Monday, January 4, 2010

Welcome 2010! Ressurecting the Blog....

So, as I look at the date on my last post I cringe. Obviously blogging wasn't a high priority in 2009! 2010 will be different. How many of us that that at the beginning of a year? So many things have happened in the Shaw house since I last blogged I don't even know where to start... so I won't. We'll just leave the last eleven months in a vacuum. It doesn't mean anything horrible happened, it just means I am looking ahead, and not behind.
What I AM going to do is use this blog as a platform to address some issues that are near and dear to my heart. What better to talk about at the beginning of the year than goals? Stay tuned because I will begin posting about the ABC's of better health, and will not only revive the blog, but give it new life. Last year I toyed with different methods of reaching more people. This year, I am going to worry less about the method, and more about taking action. Systems are great, but for some of us they immobilize us and we never move past trying to develop the best, most effective program. So without further adieu:

What do you intend to do in 2010? Did you achieve your goals in 2009? If not, why not? What can you do differently in the coming year to make your dreams become a reality? There comes a time when commitment has to give way to action, else it remains a never fulfilled intention. It may just be a southern colloquialism, but I grew up hearing. “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” After having spent the past several years immersed in personal development books I have come to the conclusion that our generation has redefined “intention.” According to Brian Klemmer, if we intend to do something, we make it happen. If for any reason, it doesn't come to fruition, it is because we lacked intent. I have discussed this with friends and family, and they don't agree. We always look for excuses, don't we? Part of it might have to do with the context in which Klemmer explains it, but we do have choices. When we say we “can't” do something, it really means we won't make that choice because of the consequences. It isn't that we failed at our intentions, it just wasn't worth the cost... we didn't really intend for it to happen. We might have hoped that everything would fall into place so that it happened without much effort, but we weren't really ready to achieve our goals regardless of the cost. Like many others words, “intend” has lost its potency. When our words lose meaning, our ability to live them out does too. So, if we want to empower ourselves, we have to return to the unwatered down definitions of the words we choose. Rethink your resolutions, your goals... Are you living life intentionally, or just letting what happens, happen?

Words, once filled with energy and power, are becoming more and more anemic as we allow ourselves to expect less and less. We live in a society where we struggle to express ourselves because so many words have lost their meaning. We've crippled ourselves in so many ways by attenuating our words to the point that many are meaningless. I belabor this point simply because we can set goals all day long, and make declarations about our intentions, but only when we embrace them fully will we get the results we are seeking.

So again, I ask... what are your goals? What is your track record for actually achieving what you set out to do? Do you desire to improve your success rate? Would you like to know how to have bullseye AIM when it comes to reaching your target? What are your challenges? What is holding you back? I ask these questions with sincerity, not rhetorically. I'd love to hear from you!