“To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.”
~ Kofi Annan
It’s easy enough to make a list of goals to achieve for the year.
I’ve been thinking about what personal goals I’d like to achieve for 2014 — it’s the first time I’m creating yearly goals — and the question for me is not what but: why is this goal on my list?
If you’ve created or are thinking about creating some goals for 2014, you may like to ponder this question too.
You could ask:
- Is it because someone else is doing it {and you want what they have}?
- Is it because you think it would be a good thing to do?
- Is it because you think you should do it ~ because you think it will make you richer, smarter, more likeable/popular, etc?
In other words do your goals arise from external reasons?
Many of us want to achieve a particular goal because we’re chasing a feeling, not the goal itself.
To chase a feeling, you need to know how you want to feel in the first place.
To know how you want to feel in life, you need to be aware of your Self — and realise your core values and how you want to feel overall.
At the end of last year, I began work on defining my core values. I have 5 {people usually have 3–5}.
My core values are:
It’s the first time I’ve done something like this, so I’m trying these values on for size. I’m just going with what inherently feels important to me.
It’s ok to change/tweak your core values over time as you grow and/or understand more about who you are and how you operate in the world.
Being aware of your values is like having an innate compass, guiding you to make choices {goals} based on living a life that’s meaningful to you.
Lesh Karan 
Thank you, Lesh! I love your input and recipes, and I’ve now signed up for e-mails from Danielle as well. I really am trying to remake my life into something that will make me happy!
Happy New Year!
My pleasure Lynn. That’s essentially what life is about. All the best, L x
Hi Lesh,
Thought I’d share my goal for 2014 and hopefully it will continue to be on my list for years to come… To learn something new, to really challenge my brain. This year it is juggling and eating right-handed, which sounds silly, but there is a good reason for it. I am currently learning all about neuro plasticity in my post graduate, and am making the conscious decision now at 30, to change the natural decline that occurs in my brain so that I can live a longer more fulfilling life than the average statistics say I will (and so that I dont decline like I have seen in the older generations of my family). Obviously I can not do this with out looking after my body as well, so thank you for providing me with inspiration to finding healthier food options!
Wishing you all the best with your 2014 goals.
Thank you Shani. You postgraduate sounds very interesting! Best of luck with it and your 2014 goals. L xx
[…] I feel a big part of it is to understand your reasons and core values. […]
[…] think what they have is why we want, which may not be true. Work on realising how you wish to feel in life and what your values are. This requires a level of self-awareness, which deepens over time when you practice consciousness […]
Lesh I love your 5 core values ..I aspire to those as well. Thank you Gracie
[…] This can happen when we don’t take the time to question and work out what is truly important to us. […]