To the Future - and Beyond ...

Future Focus

Think big. Learn from yesterday. Apply what you've learned and focus on the future. Start with a goal, Right? Do you ever hear someone say exactly what you're thinking but you may have been afraid to say it? Perhaps you just couldn't find the right words to say what you wanted in a way for someone to understand fully the message you want to convey? We all have these moments, perhaps several times each morning, a few more times in the afternoon, and a plethora of times in early evening and at night when your mind is just racing? Then we experience that moment! You know the time when your mind seemingly just shuts down or slows to a point where nothing makes sense? Let's just change all that. The problem with learning from yesterday and applying what you've learned today and tomorrow isn't a bad thing it's just that we all seem to wish to drag-up the past and reinsert what doesn't work. We call these stoppers habits. Habits have a way of habitually turning up at all the wrong times it would seem. When was the last time you literally focused on a 'good' habit? We always seem to relegate our minds to conjure up any 'bad' habits we have and allow the 'bad' habits to infiltrate our good intentions and destroy them. I wonder if you ... the reader might help me ... the writer to try a little test of sorts. If your past automatically caused you to think of something negative because I used the word "test" then I give you permission to think of it as more of a quiz. There - everyone should be at east now. Take a moment and try to remember what your New Year resolutions were for the year 2010. If you don't remember that's alright. If you didn't set out the year with any resolutions that's OK too, it's probably because you habitually didn't fulfill them in the past and thought - "what the heck, I never keep my resolutions anyway" - thus allowing that nasty habit a way back into your daily regimen. I'm willing to bet that didn't take too long. Now take a moment and try to think of WHY you failed to follow-through on any or all of your resolutions? Why do we only set out to make resolutions once annually if and when we exercise the option to do so? I liken the prospect of New Year's resolutions to be like a two block walk to your daily destination but the trek takes you excess of an hour to get there. The most direct route is the fastest way to get there, Right? Why does it take so long then? Because of the manhole along the route with the cover removed that a first person thought he/she could leap over it to arrive where they were going sooner than later. Then a second person arrived at that spot and saw the arm of the fallen person and when attempting to pull him/her out of the hole, his free hand slipped and he too was now in the hole with the first passer-by. Yet another person arrived and attempted to pull one of the two out only to succumb to being overwhelmed and now there were three. Then another, and yet another and before you know it there is a crowd of hands and arms extended to try to be rescued. Each passer-by willing to help learns - after the fact - that it is easier to be pulled-in then it is to pull-out! Now the musings of the crowd are surely negative and the new community of peers, albeit unwilling at one point, can essentially get nothing done. When but one or two are in the hole, it is an exception to the rule and any negativity can be dealt with but in time when many become the exception, the exception becomes the rule. Soon enough it is forgotten that an easier way to get where you are headed may well not be the most direct route. It may benefit you to avoid the uncovered manhole altogether by going around the block. Seemingly it would be an inconvenience to go three extra blocks to get somewhere where only two blocks separate you from arriving straight there, but getting lost along the way may be more of an inconvenience because you succumbed to an old habit. Now that you've arrived at your daily destination by taking the long way you can devote some time and energy to finding a new solution to rescuing your fallen comrades along the way. You, in essence, are a hero because you've not only arrived but you've shown people another way. You never know what you might encounter when you take the longer way to your destination. Sometimes, it may just be the view. Some times it may be the people you encounter on a different street. Some times it may well be only your line of thinking that gives you a newer perspective on things. The next time you witness a squirrel running about in the yard, or on the other street, reflect a little of what your immediate impression is ... "Oh, how cute!"; "My, that little guy is quick;" or whatever your thoughts might be. Meanwhile, the cute and quick squirrel is busy collecting and keeping track of how many chestnuts will be required to sustain him through the winter. Still the cute and quick furry creature but on a mission nonetheless. What is your mission? Where are you heading? Are you on course with where you thought you'd be when you made those superficial resolutions last January? Are you already giving thought to some of 2011's resolutions? Do it now! Who can ensure your future Health & Wealth? Can we really rely on government?, or your employer? You surely won't find it on Television or the Radio. Command it of yourself by daring to take a road less traveled. Harness your future by incorporating the Pillars of Power necessary to live in Health & Abundance. "Someday" is not a day of the week.