- Do you have big goals for 2014?
- Do you have a secret dream you would love to achieve but are afraid to commit to ~ for fear of falling short?
Setting goals takes courage. Research shows that people who write their goals down are much more likely to achieve them than people who don’t. Sharing your goals with a buddy or accountability group increases the likelihood of achieving them even more.
Yet many women (and men) I know are afraid to commit their goals to paper, let alone another person. What if they don’t achieve them? Would that mean they were a failure?
Even declaring a goal to oneself privately can be problematic. If we set our goals high, are we being egotistical? Is it ok to be ambitious and to have big dreams ~ or is that being immodest, un-yogic?
Whether your goals are for business, health, family, or life purpose, the same principle holds true. Setting goals takes courage ~ and calls on us to maintain our inner peace in the face of both hope and dread. We secretly hope to achieve our wildest dreams, yet dread the possibility of failing miserably.
Here are 3 tips for maintaining equanimity in goal setting ~ and maximizing your potential for success!
1. Ask the Goddess to help you set your goals. Set aside dedicated time for meditation, prayer, and journaling on your goals. Let the mind get quiet, and ask the deepest wisdom place within you, that space of true clarity, what goals the Goddess wants for you this year. Be receptive and listen, then write what you hear without fear.
2. Ground your goals. For each goal, list actions that could move you in a sober manner toward the desired outcome. Build the structure to reach your goals one step at a time. If you are not clear on the skills and strategies needed to reach your goal, stay open to finding support, training, or a guide to assist you.
3. Surrender the outcome. Take action on your goal, and then release the results. As the Bhagavad Gita teaches, we may claim actions as our own, but never the results of those actions. The results belong to God/Goddess. We are not in charge of the universe and can never know the timing that will best serve our growth.
Sometimes we just need to surrender to the possibility of a miracle, then watch it unfold. Some goals will be achieved much more quickly and easily than we could have ever imagined.
Other goals will come to fruition much more slowly than expected. This can be painful, especially for a goal that is deeply desired. As much as I may not wish for a goal to manifest slowly, I have found that many gifts hide in the slower process. Had I achieved my goal more quickly, I would have missed out on that growth!
So if a goal comes slowly, get curious about the deeper lesson. What do you need to shift inside in order to achieve that goal? Who do you need to become in order to receive its fulfillment?
The bigger your dreams, the bigger the hope and the greater the dread. The grander your dreams and schemes, the more important it is to stay grounded in spiritual principles while working to achieve them.
If you have big dreams this year ~ good for you! I’m sure the Goddess has given you this inner fire. Plan to support yourself well with community; friends; a mentor, teacher, or coach; and lots of spiritual practice.
There’s nothing un-yogic about big dreams. The Goddess does NOT want you to play small. As Marianne Williamson has famously said, “We are all meant to shine, as children do.”
I’m wishing you well with your dreams. May you be as innocent and shining as a child!
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