking referrals for you and from you to others.
2. I promise to live with an abundant energy of love and success.
Evaluative measures: decreasing my negative conversations about myself and others, focusing on my gifts and talents, discovering non-financial ways of contributing and gifting, celebrating what I am grateful for daily and acknowledging others for their contributions.
Note the status of your finances, resources that are gifted to you, and ability to sleep at night without stress.
3. I promise to live as though I "am enough" and "have enough".
Evaluative measures: decrease in "not enough" conversations with myself and others, focusing on "what is possible" rather than "not possible", and recognizing my fears and taking actions that move beyond them.
Note increased energy and freedom, achieving goals in different areas of your life, and expanded giving in different areas of your life.
http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/holidays/tp/resolutions.htm
http://www.washington.edu/newsoom/news/1997archive/12-97archive/k122397.html
