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Change Can Happen: Setting Goals for Personal—and Global—Transformation
It’s that time of year again. During the first month of the year, the spotlight is on setting goals for the coming year. They’re called New Year’s resolutions and often these resolutions are done tongue-in-cheek with a just-under-the-radar consciousness that “no one keeps these things anyway.” But in reality, making quality New Year’s resolutions should be viewed as prime-time training for the goal setting—and keeping—that we should be doing throughout the year and throughout our lives. It should also be a time for thinking about how our personal transformations can contribute to transforming the bigger—beyond ourselves—picture Those of us who supported the election of Barack Obama for president feel that we are indeed participating in that bigger—beyond ourselves—picture. For many, years, for example, I had a prayer and a vision in which caring and thoughtful leadership would spring up and blossom throughout the world. Quite frankly, I had just about given up on that vision. But now I believe that this vision may be coming true. As my Ph.D. advisor, theologian, Tillich scholar, and Jungian therapist Robert Moore would say: “This is a kairos moment.” A kairos moment is one in which the Spiritual Presence breaks into history in such a way that there is a possibility of new understanding and new life. Of course, we could let this moment slip out of our fingers. It is a possibility, but it will only become a probability if each and every one of us shoulders our share of the responsibility, visioning, and action that will make it so. So, this year, more so than ever, our New Year’s resolutions, both personal and global, are vitally important. There have been several long years of strife in which the negative forces seemed to be overwhelming the world. And now, despite the possibility that the Obama election represents, we are in the midst of a great and growing economic and ecological crisis. And yet, I remember the vision, the prayer that I prayed in spite of the appearance of failure. Now I have seen that vision, that prayer, become a present possibility. And I pledge to do my part to help this possibility become not only a probability, but an actuality. Will you join me? To help us with that effort, I have compiled a few websites that can help us with our personal and global resolutions. They include: Miracle Distribution Center (www.miraclecenter.org): The Miracle Distribution Center is a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to serve as a worldwide contact point for A Course in Miracles. They publish The Holy Encounter magazine and offer many other free services for students of the Course to help them connect with others and integrate the principles of A Course in Miracles into their daily lives. Visitors are invited to browse through the Online Catalog, receive recording of weekly meetings, search a database for A Course in Miracles study groups, subscribe to The Holy Encounter, or access free mp3 downloads. The mp3 downloads include “A Mini Course for Life,” a podcast presentation by Jerry Jampolsky and Diane Cirincione and “An Introduction to A Course in Miracles.” Most things at the site including The Holy Encounter magazine are free—but donations to help keep the center going are requested. Marianne Williamson (http://marianne.com): One of the key features at this site is something called the Miracle Matrix. Williamson has given thousands of lectures based on spiritual principles, primarily from A Course in Miracles. Now, through the Miracle Matrix, you can download onto our iPod or mp3 player one of those lectures each week. Additionally, you can see videos and attend live teleclasses with Williamson, have access to the Matrix message boards and receive any additional materials that she sends out. Through this process, you are joined with hundreds of others literally all over the world—from North America to South Africa, from Europe to Australia. The idea is that together, we can form a field of light: people joined in the simple intention that our lives might be a force of good and a blessing on those around us. We know that through our joining this way, learning together and praying together, we hold a space for the miraculous unfolding of peace on earth. Note: Whether you join the Matrix or not, Williamson invites you to stop each day at 10:00 a.m. your time (and if you miss that moment, just do it whenever!) and pray for peace on earth and happiness for all. A Course in Miracles (www.acim.org): This is the site for the Foundation for Inner Peace founded by Judith and Robert Skutch in 1972. In addition to a lot of interesting history about how A Course in Miracles came into being, the site features a “Lessons” section where students can participate in daily Multimedia Lessons. For those involved in doing the workbook, the site offers workbook lessons starting with Lesson 1 on January 1st. Whatever you New Year’s Resolutions, there are sure to be websites that will help you make them a reality. For example, when I logged on to Google and keyed in “New Year’s Resolutions,” there were 356,000 results and some of them, at least, were sites that offer practical and useful guidance for making goals or resolutions for the New Year or at any time on life’s journey. Here are reviews on a few of them: myGOALS.com (www.mygoals.com): The home page of this site that it is the Web's leading site for setting and managing all of your personal and professional goals. myGoals.com walks you through a simple, step-by-step goal-setting process for any goal, whether it's short-term or long-term, easy or difficult, practical or lofty. They also provide premade GoalPlans® for popular goals, to get you started even faster. The site offers a step-by-step method that starts with goal selection and includes reminders and a personalized homepage where you can manage your goals and track your progress. Goal setting category sections help you set your goal. For example, spirituality-oriented goals are listed in the “Personal Growth & Interests” section. Let’s say you’ve decided on making meditation a central part of your spiritual practice in 2009. Click on the “Meditation” link in this section and start creating your own meditation “Goalplan.” Suggestions are given: “To remain completely at peace during my commute;” “To meditate for thirty minutes, three times a week.” However, the actual nuts and bolts of the plan are up to you (note: there are specific Goalplans like “To Become a Vegetarian,” “To Reduce Stress in My Life,” etc. that could be used to help design your meditation plan). In order to take advantage of the site with its email reminders, etc., you have to become a member. There is a free ten-day trial and the cost of membership is reasonable at $5.95 per month (cancel anytime) or $49.95 if you sign up for a year. Membership benefits include unlimited site access, goal-setting tips and advice, unlimited Goalplans, and unlimited email reminders. User testimonials like “I've been using myGoals.com for a few months and I really appreciate it. I've used everything else out there and am sticking to your site. Thanks!” and “I wish I found this site before finishing my Master's! Now I'm beginning my Ph.D. ... this is definitely part of my plan,” indicate that that this site just might be the ticket to making and keeping those New Year’s resolutions. Check it out and see if it might work for you. MyMotivator (www.mymotivator.com): The goals of this site are similar to myGOALS.com. It is more overtly commercial in nature, but some of the offerings seem to be worthwhile. Their motivational and self-improvement tape library contains a list of reasonably priced items—and 29 of them are free including titles like “30 Minutes to Success” and “7 Character Traits of Successful People.” The closest the site comes to spiritual goal-setting/keeping is in its “State of Mind” section. My suggestion is to visit the site and click on “Sample Tour” in order to see if signing up for MyMotivator.com is for you. This section features “Work with My Goals,” your personal Goal Setting area; the “Action Item Detail & Calendar;” “Get Motivated Now!;” “My Success Journal;” and “Forums.” Whatever your personal New Year’s resolution, let’s not forget the bigger picture. It’s fine and dandy to work on you, but remember you are connected to we, and we—human, animal, everything—are connected. New Year's resolutions are designed to have us reflect on our better natures—and to ponder the ideals of our existence. So, what better time is there to reconnect with those powerful human resources called love and compassion? No matter what your resolution is, it can be accomplished with love and compassion toward yourself, toward your friends and family—and toward the entire interconnected global community. That way our resolutions will accomplish not only personal transformation but a transformation that enriches our communities and the world. My Advice: Let’s keep our eyes on the prize and never give up. We owe it to ourselves, our family, our friends, and all that is throughout the world and beyond.
Mary Montgomery is a certified web author and developer. Her company, |
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