Anybody Resolutionizing?

Hey, are you resolutionizing these days?

You know, making New Year's resolutions - or thinking about making New Year's resolutions? I know, everyone does it, they make "resolutions" and set goals that THIS year they will: eat healthily, make more money, lose fat/gain muscle, spend more time with family and friends, quit drinking, quit smoking, go to the gym three times a week, iron their clothes, clean their closet, de-clutter their home, watch less TV, be the league MVP, read more, start meditation/yoga/tai chi, go to church, buy a new car, buy a new house, find their soul-mate, become a sex god...

The resolutions are adamantly set in stone on January 1st (usually with the help of multiple servings of a bubbly drink) and they are smashed to smitherines as only a faint guilty memory by January 10th (and often sooner). It's sad, because with a little bit of direction, those resolutions could become goals that lead to greater success and happiness within one year!

I recommend starting with a list just like the one above.
-What?!
With one small difference... the list is for your entire life, not just the next year.
-Uhh, ok. So what's the difference?

Here's the deal.

If you think you have too much to do in too little time, you'll feel disillusioned and say that everyone who tells you to go for your dreams is full of crap and cruel to make you feel so much pain because you can't see any way to get what you really want. No fun for sure. But there is a way.

Here's the simple plan or recipe:

#1. Start by writing down e-v-e-r-y s-i-n-g-l-e goal and desire that you have for the rest of your life, no matter how big or small it may seem (be warned, this could be a very long list, so give yourself a few hours or some time over a few days to get this done). And make sure that you have goals for every area of your life, especially Health, Wealth and Relationships. You could also include goals for your Life Purpose, Learning and Just For Fun. There will be some overlap between the categories, but the important point is to put your true desires down on paper in order to acknowledge them instead of pretending that you really don't want them that much. That way you can start finding ways to make them come true!

So go nuts! Write down everything you ever wanted, or wanted to do or be. There should be so much there that just reading that list and thinking about what kind of person you will be and how you will feel at the end of your days makes you smile and sigh in complete satisfaction. LET YOURSELF DREAM. NO LIMITS. WHATEVER YOU WANT. DON'T SHOW IT TO ANYONE.

#2. Now that it's all on paper. Go through your list. Mark down when you want that goal to be achieved. Is it something that you NEED to do this year, or in 2 years? Put a "1" or a "2" beside them. Are these goals to achieve in 3, 5, 10, 20 years or more? Set those numbers beside the goal. Set a time frame for when you think you will have these done. And if you don't have goals for every few years, find some. Or put down "improve _____ by 5%" or any number for things that you will be working on.

#3. Next, look at your 1 year goals. Are they really things you feel you absolutely MUST achieve this year? Be brutally honest with yourself. How will you feel in January 2009 if you don't achieve them? How will you feel if you do? Do you have too many goals for the year? Too few? there should be no more than 3-7 big goals (one for each area of your life) to work on all year and maybe a dozen or so small ones that you can do in a month or less. Shuffle things around until you know it's a good list and you can make it happen... at least most of it (it's good to challenge ourselves).

#4. Now that you have your list for the year, figure out what the FIRST step would be for each goal. What's the first thing you would need, or need to do, to start moving? Write it down.

#5. Over the next few days, DO that first thing. Then, when it's done, figure out what the next step would be, and ... what's the answer here? ... come on, you know it...

DO the next step. And so on. All year long.

You will have to fine-tune your approach and your steps along the way, but that's the essence of goal setting an achievement. That's the basic recipe. Follow it and you will succeed.

And if this all sounds like WAYYYYYY too much work, remember:

This is YOUR life we are talking about here. Don't you want to make it the BEST that you can?

No one is going to do it for you. They have their own life to worry about. It's up to you. Say it, "If it's going to be, it's up to me". Believe it. And you can make it grand.

Giddy up!

CHB

P.S. That's me in the pic taking a short break from cross-country skiing. It's fantastic for cardio and conditioning because you use pretty much all the muscles in your body at the same time!

Copyright © Charles Begin

If you would like to reprint these articles or pictures in part or in whole, please include my name (Charles Begin) and website (www.CharlesBegin.com) so that others know where they came from and the copyright is respected. Other than that, feel free to share... and thank you for reading!

What's It About?

So what IS Christmas all about? Sure, there's the gifts, and the tree, and the feasting, drinking and having a great time with family and friends... and many will say it's about celebrating the birth of Jesus ... but really, what has Christmas become?

What do people do at this time of year?

What do you do?

Do you eat and drink yourself into a stupor and hope to recover in time to go back to work or school?

Do you get stressed out because you want everything to be perfect and everyone to get along?

Do you eagerly await gift-opening time?

