2013 witnessed much change.
This was notably true in my life.
I experienced the death of an immediate family member, moved to a
foreign country, and began working in an environment that doesn’t speak English
and no longer have the immediate comfort of loved ones around. It seemed like this was a year of little
steadiness. Everything worked on or
thought about eventually changed again. It
was a year of adventure but inconsistency.
I believe the New Year will bring more stability and growth. 2012 was the end of an era; 2013 was a year
of change; 2014 will be a year of new visions, habits, and breakthroughs.
New Visions
Plans change. Visions
remain. I remember hearing this
quote several years ago while attending a leadership conference in Tacoma. It was from John Maxwell.
Plans change. This is one of the greatest lessons learned growing
up. Plans are not guaranteed; expectations are repeatedly met with
disappointment. When I was a senior in
high school I intended to go to Northwest University in Kirkland, graduate with
a teaching degree, get hired at a public school where I could teach and coach, buy
and move into my own house, get married, and have a couple kids before I was
30. Well, one of those came true. Plans altered, interests changed, and my
ideal plan of my future life continued to be reformed. Travel wasn’t even on my radar, nor was my
interest in family history research, playing in a band, or writing a blog to
promote my ideas on Facebook.
Plans change. Plans are strategies to get to our
goals. These plans often experience
detours and alteration. Emotions also
change. One day we feel inspired about a
plan and make significant headway. The
next we feel uncommitted and toss the plan aside. Plans are amended over and over.
Visions remain. There is an inner dream that arises during
our childhood and finds its place in our subconscious that repeatedly reminds
us it’s still there throughout our entire lives. It’s what Paulo Coelho describes as our Personal Legend. It’s that little voice inside us connecting
us with the purpose of our lives. These
are our visions. Visions are the features of our calling.
We will feel motivated, inspired, and excited about life’s
endless possibilities at times. Other
times we’ll find it hard to get enthused.
Our emotions are inconsistent and unreliable. If we lean on them we find ourselves unstable
and hovering in the habitual inconsistencies of the mind, and the mind is
restless. Yet visions remain with us
through both our motivated and apathetic states. Visions are deeper levels of consciousness
deriving from our inner selves. Visions
stand the test of time.
What is your vision? What
is your calling?
New Habits
It is believed to take 21 days to both start and break a
habit without missing a day. That’s
almost a month. The majority of habits
are done subconsciously, without us even paying an ounce of attention. This is what makes them so hard to overcome.
The road to your vision is structured on habits, in mind and
in action. When “The Secret” came out
many people were excited about the possibility of creating whatever they wanted
for their life. If they could visualize
it, they could create it. Imagine you
are driving along the highway to a Florence and the Machine concert. You began to visualize a parking spot near the
entrance of the amphitheater to be open just for you. You keep it in your mind and confidently say
over and over to yourself with faith that a spot will be open as soon as you
drive into the parking lot.
You drive into the parking lot and discover every close
parking spot occupied. In fact, you are
directed quite a distance away from the amphitheater. Your visualization didn’t work. First responses from strong advocates of the
law of attraction would say you didn’t have enough faith. That’s very similar to the Christian
understanding of the “faith of a mustard seed.”
I’m not disapproving it. In fact
I’m a great believer in the law of attraction and strongly believe our thoughts
affect our outcome at the quantum level.
But I’m encouraging the religious supporter of “The Secret” to look beyond
mere faith to a crucial element of seeing this quantum change happen at the
macro level.
Action.
You cannot get from point A to point B unless you move. I can’t say enough how important this is for
the realization of our dreams. Consciously
thinking and intending for something to happen is great, but it must be
followed by action. I remember talking
about traveling internationally with my brother for years and years. We were so excited and had the vision. But it took a decision to finally buy the
plane tickets one day to see the trip happen, to our pockets despair. If there’s no action, there’s no momentum to
see the fulfillment of that dream. Thoughts to action; abstract thinking to
practicality; “Lala-land” to actualization. To have a different result we have to change
our actions. We must modify our habits.
Habits are the footsteps to our visions. If we expect to see a big change in our
reality, a change of habits is required.
The fulfillment of our dreams requires habit change. Limiting habit change results in a limited
spectrum of change. I say “spectrum”
because there’s no telling exactly how our daily lives will turn out in every
detail. External forces play their part. We must be open to alteration and
obstacles. I also say “spectrum” because
habits align with each other vaguely and affect each other. Your habit of drinking may affect your habit
of morning meditation. Your habit of
exercise may affect your habit of sleep.
