Goals At Any Cost?

The New Year is underway. But are our resolutions underway as well?
Some of our resolutions are more lip service than heart felt decisions. Some are made just to get others off our back.
But there are some resolutions that we have a burning desire to achieve. So we write a list of these accomplishment, acquisitions and goals. We detail a step by step plan of action. We resolve to be disciplined, positive, determined and focused. Our priorities are clear. We allow nothing to divert our attention from our vision. Nothing will come between us and the outcome we deserve. This time we will succeed. Mission accomplished. Done deal. Satisfaction guaranteed.
So we struggle to get to our destination. We become irritable when our schedule is interrupted. Obstacles are eliminated expediently. We are completely engrossed in reaching our destination. Our absolute absorption in our success comes before our personal relationships. The time and space in between are endured in anticipation of the end payoff.
If we run out of steam, confidence or passion, we give up. We beat ourselves up, blame ourselves, others, or circumstances, tell ourselves it wasn't that important and endure the life we have.
Or, if we reach our goals, we pat ourselves on the back, revel in the adoration of others, and quickly set a loftier goal to absorb our attention and quiet the craving inside.
Passion, desires and action are the essence of living. But the pleasure must come in the doing and being rather than the outcome. Our focus must be on the moment we are experiencing. Our attention is on the decisions we make on the jou
ey. Our response to each situation as it arises must be our priority. . And our awareness must be on the quality of our decisions since they determine who we are becoming. When we have this perspective, interruptions become opportunities and obstacles provide information, directions and experience. We don't become so obsessed with achieving our goal that we compromise our values, neglect our relationships and ourselves, or rationalize that the ends justify the means. We can take pleasure in the jou
ey rather than enduring it to get the payoff fix.
After all, life isn't the few moments in time where we feel the rush of reaching our goals. Life is in the jou
ey. It is the jou
ey and how we make it that is important. It is who we become and the direction that we are headed that are the aspects that create a successful, fulfilling life.
The desires are the stimulus that move us forward. Our passions fuel our evolving spirit. But we cannot reach our potential when the goal becomes all important. Reaching our greatest potential depends on the choices we make in our jou
ey toward our goal, the awareness and sensitivity we demonstrate along the way, our honest intentions in our interactions, and holding our focus on the essence (the feeling or need) our goal will provide.
When we live with attention to the present moment, when we make choices that reflect the person we want to become, when we focus on aligning our emotional energy with the essence of our desires, we have expanded our potential. And by expanding our potential, we create successful and fulfilling life. And we experience ourselves as successful.
The mouse that navigates a complex maze amazes us, not because it got the cheese, but because of the jou
ey it made to find it. The mouse may only care about the cheese, but we pride ourselves on a higher level of perception that includes valuing personal growth rather than mere acquisition.
Are we just fooling ourselves?
No, we do have unlimited potential beyond our imagination. We just have to envision ourselves moving into it, give our attention to the moment and make the choices that support the person we are becoming.
The potential that you long to reach, the success that you desire, the abundance that you seek - you will not find them at your destination. You acquire them by the quality of your jou
ey.nnn