Did you answer yes to some or All of the above? Most people living in a relatively wealthy part of the world would. Although the Holiday season is also one of the most difficult and depressing times of the year for many. They may remember others who have passed on, or dread being around certain family members, or feel horrible because they have no one "special" to share these experiences with. Or, they may have no home to celebrate in, no food and drink to celebrate with and seemingly nothing to celebrate. And hearing others live well and celebrate when you are suffering deeply is very difficult.

So what? What can I do about it, right? I'd rather not think about that because it makes me feel bad and I can't do anything about it anyway. Right?

Or maybe you're saying to yourself, "I know I should do something to help, but I don't know what and thinking about it just makes me feel bad so I don't".

Sound... or feel familiar?

Thought so. We all want to feel great and be happy. We don't want to feel bad. We tend to feel bad when we become aware of others suffering and even worse when we feel we can't do anything to help them. So what do we do? We block it. We push away those thoughts. We hide them. We change the channel.

Don't worry. I won't tell you to donate money, clothing, food, or volunteer somewhere. If you feel inspired, go ahead and do those things. If not, don't worry about it. I also won't tell you to stop drinking, feasting, buying gifts and celebrating outrageously. Celebrating and feeling deep gratitude is essential for living an extraordinary life.

The extra secret element to this equation is CONTRIBUTION.

Find a way to contribute to society in some way. It will make you feel better and hopefully improve the world... even just a little bit.

Here's a simple example:

Smile.

Smile to everyone you meet. Smile to yourself in the mirror (I do that all the time and usually end up laughing at myself!). Smile and mean it. Think about just one thing you are grateful for today and smile. Or do something silly. Feel the smile in your face. It will brighten up your entire physiology and that of everyone you meet (if they are open to it). Just smile on everyone and everything without cause, just like the Sun shines its light everywhere.

Brighten up someone's day and feel grateful that you could shine a little more light in the world. And if you get the idea to do more, go right ahead!

Christmas may have started as a pagan festival that was then taken over by the Christian Church and implanted with Scandinavian and Dutch folklore coming from ancient stories of a Saint from Turkey...which has continued to transform into it's present day over-spending and over-indulging emotional roller-coaster fest... but that doesn't mean that we can't continue to transform it into something really special. Hehe. Personally, I think any type of celebration is a great time for expressing gratitude and finding ways to contribute to the healthy evolution of this planet.

Let's make this world a better place, one tiny action at a time.

CHB

Copyright © Charles Begin

If you would like to reprint these articles or pictures in part or in whole, please include my name (Charles Begin) and website (www.CharlesBegin.com) so that others know where they came from and the copyright is respected. Other than that, feel free to share... and thank you for reading!

Relax and Get Everything Done!

With all the Christmas preperations around this time of year, it is easy to feel overloaded and stressed out because of everything you believe you have to do. When something like this happens - when people feel they have too much to do in too little time - they usually turn to multi-tasking in an attempt to get more done in a given period of time. The problem, of course, is that we each only have a fixed amount of conscious awareness, a certain number of attention units if you will, with which to accomplish our work. That means that as soon as we resort to splitting our attention between two tasks, each task can only receive a part of our full attention. And as you try to do more and more things in a given unit of time, you can place less and less attention to each task until you are so distracted by all the different things to do that you start making mistakes and forgetting important details.

Here's an example.

Let's say you still have a few gifts to get for Christmas. You also have to finish decorating, baking cookies in the shape of elves, wash the floors, do the laundry, workout and write a 5 page report for a course. And it all has to be done THIS weekend. How do you go about it?

Well, some will think of everything they have to do and get stressed out and try to do everything at the same time by looking over their notes for the report as they are driving to the mall to find gifts and those elf-shaped cookie shapes. They'll be thinking about the dirty floor as they walk by the baking section in kitchen wares and ask a cashier for a brand name of jeans. Then they see an exercise bike and remember that they still need to fit in a workout today. That makes them rush and pick a few more gifts before heading home and arriving frazzled because they nearly rear-ended a minivan while they were glancing at their report again. That makes them so stressed and adrenalized that they can't calm down and try to rush to write their report and get it over with. The problem is that they are sitting in front of the computer and thinking about washing the floors and then they remember that the laundry has to be done so they get up and put in a load to wash. Yesterday's load is dry and they start folding and putting those away. Then they remember the report and go back for few more minutes. Then they look at the time and notice that friends will be over soon and the floors still aren't clean. They rush to get the mop and bucket and stub their toe on the edge of a table. Ouch! Dammit! Now they're in pain and the floors need to be cleaned and the report needs to be done and ... and ... oh no! They forgot to get the elf-shaped cookie cutters! They need to go back to the store! And... but there's no time! And they need to get dressed and ready! Hurry! Clean the floor!

They grab the mop and soapy water and splash it all over to quickly wash the floor. There's too much water on the floor! Press the mop first! They try to corrall the water back into the bucket. The doorbell rings. What!! Are they here already?! They're early! And I didn't finish decorating! And I'm still not dressed yet!...