I remember at an NBC basketball camp during high school hearing a
revision of a saying that was quite common: “Practice makes perfect.” Suppose you’ve been practicing saying a
phrase in a different language. Over and
over you’ve been repeating this phrase to yourself and have it nailed
down. You then go out in public and use
it in conversation. The native speakers
of the language look at you funny. What
did he just say? You say it again. They still don’t understand you. With the use of hand and facial gestures you
communicate to them what you’re trying to say.
Their faces light up and they start to laugh. Then they say the correct way to say the
phrase. The whole time, after days of
practice, you realize you’ve been saying it wrong. You were practicing, but it wasn’t
perfect. Instead of “practice makes
perfect” you really should be saying, “Perfect practice makes perfect.” How
you practice matters just as much as the action of practice. If you’ve been making few jump shots, you may
need to change up your shooting routine.
If you’ve been in a hitting slump, you may need to change how you grip
the bat or even the bat itself. Your
habits are your practices.
What are your current practices?
A little change can lead to big effects. Time is a valuable resource. Everyday we’re blessed with 24 new hours to
spend. If we don’t spend it, it will be
taken from us regardless. So why waste
it? If you were given $1,000 to spend in
a day and were told the money left over would crumble to dust when the clock
strikes 12, would you think twice about spending all of it for something that’ll
last a little bit longer? Imagine if you
actually created a time to practice your guitar skills, learn how to cook, work
out, or read the classics. You don’t
believe your habits can alter your reality?
Try it. We cannot expect to
change our outcome unless we change our habits.
We are responsible to act, not just imagine.
Are your current habits progressing you? Are they limiting you? Reassess yourself. Make 2014 a transformative year. What do you want to fulfill in the New Year? The choice is yours, and it starts with changing
your habits.
New Breakthroughs
You know that feeling you get during those “wow” moments of
total bliss? That’s the feeling you get
when experiencing breakthroughs. Breakthroughs
happen when a restriction is removed or surpassed. Breakthroughs are overcoming an obstacle or stalemate. Breakthroughs are life-altering. They feel great.
Breakthroughs are the evidence of our personal
advancement. They are a sign of individual
achievement. They are the assessment of
our progress. What are your visions? Breakthroughs are a way to evaluate our advancement
to these objectives/aspirations.
They’re also a sign of grace. Sometimes months and years are spent trying
to advance to the next level. No matter
how much effort we seem to put into our aspirations, the breakthrough doesn’t happen. But then one day it does. There’s no explaining it; the universe just
grants your wish. Breakthroughs are
encouraging and humbling at the same time.
It’s been a while since my last big breakthrough. It happened in 2010 after a period of great affliction. Before that, the tragedy of my first death
experience in 2008 led to a subsequent breakthrough year in 2009 of
international attentiveness and emotional highs. A great mountain of possibility follows a low
valley. And every breakthrough is
greater than the one before it. Were you
traversing a low valley in the year 2013?
I have good news for you: a mountainous
breakthrough is on its way.
A breakthrough unleashes new visions. These new visions inspire new habits, and
these habits will lead to more breakthroughs.
The cycle starts over. Several
years from now the landscape is going to look a whole lot different. We will be rewarded, but we must persevere.
2014 is where the road ascends. You’ll be climbing that mountain, and upon
each step you’ll see more of the grand world around. Of course, you have to decide to actually
take the steps. It’s a climb, but it’s a
glorious one.
Perseverance is not a long race; it is
many short races one after another.
Walter Elliott
Saints are sinners who kept on
going.
Robert Louis Stevenson
If we are facing in the right
direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.
Buddhist Saying
Keep on going, and the chances are that
you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I
never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.
Charles F. Kettering
Never think that God's delays are God's
denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.
Georges-Louis Leclerc
Our greatest glory is not in never
failing, but in rising up every time we fail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sometimes you must cross a bridge and
other times you need to burn it. But, always keep building one and never lose
your faith in life.
Dodinsky,
Vitality shows in not only the ability
to persist but the ability to start over.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
When your dreams turn to dust,
vacuum.
Author Unknown
Most people never run far enough on
their first wind to find out they've got a second.
William James
Difficult things take a long time, impossible
things a little longer.
André A. Jackson
Don't let the fear of the time it will
take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will
pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible
use.
Earl Nightingale
Success seems to be largely a matter of
hanging on after others have let go.
William Feather
Look at a stone cutter hammering away
at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it.
Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not
the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
Jacob A. Riis
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