One day Alice came to a fork in the road
and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.
"Which road do I take?" she asked.
"Where do you want to go?" was his response.
"I don't know," Alice answered.
"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
~ Lewis Carroll
Are you ready for 2007?
The tales of Lewis Carroll have always intrigued me because many universal truths lie within. Many of us are like Alice in Alice in Wonderland - we struggle with which path to take instead of struggling with the more important question: Where is it we want to go? As the Cheshire cat coyly shares, if we have no specific destination then any road will get us there.
Where do you want to go this year?
Perhaps you have already created a detailed plan with specific goals. Perhaps you have set a thousand goals in the past only to be discouraged because they didn't come to fruition. Perhaps you think of resolutions as a novelty and like most people abandon them by February. Perhaps you are comfortable with the status quo and feel uncomfortable when thinking about challenging life. But I strongly doubt that. Why? Well, I doubt you would subscribe to, or read, this newsletter if there wasn't a glimmer of internal hope for a better way... for a better day. It only takes a glimmer to nurture a vision.
So what do you want?
Many of us have difficulty articulating our "wants." We might be used to expressing our needs, but not give much thought to what we truly want from life. We think about getting from this day to the next, or improving our immediate future, but we lose sight of a bigger vision that rejuvenate and inspire us. Let's do something fun to break out of this mold--let's make a crazy list.
Making a Crazy List
I stumbled on the idea of a crazy list early last year. I had just finished telling someone why I couldn't do something. I can't remember the exact thing to which I was referring but the sentence was, "I don't have enough time to ______________" (and frankly, it was a lousy excuse--it even sounded lousy when I was saying it). However, since many of us are so talented at making excuses, we actually begin to believe them.
Later that night, something within me stirred and said, "Wait a second... why can't you do that?" Whenever I find myself engaging in a negative pattern, I challenge it as quickly as I can. Within minutes I was creating a crazy list of all the things I would like to do before I die. The list contained many things - get my pilot's license, climb Mt. Hood, go on a safari, paint a series, run a marathon, ski in Colorado, skydive, learn calligraphy, spend New Year's Eve in Times Square, start a self-esteem group for girls, on and on and on the list went--some of the list items more challenging than others.
More and More Lists...
As I created this list, I found it easier to begin articulating the "wants" of my life. I made another series of lists. I created a list for each of my major roles:
Business owner
Author / Creative Person
Mom / Wife
Friend
Christian
Volunteer
Then I began to list out what I wanted in each area. I didn't stop and ask, "Is this realistic?" because something had started to occur to me in this process. I think many things become unrealistic simply because we deem them unrealistic. For example, I might say, "I don't have an hour a day to devote to that.... It is unrealistic." The truth is, I actually could find an hour, I just choose not to find it, I choose to make it unrealistic.
Our mind has great power. We must be careful with what we deem realistic versus unrealistic.
These lists had no limitations. Money was not an object. Time was not an object. Location was not an object. These were indeed, Crazy Lists.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
What to do with these lists?
I can't tell you that yet. If I do, you will begin with the end in mind which will take away the very value of the lists.
Your Weekly Challenge:
I can tell you what to do with these lists next week, for now I can only tell you that I think you'll learn something very revealing if you grab a notebook and start making your own. Spend 10 minutes a day this week adding to these lists. The more you add, the more value you will gain from next week's exercise.
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To learn more about the Change Your Life Challenge program go to www.changeyourlifechallenge.com.
Challenge On!
Brook Noel
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