Reflection Weekend

Nine days ago we suggested you start thinking about New Spring Resolutions to begin on March 1st. In keeping with the cycles of nature, Spring is actually the best time of the year to start new projects and create something new (explanation in previous entries).

Since we began on February 10th, your assignments have been to:

• Sleep and dream
• List love
• Name five
• Surrender to Change
• Add ten

Your New Spring Resolution goal for this weekend is to catch up on any of those five assignments, should you have missed one. And, when they are all complete, look at what you've noted. 

If you're being really honest with yourself, I think you'll find some clues here. Perhaps a long lost goal. You'll know love. You'll appreciate what you've learned from others. You'll recognize change often brings unexpected treasures. And, you'll understand how quickly time passes. 

Next week, we're going to start creating specific goals for specific areas of your life. Next weekend, you'll put together a plan to reach those goals. By March 1st you'll have your New Spring Resolutions and a plan to get them accomplished. Best of all, these resolutions will important, achievable and meaningful. 

Are you excited? Me too! Enjoy your weekend and invest some time in you and your New Spring Resolutions. See you Monday! 

Plus Ten

Your New Spring Resolution creation exercise for today is "Plus Ten." Get a piece of paper and follow these steps:

1. Write your age today
2. Write down the date 10 years from today
3. Write your age 10 years from today
4. Write the ages of the people closest to you in 10 years (spouse, kids, parents, siblings)

Now, let's get creative! In 10 years...

1. Where will you live?
2. Who will you be living with?
3. Will you have a job? If so, where?
4. Where did you travel in the past10 years?
5. Did you go to school? If so, what did you learn?
6. What was the very best experience you've had in the past 10 years?

After you've finished, take a look back at the next 10 years. What would you change now so something else is different in 10 years?

Surrender

Sometimes, we humans spend an awful lot of time, energy and money making sure things don't change. This is true in each of us, this is true for organizations and this is true in politics. Maintaining the status quo consumes, I say, at least 50% of our total contribution to the world.

After awhile, you learn change is inevitable. Life moves, things happen and events turn out very differently than one would have ever imagined. Read the newspaper... there are dozens of instances of this going on right now.

My New Spring Resolution question for you this evening is what status quo are you holding onto right now? Are you investing part of each day working to keep something just as it is now? Do you plot, plan and strategize so your world won't look different in a few weeks, months or years?

Make a note of one thing you're holding onto. Then make a few notes about how your life would be different if the change you're working so hard to prevent actually happened. Note the really bad things and find at least one good thing. This is a great exercise just before bed... could be excellent fodder for your dreams.

Happy pondering and good night!

Five People

On the quest for your New Spring Resolution, today's assignment is a short one.

Make a list of the five people who influenced you the most

Write down the most important thing you learned from them

Enjoy! Until tomorrow...

What do you Love?

In the run up to March 1st and your New Spring Resolutions, today we're going to talk about love. Seems appropriate, it being Valentine's Day. While I'm at it, Happy Valentine's Day!

I trust you had a good weekend of sleep and dreams. Hopefully, you are well rested and remembered, or rekindled, a dream you've had for your life. We're going to get back to you life's dream later this week.  Today, let's be about love.

To help you with your New Spring Resolution, I want you to think about what you love. And, while you're thinking about love it would helpful for you to make a list of what you love. There are a few rules, of course. What you love can be:

• A person
• A place in nature
• An experience (either past, present or re-occuring)
• A pet

What you love, for the purposes of this exercise, shouldn't be a thing you buy. Sure, you can love your car or love your house, but we're talking about a bigger sense of love today.

Once you have your list of what you love, I want you to describe how you feel when you love it. For example, when I return home from a trip, I'm always greeted by my dog, Loki. He jumps, barks, shakes, wags and is generally very excited. In that moment, I feel grateful to be home and I forget any of the trials and tribulations that often come with travel.

Other ideas? Perhaps one of the things on your list is the beach. Maybe you love the beach because of the sound of the waves and the feel of sand between your toes. Maybe you love each time you wake in the morning to a kiss from your sweetheart. Maybe you love the time you created a piece of art or spoke in front of a crowd about your favorite topic. Maybe you love sitting with your kids after they return from school to share a snack and a story from the day. There is lots to love out there...

The idea to get in tune with how you feel when you sense "love." We all love the feeling of love so it will help each of us to get more love if we know what love feels like for us. Make sense? Excellent! Explore love today, enjoy Valentine's Day and we'll see you here tomorrow!

Spring Resolutions!

If you read yesterday, you know we're going to spend the rest of the month helping you define your New Spring Resolutions. How exciting!

In short, we're going to share a few exercises over the next 17 days to help you develop meaningful resolutions which you'll begin on March 1st. Our exercises are designed to help you create resolutions to help you accomplish a goal, get closer to your dream and, most importantly, be resolutions you will actually stick with. A big promise, we realize!

Your assignments for this weekend are very simple: Sleep and dream. The days of winter are the best days for sleep (think about bears hibernating). And, while you're sleep and while you're awake, think about your dream for your one life. What do you want to do? Where do you want to live? How do you want to be?

Just reflect, get in touch with dreams of the past, think of dreams for the future and get lots of rest. We'll be back on Monday with more. Happy weekend!

Spring Resolve

Did you make any New Year's Resolutions at the start of 2011? Are you still following them? If not don't feel bad, most other people aren't either. Do a quick poll of the people around you. See?

Why do we do this to ourselves year after year? Peer pressure is my best guess. In truth, starting some new project in the depths of winter is not really a good idea. If you're a student of TCM you'll know what I'm talking about. If you're not familiar, here is an excerpt from a blog I wrote at the end of 2009:

"Let us observe together what happens in the season of winter. It is cold so we want to stay inside. The sun rises late and sets early. It is really dark at night, so our bodies want to sleep more. Many of nature's creatures are now hibernating. If not full-time hibernation, at least their activity is much reduced and they spend more time sleeping and resting. More time being quiet, more time getting ready for the Spring. Nature's animals are not going to leave the warmth of their winter den to go out and start a new exercise program on January 1st. Nature's plants are not going to start to bloom on the first of the year just so they can be in better shape or more beautiful for the summer season. Nature gets it. Nature's animals and plants understand winter is a time for rest, hibernation, reflection, stillness, patience and for simply not yet knowing what the Spring will bring."

So there. Feel better now? Excellent, now let's get to it! Contrary to what the calendar says, Spring is beginning. The groundhog says so and if you're in tune with nature, you've noticed the sunlight looks a bit different, brighter if you will. Now is the time to plan your new projects and your New Spring Resolutions for 2011. Today is February 10 and we have 18 days until the 1st of March.

I will devote the rest of the month's blog posts to helping you plan your New Spring Resolutions. Our goal is to help you create a plan which you will start on March 1, 2011.  Your first assignment is to sleep. For the next four days, I want you to get more sleep. Enjoy the last bits of hibernation, the darkness of the nights and the late sunrises. Go to bed early. Sleep in late. Ideally? Go to sleep with the sunset and get up with the sunrise (and I recognize that is near impossible for the vast majority of us, but you get the idea).

Check back tomorrow. You'll have a mini-assignment for the weekend as well.