What good news are you bringing to your life and to the world in 2012? Have you set your vision for the upcoming year? Are you going to live your life purpose more fully and with passion as we move into this final year of the Mayan calendar?
The world really is full of good news if you set your intentions on seeing it—-here are some life affirming stories that came into my awareness recently: Read the rest of this entry »
Have you created your New Year’s resolutions yet? If not, here are some questions to get you started. And, if you have already created some intentions, then maybe these questions will help fine tune them.
I’m compelled to remind us all that we don’t have to wait for New Year’s to create intentions or resolutions. We can (and do) set intentions every day. And if we slip up, we don’t have to wait till next January to start over. This point was the subject of my article last summer entitled “Reinventing Resolutions“. Keeping that in mind, let’s get to the questions…
For what in your life in 2010 do you feel gratitude?
It’s really easy to focus our attention on the areas of our life where we feel lack. The gap between what we want and what we have seems to scream for our attention. The irony, of course, is that the more we focus on that gap, the more we grow that lack. It’s okay to notice the contrast between our desires and our current manifestation of them as that contrast focuses our attention on what we want. But we must keep our eyes on the prize and not the lack of it. To assist us in focusing on the positive, we must see it where it already exists in our life. So looking back over this last year, where were you given gifts for which you are thankful? Keep that gratitude in the forefront of your mind as you set your 2011 intentions.
What aspect of your life in 2010 do you need to release in 2011?
We all carry baggage of the past around with us. In some cases, this baggage has been with us for so long that we can’t imagine living without it. This baggage is old beliefs and behaviors that hold us back from living the highest possible life that we can. Take a moment and review all areas of your life – relationships, career, income, spirituality, health, diet and so on – and as you do so, identify those areas of contrast mentioned above where there is a gap between your desires and your manifestation. For any gap that you notice, ask yourself – what behavioral pattern or belief do I need to release in this area of my life? Once you’ve identified what needs to be let go of, take steps to allow that old mold of thinking and behavior to be replaced with new thoughts and actions. Letting go of the old creates the space for the growth of the new.
Note – if you are struggling with the release of the old, then you may still have a lot of emotional energy attached to it. One of the best ways I have discovered for releasing this emotional energy is a simple technique taught by Tom Stone called the “SEE technique”. Visit this link for more information.
What new do you desire to see in your life in 2011?
Imagine in your mind’s eye that it’s the end of 2011 and you’re looking back on the year with gratitude for all the new and wonderful things that have shown up. What would those new manifestations be? Again, take a moment and review all the areas of your life mentioned previously. What is being called forth? This is where I find integral theory to be useful – it helps to categorize the areas of your life for consideration as to where growth would be most beneficial. You might consider reviewing this previous 3-part summary so as to ensure you are considering all potential areas for development.
My wife, Mary, has been playing with the following question that came from one of her spiritual teachers which gets at the same concept–”If you knew now what you will know at the end of 2011 how would your life change?” (Question from Hossca Harrison, visit this link for more of his writings.) She likes this question because it gets her to an intention as to what she wants to learn in the experiences of the new year – and Mary says– if you can get to that learning in your mind now, then why wait to implement the learning? Put your new knowledge and wisdom into place now!
After you’ve identified the “new” that you wish to grow in 2011, sit down and write a positive affirmation from the standpoint that the new has already shown up in your life. Create a list of affirmations which you review daily.
Here’s some examples to get you started – you want to lose weight? Say: I know that my body is healthy and physically fit now. Every day I eat the right foods and get the right exercise. You want more friends? Say: I know that I am a friend to everyone I meet. My life is filled with deep and meaningful relationships. You want more money? Say: Prosperity and abundance are mine now. I am open to both giving and receiving money as it flows through my life in perfect circulation. Want to meditate more? Say: Every day I am in tune with spirit. I arise each day and sit in joyous communion with that divinity within me.…and so on.
And, the key is not only to say them – it is to live your life as if they were already true. Create the intentions and follow them with the actions!
Finally – what is it that is calling you to even bother making resolutions?
What is it you’re trying to “resolve”? Is there a problem you’re trying to settle? Are you trying to “re-solve” something – like a puzzle you once had the answer to but now you must solve it again? Why that feeling within you that calls you to filling that gap between desire and current manifestation? What is it that is forcing you to grow?
Although I would love for each of you to ponder these questions for yourself, I’ll give you what I think. Briefly – the consciousness within you was born of the oneness of spirit. That consciousness is in each of us. We believe we are separate individuals living our own lives with their own desires and needs, but we really are all one. That desire within us that calls us to express our lives at higher and higher levels is an urge that was embedded in us from the beginning. Our desire to grow in any aspect of our life is a force that is calling us to both experience the vast fullness of this life and to return us in our awareness to knowing that we are all one. Our resolutions move us on that path. We are “resolving” the discrepancy between our sense of separation and our sense of unity. We are “re-solving” the puzzle where we once knew we were one and are having to come to that awareness again.
