A Spiritual Approach to New Year's Resolutions
Author: Gala Gorman

Around the end of the year, most of us spend a little time soul searching. “What did I accomplish in the past year? Thus far in my life? Are my actions consistent with where I say I want to go and who I want to be?”

It can be a time of real disappointment. It’s in your face: “Another year has gone by, and I don’t appear to be much further along my path.” For me, it’s emphasized because my birthday falls in the last few days of the calendar year.

By now, we all know we’re supposed to spend time formulating our “plan.” If we don’t know what we want, how can the universe be expected to support us in manifesting it? We write out our goals and (after a few hours, days, or weeks) stick them in a drawer. Is it any wonder that a year later, when we revisit them, not a whole lot has been accomplished?

The major hurdle in manifesting anything that you desire is to convince the subconscious to cooperate with you. Anyone who has tried to do this knows that you have to chip away at it. It is one thing to KNOW something consciously and quite another to have your subconscious cooperate with that logical conclusion.

Once you recognize this, and really grasp that your focus needs to be on reprogramming the subconscious, your whole life can change virtually overnight. We can see this work with affirmations.

Let’s assume you’re 10 pounds heavier than you’d like to be (after the holiday season, that probably isn’t too much of a stretch). You begin affirming, “My body is in perfect health and weighs 120 lbs. My sleek physique is maintained effortlessly.” The first time you say this, your conscious mind goes nuts. YOU DON’T WEIGH 120 LBS! And if you did, it certainly wouldn’t be maintained effortlessly.

If you persist, the conscious mind begins to give a little. “Well, maybe I could weigh 120 lbs.” There are lots of examples where other people have lost weight and are healthier and happier. Logically, you can see how this affirmation is BECOMING true.

You cleared the first hurdle.

Now the real challenge begins. You have to convince the subconscious to let go of the status quo. The problem is, you really don’t know what’s blocking the subconscious from cooperating. There are so many layers to dig through that you don’t even know where to start. Current life, past life, after life.

The beauty is that it doesn’t matter where you start, the answers are just around the corner. The door to the subconscious mind is entered through meditation.

If you don’t do anything else in the coming year, develop a strong meditation practice. If you’re just beginning, that will be enough to keep you busy for a year. The “you” that you are now is programmed to resist. It takes consistent, determined practice to pry the door open.

The reward is tremendous. Your pot of gold awaits. The skills you develop here will be useful in manifesting whatever you want in your life.

Once you’ve developed your meditation skills, you’re ready to get serious about creating the life you say you want. You can create whatever you can dream of provided you can get your arms around your subconscious.

As you begin to create your life intentionally, you may first wonder, “Why make New Year's resolutions at all?” My answer is that you have to start somewhere. And any day can be New Year's Day. I urge you to just pick a day and get started. I, for example, use my birthday. As I mentioned, it happens to fall a few days before the end of the calendar year so, for me, it is a ‘new year’ on every level. If it isn't your birthday or the new calendar year, don't let that hold you back. The real purpose in choosing a starting point is also to choose a measuring point. You need to give yourself and the universe deadlines, a place where you can measure your progress.

Deadlines are a quick and easy way to measure success. “Did I meet my goals or didn't I? If not, how much progress have I made and, if I ask for extra time, what do I need to do to make sure I have reached my goals by the next deadline?” So, with the plan of your life, deadlines are as critical to your success, and ultimately to reaching your goals, as they are in any business. This is the business of your life, and you're the CEO.

Once you start putting some thought into making resolutions or setting goals, you may wonder, “Why do resolutions fail?” The better question to ask yourself is, “Why do my resolutions fail?” My problem is procrastination, and I'll bet that's just about everyone's problem. Since I believe lazy people wouldn't even bother making resolutions, I don’t think procrastination is really about laziness. It's a lot of work to go through the process and arrive at a list of what you want to do, where you want to go, and what changes you are willing to make to get there. Beyond that, there’s the keen awareness that, once you have a plan, you are going to need to take action and do something about it. So, by virtue of the fact that you are even interested in this material, we can conclude it’s not about being lazy.

Procrastination, instead, is defined as putting off taking action until a future time. In some instances, using that definition, procrastination could be a good thing. When you are not clear about your direction or what your next step should be, then no action should be taken that might send you off in the wrong direction. So, the real reason we procrastinate is that our plan isn't clear and concise enough. With a well-thought-out and documented plan, you always know what to do next. If you hit a roadblock with the project you've been focusing on, you can quickly redirect your energies to another project and continue to make progress on the overall plan of your life, coming back to the other project when you feel you have a green light for the next phase or step.

