Looking Ahead

It's that time of year when we begin to think of all those goals that we didn't quite meet last year or focus on changes we'd like to make in order to better ourselves, our living conditions, our financial, mental, physical, or spiritual health.

I have learned that in order to make my "New Year's Resolutions" come true, I must commit to being true to myself; keep my word to myself in order to be of use to others.

I was able, thanks to help from caring people, to take the training of the More To Life Weekend, a program of the Kairos Foundation. The most important lesson that came out of that training for me was the realization that it is just as important to keep promises made to myself as it is to keep promises made to others. The latter has always been vital to me, but to keep my word to myself often just seemed selfish, and therefore, not only unimportant, but sometimes altruistic to surrender.

A promise is a promise, and anyone who makes one is bound by his or her honor to stick to it. I learned that when making promises to myself, such as when setting goals, it is imperative to keep them. This if easier to do if the goal is concrete, measurable, set in a specific time frame, with a plan of action for implementing it. When I subscribe to this plan, I find it works, and goals are met exactly as I defined them.

In order to meet goals, make changes, and improve one's life, keep your thoughts and motives positive. Visualize what you want; see the steps completed and the goal met. As Norman Vincent Peale so aptly advised, "If you paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectations, you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal. "

I wish you all a happy new year that includes the realization of your dreams and goals.