Setting goals and intentions is an amazing way to ensure you live a passionate and purpose-fueled life. However, there is something crucial you need to understand about goals before setting them.
I believe in mapping out a vision for your dream life, cultivating positive habits, and taking inspired action to make miracles happen.
But there is a downside to goal setting and the world of personal development — it can leave us feeling like we’re not enough until we reach our goals. We feel like unless we publish a New York Times best-selling book, meditate 365 days of the year, have only happy and loving thoughts 100 percent of the time, and immediately succeed at every single thing that we try, we suck. And that mindset sucks, to be honest.
So while I am high-fiving you for your goals, visions, dreams, desires, intentions, core desired feelings and values, I want to remind you:
You are already enough.
Your goals are the icing on the cake of your inherent worth and value. They are how you express, enjoy and experience your unique gifts and passions and amazing uniqueness and worth, not how you earn or prove it.
There is a common myth in society that we have to earn our worth or justify our existence by accomplishing an impressive number of goals or external achievements.
Or that our worth and identity is dependant on external things — like our career success, body shape, relationship status, bank balance, and so on.
We take our external-facing roles, titles and labels so seriously that we have forgotten that they are just costumes we wear for certain periods of the day or parts of our lives. They are not who we really are.
The truth is your worth is innate — you were born worthy and enough. You are an unlimited being of light and you can never be anything less than that.
Your primary purpose is to be you.
Your innate worth does not mean you won’t have big beautiful goals and dreams — just that you won’t base your whole sense of worth on them.
Think of it this way — your primary purpose in life is simply to be you. To be the once-in-humankind blend of gifts, passions, interests, quirks and magic that you are.
And you are succeeding at that 100 percent of the time. Congratulations!
Your main mission on earth is to discover more about who you are, love yourself and others at the deepest level, experience joy and happiness, and learn and grow into the highest embodiment of you.
Everything you do and achieve and have in this life is a BONUS on top of your innate perfection.
When you make being you your number one purpose in life, and view your dreams and goals as your secondary purpose, you can approach each day with a greater sense of fun, play and ease.
Happiness is the path; not the destination.
Happy people tend to be more successful — so if you are waiting for success in order to be happy, you might be waiting a long time.
Our mindset and state of being shapes what kind of actions we take and how people respond to us. From a more spiritual perspective, like energy attracts like energy, so the more you feel good and appreciative today, the more your outer world will begin to shift to mirror your positive inner state.
So make it your number one goal to feel good. Be happy. Practice gratitude. Enjoy the simple pleasures. Take a deep breath every time your inner critic is judging you. Laugh about it. Lighten up. Look for beauty and magic.
Even our biggest goals or dreams will be experienced in the present moment — so if you don’t learn to be present and anchored in the now, you won’t truly soak up and enjoy the deliciousness of your dreams even when they come true. (In fact, you’re probably living some of your past dreams now, but you’ve forgotten to appreciate and enjoy them!)
You don’t have to be perfect.
If you fall off the bandwagon with your goals, intentions or new healthy habits, guess what? You can always start again. There is no law that says the 1st of January is the only day of the year you can successfully start something. You can start again on the 5th January or the 15th May or even on the 31st December!
It’s never too late (or too early) to start living a happy and healthy lifestyle, being the person you want to be, and going after your dreams and desires.
Mistakes, tears and blunders are simply part of the journey as a human on earth. It’s not about how many times you fall down into negativity, self-judgment or sabotaging habits and patterns — it’s about how quickly you come back home to your soul, values and truth.
What brings you home to your center? That feeling of inner power, possibility and hope? Figure this out and use it when you feel out of alignment. For me it’s things like meditation, books, inspiring videos, journalling, star gazing, sunrises, yoga, friends, cooking and dancing.
You can take it one day at a time.
Our ego mind loves to jump ahead to weeks, months or years into the future and start contemplating how we’re going to face our mother-in-law after not calling her back last week or how we’re going to ask our boss for a raise in our performance review in six months. Woah. Slow down ego mind.
The truth is, no matter how big or far-away your goals and dreams seem, the only day you have to worry about is today. In fact, you only have to focus on this very moment. This moment is the only time you have any power or influence or choice. So you only have to handle one second of life at a time.
So relax. Enjoy. Trust. Take baby steps forward towards your goals and dreams. Just do your best, to give your best, and enjoy life right now.
Your truth is greatness.
There is a voice in our head that loves to tell us we’re not good enough, smart enough, funny enough, good looking enough, or whatever enough. But guess what? That voice is a liar!
That is just the voice of fear. Of the ego mind. It’s not the ultimate truth. Your mind could tell you that you’re a banana — but it wouldn’t make it true!
So when it comes to your 2017, remember that your truth is greatness. You are a soul, not just a body. You are inherently worthy. You are powerful. You have the power to create and shape your life. You are loved. You are a miracle. You are wise. You are beautiful. You are needed. One day you will taste a glimmer of your worth and perfection and it will make you cry with self-love and happiness. Until now, just trust me on it.
Elyse is a writer, life coach and happiness teacher at NotesOnBliss.com. She teaches people to connect with their soul, create their dreams and expand their happiness. For updates and inspiration, sign up now.
Originally published at medium.com