Goal Achievement Impacted by Health and Wellness is article II in our Energy, Health and Wealth Baby Steps series.
Have you set personal and financial goals for 2013? Are you finding goal achievement difficult or impossible even? Of course, the Health and Wellness group forum takes a look at this common problem from a health and wellness point of view. For example, did you know inner baggage and determining your true purpose or calling have a tremendous impact on your health and emotional wellness, thus an impact on motivation and capability to meet your goals?
Goal Achievement: Taking Those Baby Steps or Not?
Does this sound familiar? Has it ever happened to you? It happens so much that results of an informal survey concluded that large numbers of people have given up on making New Year’s resolutions because they are tired of the let down when their resolve fades. So, what could be the reason for this? It is an interesting and familiar condition discussed from varying angles in scores of books. For our purposes it will be explored in the context of health and wellness principles.So, we’re well on our way to achieving our goals. We’re being coached or engaged in self-help study. For certain, taking baby steps rings true and is assuredly doable and inspirational. Yet, discouragement sets in as time seems to be quickly passing by and the baby steps are not achieved. Goal achievement starts to seem impossible. Things are getting in the way of your resolve and there are so many distractions.
Is Baggage Standing Between You and Goal Achievement?
That leads to the next baby step going forward; Scan your history for patterns. Patterns formed by similar situations and outcomes. When your pattern yields desirable results that may serve as a model resource to use in other endeavors. When the pattern has yielded less than desirable outcomes, set your decisive intention to change the pattern to one that produces the outcomes you truly desire. Realize your intention is a force to reckon with; resolve and intention provide powerful energetic motivation to move towards goal achievement.
Next, scan for why your outcomes have been disappointing. Consider how many times that has occurred and the impact it has on your self-image and self-acceptance. Do you have a strong inner critic that pounces on you when you slip up? So the “why” of your pattern of disappointments may have more to do with some personal baggage than your abilities. Most of the time, barring tangible limitations such as lack of tuition fees, the barrier is ‘baggage”. One way to appreciate the description ‘baggage’ is to consider its effects. Typically, our best efforts to change fall short of our target despite our resolve to let go of old limiting ways. When this occurs repeatedly it may lead to unfulfillment. Furthermore, baggage may lead to feelings of being stuck in a rut, inadequacy and defeat. Baggage rarely leads to goal achievement, but may well lead to unhappiness.
Do You Know Your True Purpose and Calling?
In my practice the most common complaints are fatigue and lack of inspiration to get things done. The next most common complaint is anxiety and close behind is depression. Despite the most rigorous medical investigations, the findings usually don’t explain the complaints. When I explore further, it is often that people do not believe they are functioning in life according to their “purpose” or “calling”.
There is uncertainty as to what their purpose is and how they can change their direction to be in more agreement with their purpose. When there is agreement there is proper alignment and balance within the hormonal and neurochemical structures that determine mood, attitude, quality of sleep, energy, appetite and elimination. Lack of agreement/harmony is a set up for depression, anxiety, fatigue, agitation, mental dullness, poor sleep, and apathy just to short list what can be expected.
“Calling” is an important aspect of health and wellness. Calling inspires us to do something that is bigger than we are and in the process of answering it, we become acquainted with vast internal resources; and that is ideal.
One practical way to determine your purpose is to hone in on what you feel quite passionate about. Once that is done, ask yourself if you would actually do it even if you were not paid to do it. Raising this question awakens something that has been dormant within and allows you to refocus. Remember, up until now your path was full of distractions.
Is Fear a Show Stopper?
Then what happens? Why of course…a barrage of doubt fueled by fear and a litany of reasons answering the call cannot be done! I often hear that it is too late now. There is no turning from the path one is on. And because I see it differently, I encourage getting in touch with it because it is a unique gift from God and since His word does not come back void, all the individual has to do is garner courage to at least explore and learn more about true purpose. Nothing is lost by doing so but plenty may be gained!
Having said that, baggage may still exert a hindering influence to goal achievement. The most common associated emotion is fear. Fear, for example, is a powerful detractor. It triggers unfriendly chemical processes within the body that influence perspective and feelings. In fact, fear prevents one from growing when it triggers the “freeze” response and behavior.
In the next article we will look at some of the sources of fear, how it got reinforced, and what you can do to lessen its presence and impact on goal achievement. It is important in your quest for health and wellness to make decisions based on the consideration of options and outcome rather than decisions motivated by fear. Until then…
Join our Health and Wellness Group and participate in discussions with our professional team. You can share your own suggestions as well as ask questions about goal achievement, healthy eating, purpose and calling, energy and more.
Dr. Andrews
