Our
Mission:
To help people
live happy, successful lives; to harness their natural power and live
to their full potential.
"It is good
to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters
in the end." ----- Ursula Le Guin
SOUL
GOALS
If someone asked
you about your soul goals for this year, how would you
respond?
Oh, in case you're wondering, I do realize that at first glance this
topic might appear a little unusual and perhaps even a bit 'out there'
… but really it isn't, in fact it's quite the opposite. It's
also not about religion. It is however very relevant to the
topic of life success and achievement, which is what 'To Your Success'
is always about. I hope you make the connection.
In last month's issue of 'To Your Success' we talked about investing in
yourself by blocking out some personal time for the purpose of a
year-end review / objectives setting exercise ... a process that allows
you to evaluate and acknowledge the previous year's accomplishments and
disappointments, bring forward the lessons, leave behind any
unnecessary and unwanted baggage, and move forward into the coming year
with clarity and purpose.
Normally I have completed my own such exercise by New Years Day but for
a number of reasons this year it didn't happen that way. Finally
however I blocked out 3 days just before mid January and headed off by
myself to a well known ocean side retreat on Vancouver Island. I had
booked a rustic little log cabin with a wood burning fireplace and the
next few days were spent systematically working through my questions,
with occasional breaks for a bit of guitar playing and several
reflective walks along the beach.
It was wonderful! After one of the busiest years I've had in a very
long time it was a much needed opportunity for uninterrupted personal
reflection. As always, I came away from the experience with awareness,
clarity, purpose, and new insights.
The questions I've chosen for myself pertaining to goals and objectives
cause me to dig pretty deeply into the 'why' behind the 'what I want'.
This always provides me with at least two benefits:
1. Strong motivation to accomplish whatever goals and objectives I set
for myself.
2. A clearer understanding of the person I am consciously evolving to
be.
It's interesting to me how much my wants and whys
have changed over the many years I've been doing this exercise. For
sure, much of the change has to do with maturity and the normal
accumulation of life experiences, but some of it also has to do with an
ever increasing level of awareness of who I am and aspire to be as a
human being, and this exercise has certainly played a very large role
in all of that.
I've come to understand that there is a me inside of me, a deeper me so
to speak, maybe I'll call it the 'soul' me for this discussion, that
seems constant, always comfortable, and completely at peace with
itself. I've observed that this deeper me has very little concern with
the things and stuff that are of interest to the other me, the one I
used to think was the only me but that I now refer to as the
personality or ego part of me.
In any case, on one of my walks along the shore I found myself in a
provincial park surrounded only and completely by nature. I sat for a
long time on a log on the beach just watching the myriad forms of bird
life, feeling and smelling the ocean breeze, listening to the gentle
lapping of the waves and the cries of a pair of eagles somewhere high
in the forest behind, and simply being. No thoughts of
anything; only calm awareness of myself and my environment. Initially I
had felt a slight anxiousness, an almost need to get up and
be moving again, but after several moments that feeling morphed into
one of peaceful, calm presence.
It struck me then that the soul me enjoyed this meaningful
connection with its other half, the personality me, and
longed to experience it more often. Personality me enjoyed it also, at
least it did after it got over its initial impatience with being quiet
and still, but I knew that it would be far less inclined to be the
initiator of such connection again.
This led to the thought, "Hmm, for the most part I do a pretty
good job of setting and achieving goals that satisfy the personality
half of me, but perhaps I should set at least one goal specifically for
the soul half, a soul goal so to speak."
And so I did, I set two. One was to deliberately seek out settings at
least twice each month where I could reconnect with nature and
experience the oneness with it that I did on the beach that day. The
second goal was to create personal quiet time and space where I could
deliberately connect the two 'me's on a regular basis, even if for only
a few minutes each day, thereby giving them a chance to become
thoroughly acquainted and familiar with each other.
Now, it's not that this was totally new for me, I'd let them visit many
times in the past, but this time my intention was to make it a regular
occurrence so they could become really tight.
It's been great. Soul and Personality are becoming much better friends
and Soul is definitely a positive influence on Personality. Soul is
helping Personality learn patience and awareness, which is helping
Personality feel a bit more relaxed. Soul is also a wonderful influence
in the area of compassion.
I've also noticed that during the times they are hanging out together
it's like there are not two of me at all, only one, and that me is a
pretty darn feel good human being to be.
Well enough about me, how about you? Do you have a soul goal
of your own? Are your soul you and personality you
in a comfortable relationship? If not, why not reacquaint them?
To your success,
Reg Neufeld
"The real
voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in
having new eyes." ----- Marcel Proust
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Reg Neufeld, founder of Growing Into Success Training, is a teacher of
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processes that can help you get from where you are to where you want to
be. If you're ready to take control and begin living a truly happy and
successful life, get your FREE success tips now at www.growingintosuccess.com
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Reg Neufeld
Growing Into Success Training
402 - 1838 Nelson St.
Vancouver, BC
V6G 1N1
604 868 1232
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