I could go on but I think you get the picture.

Trying to do everything all at once is a recipe for disaster. When we try to focus on too many things at once we forget much and under-achieve on whatever we DO accomplish.

The only way to truly achieve excellence in something is to give 100% of yourself and your focus to that one thing while you are doing it. That being said, here is the better way to multi-task:

1.Make a list
2.Prioritize
3.Focus 100% on the present task

When you make a list of what you need to do, you won't forget. And you won't have to spend half your day trying to remember all the things you thought about that morning that you wanted to do.

When you prioritize the items on your list you will then accomplish the most pressing, important things first and will not have to rush because you were working on something that can wait and suddenly you are "late" for something else. Do what needs to be done first, first.

When you focus 100% on the present task, you are in the moment and mistakes will be far fewer than when you are doing one thing and thinking about something else you have to do. Be in the moment. Be present. If you are doing the laundry, just do the laundry. Do it well. Finish it. Then bring your attention to the next task. If it's driving, just drive. Get to your destination safely. Then check your list and do the next task. Do that for everything and everything will be done much better.

That's how you get things done. And if your multi-tasking is more compressed, like if you have to jump back and forth between different tasks, have 100% of your attention on whatever it is that you are doing. Reading emails? Just read emails. Then go to the kitchen to check on the roast. Just check on the roast. The go to the laundry. Just do the laundry. Then back to emails. Then on to decorating. Just decorating... be aware of where each finger and toe is. No decorating while thinking about the roast!

I think you get the idea...

You can flip back and forth between tasks... just be 100% present in whatever you are doing RIGHT NOW at all times and everything will be fine.

And remember to breathe as deeply as possible to relax at all times and to drink plenty of water.

Do this and you just might have the most relaxing holiday season of your entire life!

Well, at least so far...

CHB

Copyright © Charles Begin

If you would like to reprint these articles or pictures in part or in whole, please include my name (Charles Begin) and website (www.CharlesBegin.com) so that others know where they came from and the copyright is respected. Other than that, feel free to share... and thank you!

Do You Want To Be Free?

What if everything you believed was false?

Would you be able to let it all go?

Could you release your attachment to everything you believed to be true?

Tough question, isn't it? Well, I can tell you right now, there are many things that you believe right now that are not true. They are often called SELF-LIMITING BELIEFS. They are things which we somehow came to believe because of circumstances in our life and now we accept them as true.

There are all kinds of ways to learn to let go of our attachment to the things that hold us back. There's the Sedona Method, Ho'oponopono (from Zero Limits), EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique, hypnosis, NLP, NAC, and I could go on...

The point is that once we become aware that some things inside of us are keeping us from achieving our full awakening and being the greatest we can be, it is time to do something about it. Once the veil of ignorance has been pierced, it is your responsibility to take your personal growth into your own hands and free yourself from the chains that bind you.

We all want to be FREE.

Learn to clean all the crap that clogs your life.

Release the emotions that prevent your energy to FLOW freely.

Let go of whatever you are holding on to, to make space for that which you truly love.

And if you are still holding on to cherished beliefs and specific forms that you believe you need to thrive or even survive, I have only this to say:

HEY! Would you rather be right, or be FREE?
Stop arguing, quit complaining and FIND A WAY! Choose your direction and jump! Take the plunge! You'll never know until you try, and the only way to correct your course is to start moving in the first place. You will never know it "all" so don't wait to get all the answers before you act. Go for it!

And that's all I have to say today.
(Cool, that rhymes!)

CHB

P.S. Yes, that's me in the picture above...diving several meters off a rock face and into beautiful clear water in Sweden.

Copyright © Charles Begin

Christmas is a Comin'!

So Christmas is only a few weeks away now (yes, only a few weeks), and if you haven't decided on gifts for some of the people on your list yet, here's a tip for those you have no idea what to get:

Set an intention that you will find the best gift for that person, at the best price, easily and effortlessly and well in advance.

That way, you unconsciously walk around all day with your "radar" on and within a few days (it could even be minutes) you will probably see, hear about or get an idea for the perfect gift for that person. When that happens, when the inspiration of intuition hits you and you "know" in a flash that that's what you need to get them, act.

As Dr. Joe Vitale says in The Secret:

"Don't delay. When the inspiration is there, when the intuitive 'nudge' from within is there, act. And that's all you have to do."

So that's it.

This season, take your shopping and holiday preparations and turn them into an opportunity to exercise your conscious intentions and that intuitive muscle that always has the right answer.

1.Set the intention (decide what you want).
2.Be aware.
3.When the answer comes, ACT on it. Right away.

The more you practice this, the smoother you will find your life. That's what being in flow is all about.

CHB
Copyright © Charles Begin