So…set your resolutions today and everyday! May we all have a blessed and joyous 2011 living in oneness!
Mark Gilbert
ps. How about forwarding this article to your friends and encouraging them to “friend”, “follow” or subscribe to the “feed” of Conscious Bridge?
We are fast approaching the middle of 2010. Remember when you were a kid and you measured your age in half years? Our milestones seemed so far apart at that age….yet now they roll by quicker and quicker. Well, today I want to go back to my youthfulness and celebrate the passage of the upcoming “half year”. And, as we roll into the second half of 2010, its time for some new resolutions…. so here we go with our Half New Year’s resolutions!
It seems like resolutions have gotten a bad rap the last few years simply because there’s a recognition that we set these goals, and quickly release them within a few days or a few weeks. Yes, it’s true that many of us use January 1 each year to set new goals and then find difficulty breaking the old habits that would free us and allow us to meet those goals. However, I believe we need to release concerns over past failures and totally reinvent New Year’s resolutions.
So how can we reinvent resolutions? First off, they’re not just for January 1 anymore! We can set them on the half year, we can set them every month, we can set them every week,…everyday is a day to set resolutions.
The next thing we can do is let go of the fear of failure we’ve had from are not keeping resolutions from years/months/days past. So what if we didn’t keep some previous resolutions ? That doesn’t define us now. You are always free to change your thinking, change your habits, and change your life.
We can release our fear of failing to meet any new resolutions we set. So what if we set a goal that we don’t keep or meet? So what if we don’t make a 180° change in some pattern overnight? In the big scheme of things, our failure to meet every little nuance of every resolution or goal we set doesn’t make us a failure. The only time we truly fail is when we don’t set a goal at all. So let’s release our fears and turn our eyes to where we truly want to go in our lives.
So where do you want to go? What do you want your life to look like? What you want the world to look like? Visualize your life and the world around you as the perfection that it can be and set resolutions and intentions to move you in that direction.
Sometimes it helps to break your life down into compartments and set goals for each area of your life. For example, you might consider your life from the area of what you want to do for your body and your health, the development of your mind and intellect, your expression of your creative abilities, the development of your relationships with others, your growth in work or employment, your spiritual growth, and so on. I have found that it always helps me to look at my life from the individual standpoint, and set goals for that area of my life. Then I look at the world and how I would like it to be and then set goals for how I show up in it.
So, I’ve set a lot of goals for myself all throughout the year of 2010. I have goals around exercise and diet, learning a foreign language, personal development and writing. In some cases these goals are stated in such a way that I’ll do something everyday towards that goal, such as exercise or write. And the fact of the matter is, there will be some days when I will do neither. In fact, life may throw me a curveball, and I may get away from one of the other of these intentions for a week or longer. But, I have to be okay with that fact and recognize that I can get back towards my progress on my goals. I cannot let the fear of failure keep me from setting these goals. Neither can I let a little potential future slippage keep me from coming back to them. I must continuously ask myself, where do I want my life to and then move my thoughts, words and deeds in that direction.
I’ve also looked at the world and set some goals for myself in how I want to show up in relation to it. Some of these goals may seem lofty and out of reach when we’re mired in the world of everyday effects. Yes, there could be plenty of times when I look out of the world and I see things that are less than what I desire for it. However just like when I slip up on my personal goals, I can’t let the world slipping up keep me from my focus and intention on the direction in which I wish to move. I must be resolute in the fact that each of us plays a role in moving the world towards its positive future. I must continue to do my part with my consciousness.
So, what kind of world do I envision for the last half of 2010 and beyond? Where do I keep my focus and intentions on how I show up in the world for the time coming?
First off, I envision a world that works for everyone. That means that it works for me and it works for you. That means it works for my family, but it also works for the family of humanity. Yes, I can look around me and work towards my personal success, but I must ever keep in mind that my success is connected to your success and all of our collective success. Hence as I work towards my goals and aspirations, I should ensure that my success should at a minimum harm no one. Even better, it should ultimately serve the greater good. As I express life in my neck of the woods, it should expand life in yours.
Therefore, I see a world where everyone cares for everyone else. We honor our differences and our uniqueness. We allow each other to hold different beliefs—politically, spiritually and in other areas. In this, we expand our love and care and concern to more and more people. And ultimately, we expand our care and concern to all sentient beings and the world at large. We move from being egocentric and ethnocentric to being world centric.
I see a world where peace is the norm, where everyone has enough to eat, where all have safety and security, where everyone has the opportunity to express their unique gifts. I see a world where we are all wise stewards of the planet and its resources. I see a world in which we release the sense of separation and claim our unity.
Yes, these seem like lofty goals and flowery words, but they are a vision of the world that we can become. So, of all my intentions for the rest of 2010 and beyond, the one that is foremost is where I keep my consciousness and my focus on this possible world. I respectfully ask you to do the same.
Blessings,
Mark
