This is the day…THIS is the day I will stop smoking, I will not overeat, I will not procrastinate, I will be kinder and go to church regularly…there are endless promises being made all over our planet on this very day.
We are making them to God, ourselves, others… we are spewing them out because many of us celebrate today as the time to begin again.
What makes it so hard to stick with what we intend to happen? Why do we fail, more often than not, to give persistent attention to whatever details we say matter in our lives?
Let’s start with the difference between attention and intention. I really like the following explanation offered by Michael Brown (The Presence Process), “Our attention is the tool of our mental body and is the “what” of our focus. Our intention is the tool of our emotional body and is the “why” of our focus”.
If we do not have a very, very strong emotion around the ‘what’ – it will not be done. I believe it is best we absolutely identify with ‘why’ we choose to be or to do before we can gain any true traction or momentum to get the task accomplished.
So, before we get overly entangled in ‘how’ we’re going to get the ‘what’ done; we must feel ‘why’ it even matters to us…or put yet another way: determine whether it matters enough to make the necessary sacrifices, and do the required work to reach our goal. I know I am repeating myself…it is a point worth dissecting!
Whether aiming for the moon or shooting for the stars — when you figure the above out, you are well on your way to a fulfilling and successful 2010!
reach beyond the wish,
