Where to in 2002?
It's that time of year again when we begin slyly turning our backs on the old year and looking longingly towards the new. We all know that most New Year's resolutions are broken before the ink on the health club contract even dries. And while goal setting is admirable, it, too, many times produces more stress and guilt than positive results. So what's a self-actualizing, post-modern person to do?
Here are seven simple suggestions to make 2002 your most exciting, fulfilling year yet.
1) Ask yourself the very California question, "Where does my energy want to go?" Forget about shoulds and goals and the like for a minute. Tune into your intuition and your bodily sensations. What draws your attention and energy? What are you attracted to?
There are no rights and wrongs here. Don't censor your energy. Just observe where your energy naturally flows, and follow it. As psychiatrist and author Rollo May says, "Will follows caring." What does your energy really care about? That's where you'll find your intrinsic motivation.
Ask yourself the question right now. Make a list of the answers that you receive from the intuitive, natural, non-rational parts of yourself. There may be places on your list that you can follow your energy to right this moment, like Barnes & Noble, or your local coffee shop. And there may be places that your energy wants to go that you just can't head off to right this very minute, like Katmandu or Timbuktu.
Then throughout 2002, whenever you're feeling stymied, blocked, or frustrated re-ask yourself "Where does my energy want to go?" If at all possible follow it. Review your list periodically, tune in, and see if your energy still wants to go there. If it does, make a plan to make it happen.
Your energy is a natural travel agent deep inside of you who charges no fees, no commissions. Listen to its' sage advice.
2) And speaking of going, go somewhere you've never been before. You can do this in a variety of ways. Way one: Every week consciously choose to expand your world and go someplace new and different, even if it's just to a different restaurant for lunch, or to a different store to browse.
A second approach is to choose to go on a trip to somewhere you've never been but always wanted to go. It doesn't have to be somewhere exotic like Bali or the dark side of the Moon. It can be as simple as Graceland or the county fair or a new church.
For me, this year, it's Mackinac Island way up there in Michigan somewhere. Why? I don't know; I've just always wanted to go there.
3) Set a theme for your New Year. What will make 2002 different from 2001 for you? Choose one word to describe a theme you will carry throughout the new year. It may be a part of yourself, or your life, that you wish to work on. It may be an intuitive attraction to a certain idea or process.
My theme for 2002 is Authenticity. It will be a touchstone for my decisions and actions. I will continually ask myself, "Am I being authentic here?" If not, I will choose again, or modify my behavior.
Your theme may be Happiness or Growth or Love or Productivity. It's totally up to you, but know that whatever you choose it will subtly pervade your entire year in a very auspicious way.
If you really get into this exercise, you can choose a sub-theme for each month, even each week. The thing about themes, as opposed to goals, is that they help you focus on values that are truly important to you but leave you much more open to possibilities you had yet to consider. You may think earning X number of dollars a year will make you happy, and so you set that income figure as your goal. Then, if you reach your target amount you may or may not be happy. You may even have spent a miserable year trying to reach it.
On the other hand, if your theme is Happiness, you will find a myriad of things that bring you happiness, whether you ever reach a certain income level or not. You will continually scan your environment for true happiness opportunities, not just money-making opportunities.
4) Be open to serendipity. No matter how well you plan your new year, it ain't going to turn out that way! And that's fine. Call it serendipity, synchronicity or grace, but the Universe will align itself in such a way that unimagined possibilities will come your way in 2002. Don't pass them by just because they aren't part of your personal strategic plan.
Your life is a co-creation between you and the Universe. Sure you get to put in your two cents worth, and you get to make choices, but you don't get determine all the opportunities nor all the results. Thank God! How boring would 2002 be if it turned out exactly like you planned it? Way boring, no doubt. Embrace serendipity!
5) Do three things a day. No, I don't know what they are. And yes, they'll probably be different for you everyday. But each day, choose the three most important things you need/want to do that day and then do them. If you accomplish more than these three things, that's icing on the cake.
Many high tech, 21st century folk keep track of life on their Palm Pilots. Me, I just use my palm. My right one, since I'm left handed. I write the three most important things for me to accomplish that day on my right palm each morning. As long as I don't wash my hands too many times that day, my to do list keeps popping into view.
I can here you right now saying, "I don't know about you, Bucko, but I've got a helluva lot more than three things to do each day." Fine, do them, or at least as many of them as you can. But focus, prioritize and make sure come hell or high Evian that the three most important things get done, even if you have to sacrifice lesser items.
6) Align your attention with your intention. What have you been intending to do - maybe for years, maybe for your entire lifetime - but you just never quite get around to it? Perhaps it's write a novel or get enlightened or become a millionaire. "Damn, I forgot to have kids," you say, as your biological clock ticks on like Big Ben on crank.
Now's the time. 2002 is your year. Do, or at least begin to do, what you've intended to do all along. How?
By nourishing your intention with your attention. Hold it in mind. Hold it in your heart. Truly intend to do it this year, and you will attract a whole slew of ways to make your intention a reality. You don't need to draw up a detailed master plan. You don't even need to set goals and target dates. At least not right now. Just hold your intention lightly. Re-visit it everyday. And stay awake. Be aware of how you can begin to manifest your intention now and now and now.
7) Keep a record. Yea, document your new year. Just in case you want to look back upon it in your old age, you'll have a fun way of remembering 2002. Keep a journal or a photo album or create a CD-ROM or just throw all the little mementos of the year in a box and sort them out in the week between Christmas and New Years at the end of 2002.
I recently came upon a stash of 10-year-old journals that I'd saved but totally forgotten about. There were my decade old thoughts and experiences laid out for me on paper. Not exactly great literature, but it was fun reading them, and I was able to harvest some old ideas that I've been able
Where to in 2002? No one knows. You get to plan and choose some of your destinations, be they physical, psychological or spiritual. Others will be given to you. And perhaps the most interesting places you'll go will be those you co-create with nature, the universe, God. Reality is a collaborative process. Living in real time, the year will unfold. Your only real responsibility is to be there to meet it with a cool head, a warm heart and a spirit of adventure.
May you travel well!
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