As I said, I have to admit there have been times in my life when I procrastinated. But I was never lacking in motivation. Procrastination, for me, was a function of not having a clearly-defined plan. Even with a plan, you can paralyze yourself by taking on too much. I started out thinking I could dilute my energy enough to accomplish ten major goals in a year. If my goals were not much of a stretch and could be easily attained with a slight alteration in the way I normally lead my life, that might be possible, although I would still question it. My goals, however, are never that simple or easy to attain. I have trained myself to dream big and then go for it. That is what I hope you will do too. In that case, three to five major goals are plenty to chew.

Why? Because you need to build trust and belief in yourself. Throughout your life, there have most likely been times where you have disappointed yourself. You promised yourself you would do something or not do something and, presented with the opportunity to prove to yourself what you are made of, you crumbled. The very thing you said you would or wouldn't do is the very thing you didn’t (or did) do. If you commit to work toward a goal and fail miserably, then all you do is deflate your self-esteem and blow your credibility with yourself, which makes taking the next step even harder.

So I propose that resolutions fail, not because we are lazy or lack desire, but because we haven't given ourselves clear direction and have attempted the equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest with two weeks of training on the Stairmaster in our local gym. It isn't realistic to expect to reach your goals or the summit without concentrated training, preparation, and a well-thought-out plan. You need to decide what you will focus on and choose your battles. Once you have done that, you need to begin to rebuild your trust and credibility with yourself. When you make a commitment, you need to know you will honor it. In other words, only make commitments you are completely sure you can meet. One success will build on another and, before you know it, you will be there, with the summit in sight.

Then, you draw on everything you've got in you and push to the finish. If you've taken every step along the way with intention, then you've already met your subconscious head on. You know what I mean…that little voice that says you can't or, even worse, won't do it. The subconscious is highly invested in the status quo - the known and familiar. It isn't going to just step aside and be a bystander as momentous changes happen in your life. You might think that, as long as you know it is there, you have taken its power away. There was a time where I would have concurred.

Now, I know that it’s easier to coax your subconscious into cooperating. You use a carrot rather than a stick. Fighting the subconscious is like trying to reach your destination by constantly swimming upstream, no matter what the strength of the rapids. I don't need to make my life that difficult. Instead, I will choose the places where I swim and sometimes I will even get out of the water and walk. Other times, I might just need to sit for a while and give Spirit an opportunity to show me the easiest route. With every step or stroke, you are reprogramming your subconscious, and it begins to feel comfortable in the new life and way of living. Rather than trying to beat it into submission, you have its full support and that makes your way much easier.

So if you accept that we are all procrastinators on some level and have resolved to do something about it, you might next be confronted by your conditioning with respect to having goals and desires. You might question whether a spiritual person truly serves humanity by focusing on him or herself. We need to get this out in the open right now. (You notice I didn't say out of the way. Your subconscious will keep bringing this up, in all forms of resistance, until you have effectively reprogrammed yourself.) Your goals are very personal and, while I believe that I can do more for universal welfare if I have first mastered managing my own life, you might believe that your focus should be on others.

I have to challenge you on that one. Do you honestly believe that you can give enough to make a real difference in the world if you are limited by the box your life fits into now? I doubt that you do, or you wouldn't be reading these words. The more abundance and success you manifest in your life, the more you have to give and share by creating your life intentionally, step by step. Today is the first day of the rest of your life!






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Gala Gorman author of the ground-breaking book, What Would the Sage Do Now? A Spiritual Approach to Problem-Solving, is a published author and Certified Public Accountant who takes an innovative and insightful approach to life. As a professional with over 20 years of experience as a life coach, consultant, speaker, trainer, and business owner, she has put the concepts presented here to good use. She personally embraces the metaphysical approach discussed, having learned the value of balancing her physical, spiritual, and emotional aspects and of using all the resources available in this life. She now recognizes that this approach can co-exist and greatly enhance one’s success in business and in life overall. Her goal is to share the wisdom she has gained with others, in order to help reduce their learning curve in making their lives the magickal adventure she considers hers to be.

For more information, contact Gala Gorman at:

METACOMM MEDIA
(888) 886-4111 or (702) 386-4111
732 South Sixth Street, Suite 105
Las Vegas, NV 89101
E-mail: Gala@MetaCommIntl.com
Web site: http://www.OnYourWayNOW.com


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