Aspirations for the New YearNow that the dust has settled and we are all back to our daily grinds, after enjoying or bearing the time with our family and friends, it’s important to ask ourselves what the next year is going to be for us. Are we trudging into another year with no goals or goals so lofty we set ourselves up for failure and frustration?
I’m a firm believer in humanity’s, more importantly each individual’s ability to achieve whatever they set their minds to doing. Part of my philosophy of life includes making the ordinary magical, because this in turn brings our attention down to a level of existence that typically goes unnoticed. There is a reason for this philosophy, a reason we should narrow our scope in order to see the big picture.
By narrowing our scope we allow ourselves to see the little pieces that can actually change things in our lives. When you woke up on January 1, 2013 what were the first things you thought about? When you woke up on any other given day of the year 2012 what did you first think about? You’re goals, your wants, your dreams should be the same and the first thing on your mind no matter if it’s the first day of a new year, or the middle of the year on a Wednesday.
There is a quote by Albert Einstein that I find particularly poignant : ”The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” This is all well and good but how do we elevate our thinking to break free of the level of thought our problems were originally manifest? This seems an impossible task to some.
The term “paradigm shift” has been far too overused in the last 10 years but what Einstein is talking about is basically the same concept. Breaking free of the boundaries and limitations we put on ourselves is the first step. We all have conscious barriers, as well as unconscious barriers that limit our ability to achieve or work to the edges of our maximum capacity.
Only by bumping into those borders are we able to push past and see outside of our current level of thinking. This takes time and it takes a great amount of focus to see the framework of our thoughts and then reorganize to maximize our level of achievement. Just because it takes you three years and not three weeks to achieve something doesn’t mean you can’t do it.
Our goals are attainable, but sometimes must be set at incremental levels. This helps prevent the discouraging mental blocks that are the outcome of taking on too much. Setting unattainable time tables for our always attainable goals can lead to discouraging mental blocks. We are capable of anything we put our minds to, any goal is attainable. Accomplishing our goals takes time, determination, and patience.