Time To Break out a Big New (And Useful) Goal!

I love the New Year!  I don’t know why personal and work goals seem more fun to set on this date, I mean we can set goals at the begging of the day, week, and month – but for some reason the beginning of the year makes it really bright and new, as if you can turn over a new leaf. Maybe it comes from society saying it’s best to set goals at the start of the year, maybe it comes from habit, or maybe it just comes because the number 1 repeats twice and that excites us – who knows, but I feel ready and I’m just going to go with the flow.

I’m not going to write every goal I have for the New Year here because that would be quite a long list. I will tell you my biggest goal, which is to take action! I want to push past my fears and take action when I see it needs to be taken. That goes for my personal and work life. And I will be building habits to start implementing that goal right away.

My Second Biggest Goal

This post is about my second goal for the New Year. I’m really excited about this one! I would like to end this year with a really good handle on this particular goal of mine as I think it would benefit everything in my life from my happiness to my health to my success.

My second biggest goal for the New Year is…to live in the moment.

I know what NOT living in the moment does for me. More important I know that living in the future or the past causes a host of negative feelings that are very non-productive.

We are always getting ready to live but never living. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Living in the future causes stress, anxiety, and worry and/or takes me out of reality.

• Thinking about what may come and what may go wrong.
• Dreaming about things (particularly bad) that may never be.
• Worrying about disasters in my life that may never come
• Adding a fear to my life that holds me back because of a ‘possible’ outcome

The problem with the future is that most of us don’t tend to think about tip-toeing through tulips. Instead we worry about what could happen, and we start to make up visions in our head that aren’t real but start to feel like they could be real.

Waste not fresh tears over old griefs. Euripides

Living in the past causes regret, sorrow, or anger.

• We regret that we didn’t take that chance, when we had the chance.
• We remember our lost loved ones and wish they were around to the point of being extremely sad.
• We grow angry over people who have hurt us and we hold on to that anger as if the event is happening right now!

We incorporate our past into our present, but the past is just the past! It’s meant to learn from, to remember fondly, and to move on from.

Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee. Montaigne

Living in the moment gives you a feeling like no other! It’s like being a kid all over again. Kids live in the moment. They don’t worry about the future or mull over the past. They think about what they are doing right now, today, and they enjoy it!

I know that personally it’s easiest for me to live in the moment on vacation. That’s one of the reasons I love vacation so much. I focus on what’s going on in the moment. I notice things that I might otherwise pass on by because I’m so busy thinking about tomorrow or yesterday.

I stop and smell the roses!

Vacation throws you into the present moment with a vengeance and it’s wonderful! It’s a feeling of being light and carefree and joyful, and purely happy and aware. That’s the feeling I’m going for this year with my goal to live in the moment.

How Am I Going To Start Living in The Moment?

1. With Eckhart Tolle

Well, first of all I’m going to re-read Eckhart Tolle’s ‘A New Earth’ and then Read his Other Book ‘The Power of Now’ because he is the guy who actually made me aware of living in the moment years ago. He has a unique way of explaining things and making you understand them and implement them into your life. In fact, I’ll vow to read all of his books this year and do a review at the end of each one.

2. With Meditation

I always find excuses to not meditate for the day, even though it’s what I really want to do. I have no idea why something I want to do so badly always gets put to the backburner, but this year with my goal of living in the moment – meditation is taking front stage! I’m going to start small and try meditating for a minimum of 20 minutes per day and then go from there.

I always come out of mediation feeling very connected to myself and the energy around me. I have to admit that I don’t have a lot of experience with really deep meditation, and that’s because of fear. I’m scared of what will happen if I purely let go. I’m already quite connected to what’s around me without even trying, and I don’t want to be too sensitive where I sense things that I don’t really want to sense.

BUT I want to experience what will happen in a deep meditation, and how it will affect my living in the moment, so that fear is going to have to be conquered this year. I’ll allow it to unfold as it may.

3. With ‘Living In The Moment’ Breaks

I know when I’m living in the future or the past. I’m quite aware of it. I normally just let myself stay there though, but this year I’m going to try and put a stop to it by purposefully living in the moment.

I find there are many things that can bring me back to the now:

• Playing with my dogs.
• Talking to my husband.
• Doing other things with my husband.
• Going for a walk.
• Taking a bath.

There are many things that I can do to allow myself to live in the moment and I believe the more I put a stop to allowing myself to dwell in the past or future, the more I will naturally be able to live in the moment. It’s a habit after all, and habits are built by forming new ones!

4. With Vacations!

Heck yeah! I love travelling and this year my husband and I want to do as much as possible. This doesn’t mean that we have to take a cruise or head to Maui – although that will be appreciated, it just means that we have to take a vacation from our everyday life by experiencing new things and seeing new places. Some examples I can think of right now are:

• We live quite close to the mountains so we can easily do day trips to the mountains.
• Getting out more to the movies, mini-golf, comedy show, whatever…yes I consider that a mini-vacation from home!
• Camping is our ultimate get-a-way. Connecting with nature and being peaceful. That’s on the list for a big majority of summer.
• Staying at hotels, even in the next city. We love hotels and we always enjoy our stay and completely live in the moment there.

The point is I want to break up my week with moments of pure living in the moment and enjoying new sights, smells, sounds etc…

So that’s it. That’s my big second goal for the new year, and I’m excited. I know that the universe will align me with ways to live in the moment that I don’t even know about right now. My job is to go ahead and move forward with my intention to live in the moment and push past any fear that holds me back from doing so.

I’ll be updating my progress on this goal throughout the year with breakthroughs, realizations, and insights that I gain!

Happy new year!