Welcome to realizing your goals in 2012! I am excited to begin this year as I feel the shift of new beginnings and new ways of being! Whether you are a resolutions making type or not – the New Year often brings up questions of “what’s next!” for all of us. Though I do not create resolutions per se, for the past few years I come up with a word or phrase which becomes an overall theme for what I do in the year. My words last year were Clarify and Expand and as I reflect on the year, it was a definite theme!! This year,
This year as I have been pondering this question – the words that have come forth are Courage and Discipline – Courage to continue speaking my truth with a loving heart and discipline to deepen my spiritual practice. I am sure that I am not alone when I report that I get on a really good path of daily meditation or journaling, weekly commitments to work on my business instead of just working in my business and then life happens! I get a diversion for a short period and it takes me longer than I realize to get back on track. Now, I realize that diversions will always come up; however I can certainly get back on track with much more expediency.
Here’s one of the reason’s I know that this year will be different! My Dream Team! Yes – in the last couple of months I have invested my time and energy into a Dream Team. Similar to the idea of a Mastermind Group, this is a hand-picked group of people that commit to creating and supporting your greatest dreams. You can orchestrate the format of the group to work for all involved and I will share with you how our group got started.
- We have a group of 5 women entrepreneurs who have known each other for some years.
- We are committed to our businesses but more importantly to the quality of life we wish to live.
- We set up a 1 hour conference call on or as close to the new moon each month as positive thought forms and energies can be seeded on the new moon.
- The first task was to write out our BHAD’s. (Big, Hairy, Audacious Dreams) and share them with the team. For those of you who have been reading my blogs, you will understand when I say that my dreams took on the form of My Big Five For Life! Please click here to see this particular blog post.
- We decided the next steps would be to create a one page business plan which includes our Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies and Action Plans all tied into our long range dreams. We are currently working through this list.
- Each month we set goals to complete for the coming month and all members can solicit the help of any other member throughout the month.
- We keep each other abreast of our accomplishments and any inspirational material we believe worthy to share.
- In the words of a recent Women’s Circle speaker, Virginia Hackson, the group represents some of our strongest Champions!
So far this group has been extremely valuable to me. I am right on track with my objectives which include my spiritual and health practices! I have great expectations for 2012! How about you, what plans do you have and how are you supporting them?
I’d love your feedback. And, here on this blog, you’ll get commentluv. What a great opportunity for you to leave a link back to your own blog when you leave a comment.
Until next time,
Karen
Tags: accountability, dream teams, follow your dreams, goals for 2012, Inside Out, Karen Armstrong, Personal Development, Self-Development
In my reiki master’s home is a plaque that speaks to me every time that I see it. So whether you are celebrating Christmas, Hannukkah or a holiday season by any other name, I hope this will resonate with you in the coming weeks. It reads:
Last Friday was a special day! I got to balance work and play! I spent the afternoon with my husband and 5 other couples making apple pies. This has become an annual event and we all look so forward to the comradery and the fact that we have beautiful apple pies in our freezer to pull out throughout the year for a special dessert.
We have experienced things that as a couple we would never have known about or thought about for that matter! We are always on the look out for a “couples’ idea” as the year unfolds and I keep a special folder that I put flyers, newspaper clippings and hand written ideas into to bring forward the next year. We actually have our official 6 events now and a number of what we call “extras”! The apple pie making day has become an annual extra that started as one of the couples’ official event 5 years ago. We loved it so much that we all committed to continue every fall after the apple harvest has taken place. The men work in the garage peeling, coring, cutting and mixing the apples with the magic recipe of cinnamon, sugar and flour. They bring the bins of prepared apple filling into the kitchen where the gals are busy making pastry, rolling the dough, filling the pies and handing them back to the guys to bag and label. Refreshments are served, we catch up on all the happenings of each family and end up with a pot luck dinner complete with fresh made apple pie for dessert. The best part is, we leave at the end of the night with a supply of apple pies to tuck into the freezer at home.
11-11-11 was a special day whose significance extends beyond its unique date. It was special because the entire world shared in the hope, blessings and meaning of this day. Around the world people shared conversations that focused on enlightenment, possibilities and potential. But the world didn’t end (it wasn’t supposed to) and we continue with our life journey. Now that 11-11-11 has come and gone, we must focus on carrying the energy’s momentum into the days following it. We do that by practicing integration, staying aligned with our intentions and putting them into practice to live at our peak performance every day. Like any other energetic shift, it’s what we do after it happens that is important. As Jennifer Hoffman simply put it, “
I recently spoke at a wellness event about life balance with reference to the Enneagram. This is an important focus for me and hence the tag line under my business name. There are many ways to look at balancing our lives and all of them will bring awareness because we are taking time to reflect on our own situation. If we did this more frequently, we may even avoid the experience of spending long periods of our life out of balance!
I was asked by a reader to discuss my views on reiki and religion. As an active Christian member in my church and a reiki practitioner for over 15 years, I felt drawn to respond to the request. In fact, I just led a healing service this past summer at our church while our minister was on holidays. I was able to find numerous supporting scripture verses to support “laying on of hands” as a healing modality. My initial reiki Master taught that “reiki takes care” as she would have students in her classes of different religious background or those who didn’t have a specific religious belief. In these three words, I would also hear, “God takes care”, as it is not the reiki practitioner who does the healing. We provide the channel for the universal life force to come through and provide whatever healing is required for the person’s highest interest. These wise words of guidance take the responsibility for healing away from the practitioner. In fact, my focus is to get out of the way and not let my ego take a lead role in the session. So – my own inner belief is that I am supported by God to bring love through me to provide healing which can often be called energy healing. As a person experiences this energy healing, they in turn often connect to their inner guidance that always knows what is true. As such it can be difficult to describe as each person experiences the healing in a different way pending their current physical condition, their belief systems and their ability to tune into the messages of their body.
Fall is officially here and so too is the fourth quarter of 2011! I attended a wonderful business symposium last week entitled “Business Innovation in Changing Times”. It was focused to give small and medium sized businesses access to ideas and insights to adapt their businesses to the changing marketplace. The afternoon keynote speaker was Arlene Dickinson, CEO of Venture Communications and co-star of CBC’s Dragons Den. She shared real stories of her life journey and the lessons she learned about how to succeed in business and as an entrepreneur. They were tough, funny and very relate-able, especially for the women in the audience. Arlene highlighted the incredible opportunity we have in Canada to live a life that we choose. To remember what motivates us and to take opportunities when they present themselves and figure out the how tos along the way. I look forward to reading more about her life lessons from her new book “Persuasion”.
I tell people what really drew me to reiki and to the Enneagram was the ability to connect with my truth. What’s the big deal with this anyway? I believe that there is a direct correlation between connecting to our truth and true health and happiness.
“The beginning is always today.” ~Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley~
“According to A Course in Miracles, everything in life involves relationship. Relationships with other people are “assignments,” in which two or more are brought together for maximal and mutual growth opportunity. Our relationships can be trips to heaven or trips to hell, depending on how we ourselves choose to perceive and interact with others.