Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The Zen Girl's Guide to Goal Setting

Do you have a goal you would really love to accomplish? Of course you do! I'm sure we all do. In fact, most of us probably have a long wish list of goals and dreams we would love to check off that bucket list. But, somewhere in the shuffle, do you find yourself stressed out and overwhelmed by your goals or this hypothetical vision of what you want your life to look like. Do you feel like you're so close, but never quite there? I certainly do! I was feeling super overwhelmed this past weekend, so I went to have tea with my friend Janalyn and we started to talk about what it means to get there, or to arrive. I started researching this topic, and it turns out that there's actually quite a bit of controversy behind goal-setting versus letting it be. The pro-goals camp believes that:

Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses your acquisition of knowledge, and helps you to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the very most of your life.

Meanwhile, on the flip side... Best-selling author and Zenhabits creator Leo Babauta believes that having no goals lets you experience life and work more fully, more intensely as you concentrate on the journey.

So, Zen Girls -- what's the solution? Goals or no goals? I think the first place to start is to check in with your vision. Sit down, meditate and create a vision board. Not sure how? No worries, The Wellness Warrior (aka Jess Ainscough) will teach you how to create your very own vision board. Here's hers from 2 years ago, and guess what? A lot of these things have materialized for her. How rad is that?!


In my continuous search for an answer, I come back to what I know as a yogi -- it's all about balance! Here's a little manifesto I came up with for myself (and for you too!) and for anyone else in need of a little bit of light along the way. . . 


set a goal. stay connected to your goal.
be receptive to what may come. 
stay open, always.
on your yoga mat. and in your life.
injuries and setback remind us that there is a greater plan.
the universe has a direction for you.
your dharma { your life's calling } is made up of . . .

50% effort 
and 50% surrender
why hello, sthira sukha asanam!

like the return of an old friend
no matter how hard we try, 
we can't escape this divine universal principle:
if we want to be successful
{ and by 'success' I mean : 
discover our true life calling and become it }
we must work really hard
and
we must fully surrender to what is. 
to what will be.


The sooner we embrace this concept, the sooner we can breathe easy, be at peace in our bodies and flow with the rhythms of the universe. Don't fight the current. Keep your eyes on the horizon and just  b r e a t h e e e .



[ last two photos were shot by the uber-talented Tim Hardy at the beautiful westgate hotel rooftop ]

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