You might be one of those able-bodied entrepreneurs who says,
"I’m on track toward my goal, it's working, and I'm going to
reach it. You'll see.”
If so, keep on keeping' on!
And, you may also be one of those people who has set many goals,
and maybe didn't quite make it there, despite all your efforts.
I'd like to propose that many people don't reach their goals.
They may set them. They may work at them, sometimes with varying
levels of follow through. But they just don't reach them.
They then do what all of us have done, that dreaded step toward
seeing life as an unfulfilling series of chores: They settle for
less.
I'm interested in doing two things with you: Encouraging you to
never settle. And inspiring you to live a life that isn't based
on goals.
I believe that for many of us, goals take us away from who we
are. They are a future-based linear path toward a made-up picture
of you.
They take us out of the moment of experience, of enjoyment, of
pleasure, and of connection with Life, as it's being lived right
now.
Is there an alternative to goals, and a goal-lived life?
Yes. I would call it, Making Deposits into The Bank of Me.
The Bank of Me is where resources and aspects of who you are are
kept.. They are those personal touchstones that make you YOU.
I think it's best to nurture these aspects of ourselves, in order
to allow them to grow and flourish. Kind of like what we do with
our gardens. You can't very well force your garden to grow by
ridiculing it, putting it down, or judging it for not growing
fast enough. That'd be silly.
I think it's much the same with The Bank of Me.
And like any other savings accounts, these personal quality
accounts require one major thing for them to grow--regular
deposits.
Each of us could be described as being multi-faceted, having so
many wonderful and challenging aspects of who we are.
These aspects could be called names like Intelligence,
Spirituality, Mental and Emotional Health, Physical Health,
Relationship Skills, Self Care, Time, Love and Self Expression.
There are many more, of course, but let's take these nine for
starters.
If you regularly make deposits into your savings account at your
bank, the amount goes up, of course. And it allows you to feel
more free, more at ease, and more able to follow your own dreams,
rather than just surviving.
That's a good feeling.
Now imagine having nine savings accounts, each of them with lots
of money in them. And imagine that you've been regularly making
deposits into them, watching them grow. And each one has a
special meaning to you, a special purpose to be used when the
time is right.
Adding to your Personal Reserve Accounts, just like in a savings
account, requires you to make a deposit.
You just have to decide what the currency for these accounts is,
and get into the habit of making regular deposits.
So, let's take the account labeled Self Care. Self Care is about
how you place your own nurturing, needs and wants first in your
life. This may sound selfish at first, but I use this old adage
to make sure I stay committed to my own Self Scare:
"How can I serve my guests, if my own coffee pot isn't full?"
Each time I make a deposit toward my own Self Care, I increase my
Reserve Account for that area of my life.
And I become more fulfilled knowing I can indeed take care of
myself, at all levels.
So being more focused on each of the Nine Aspects of You, making
regular deposits into each of them, brings you away from a goal-
oriented life, and more toward the present. "What is before me to
do now?" becomes your overriding question, rather than, "What is
my goal telling me to do for tomorrow?"
That's the trick. Can you do it? Of course. And life will be lots
more satisfying if you do. I promise.
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