Goals-Onging and New

I had a mental block when starting to write out goals recently.

There’s a bunch of things I wanted to spell out as goals.  But I was mentally overwhelmed.  How can you start to list your goals and not come up with a single one?

Then it hit me that I had ongoing goals that I was already working on and being successful with.  I was overlooking the fact that I am goal oriented and have been for a long time, even before coming to the “write your goals down” thing.

I had the goal of parenting and raising up a child who would become a well mannered, decent human being who was mindful of others, not a taker, well educated, independent, and spiritual.  Done!

I’ve had the goal of maintaining a higher than average degree of health and fitness.  Ongoing and generally successful.

I’ve had the goal of learning martial arts, developing excellence in them, and being able to share them with interested individuals.  Ongoing and generally successful.

I’ve had the goal of being a good and consistent provider for my family.  Ongoing and successful.

The goal of increasing in wisdom and knowledge.  Ongoing.

I wanted to learn to juggle and taught myself in a weekend.  I wanted to be an intelligent visual artist, done.  Wanting to learn to cook Asian dishes, making a great whiskey sour, do coin magic, play chess…done and ongoing.

So for a minute I felt hopeless, goal-less, lost, but; upon reflection, I am no loser without goals or achievements in life!   I’ve been as successful as I’ve wanted to be.  I’ve taken on challenges and surmounted them.  Take a breath and stand on the shoulders of those accomplishments which were once just a “goal.”  Then scan the horizon, see which ones attract you the  most, which ones beckon you to the challenge,  set your eyes upon them, they are your new goals!

When asked about goals, we, and I am including me, sometimes clutch at straws, looking to answer a question rather than respond to a passion.  Goals and passion are linked.  I’ve listed as goals things I was not passionate about, just responding to making a list.  Not my most successful endeavors.  But when a passion is the  link between your actions and your objective, that is a goal!

We all have needs and wants we act on.  We can even act on needs and wants resentfully, but those are not goals, they are obligations and duties.  A goal is a joyfully chosen path.

So what should I/we do?  Scan the horizon and check our feelings as we do.  Are you attracted, are you moved? Is it a duty and obligation, or a choice?  You have to act on them all, just recognize which are truly your personal goals.

I now take a breath…