Pathwalking 157
What thoughts, feelings and actions will put me on the Path I desire? This is going to be different for me than it is for you, but today I am going to take my first New Year’s Action and share some of it here.
First, let me reiterate an idea I began to explore over three years ago. Lots of people make New Year’s Resolutions. They come up with ideas to make changes and take actions…but they never seem to get past the ideas. Action seldom appears to come from resolutions, at least not for very long.
Thus, rather than make a New Year’s Resolution, instead I have chosen to take a New Year’s Action. As 2011 closed and 2012 began, I decided I needed to spur my active writing. Thus I determined, and blogged about it here, to take a New Year’s Action.
I determined that I would act on writing in my blog weekly. From this notion was borne Pathwalking, and one hundred fifty seven weeks later I am still writing about and honing this philosophy. Three years of weekly blogging. I would call my New Year’s Action of 2012 a success.
So, here I am at the end of 2014, and I find that while I am working to choose and walk my own path, I have reached a point where I need to make changes. For the past couple of months I have been feeling this idea out and trying to determine the best courses of action to take to get there. Ideas are like resolutions in that they may be numerous and bold, but without action they cannot develop.
So it is I need to take some New Year’s Actions. I need to move past the ideas and employ actions to spur the growth and change I desire to see in my life.
I am going to share with you the process first, and then I will share several of my personal actions. Please take note of the fact that the actions I need for myself may not be what YOU need, but I think providing examples from my own path can be useful.
The first steps were covered last week. Identify the answers to these questions: What do I want? What am I thinking? What am I feeling? Am I going to create a reality I want, or a reality I don’t want?
Another important note – the answers to all of these questions are almost never static. They change, they shift, they evolve and devolve according to circumstances. Part of why it is important to ask these questions more frequently than most of us do is to help see when things are changing within or without our control.
Once the answers to the questions have been identified, WRITE THEM DOWN. Putting pen to paper or fingers to keys is an action that helps solidify our answers, and will help us to take a much closer look at just what our thoughts and feelings are and what they mean.
Once this process has been completed, it is time to ask what thoughts, feelings and actions will put me on the Path I desire? When you identify changes necessary to how you think and feel, you will know better what actions are available to you in order to effect change and place yourself upon your desired path.
I have written out MY answers to the questions in the first step, which is my first New Year’s Action. My second New Year’s Action will be to re-ask these questions at the end of each month, and see if the answers are aligning with the path I desire to be upon.
Recurrent New Year’s Actions can be tricky, because like resolutions they can be waylaid, ignored and forgotten. However, because they are actions they get more energy than resolutions, since they go beyond thought and feeling and have motion as such.
Because these are actions, and require more energy, it is best to take only a few. We all have busy lives, so we need to be aware of our time management. When it comes to recurrent New Years actions, I would suggest no less than one and no more than five. Stretching yourself too thin will not help you to get where you want to go.
My non-recurrent New Year’s Action was writing out my answers to the questions of what do I want? What am I thinking? What am I feeling? Am I going to create a reality I want, or a reality I don’t want? What thoughts, feelings and actions will put me on the Path I desire?
My recurrent New Year’s Actions will be, first, to readdress these questions at the end of each month. I am going to share with you also the daily action I will be taking.
Daily I will make time to meditate. I know how this makes me feel, I know what this does for my focus and concentration and awareness, but I tend to not practice. In many respects this is more important than daily exercise or diet alterations, because if I can’t focus my thoughts and feelings the other efforts generally won’t amount to much.
Every day I will meditate for at least two minutes up til as long as I need.
I am not simply resolving to do these things…I am acting upon them. I believe, and I hope you will see why, that taking action is a much more powerful means to an ends, and that you will join me in choosing this powerful tool to help in walking your path.
What actions might you take for the Paths YOU will be choosing in the coming year?
Happy New Year!
This is the one-hundred fifty seventh entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Feel free to re-blog and share. Thank you for joining me.
The first fifty-two weeks (Year One) of installments of Pathwalking is available in print and for your Kindle.
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