Of course it’s that time of year when we are invited to set personal goals and intentions. Commit ourselves to the changes – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual – that we know will help us to improve our path in life and make better contributions. We also know that in many cases these might last a few days or even weeks but not actually take hold.
Engaging our will is an act of discipline where we go beyond our perceived limitations and lethargies toward our stated objective. When we think of discipline we often think about the mind and the degree to which we can establish ‘mind over matter’. However without also engaging the heart in this process it can feel very arid and heavy, almost becoming a burden or a pathway to self-punishment or guilt for failing to achieve what we set out to do.
If, however, we activate our discipline through the heart, we enter a whole new realm, imbued with love, passion, relationship, connection and a sense of care and well-being. The picture of personal growth or change before us now becomes more textured, more colourful, more meaningful. It’s no longer about doing something because I ‘should’ or ‘have to’ but because we are in loving relationship with the quality, value or impact doing it will have. Even something as basic as intending to lose weight can become an act of self-care and self-love rather than a denial of foods we like. We invest ourselves differently to find solutions that support our motivations to achieve the intention.
Imagine then scaling this to the global changes need in the world today. Starting with the lens of the heart we open ourselves to the qualities and beauty that a change of behaviour, process, mind-set can bring. We almost literally fall in love with the idea of the change which in turn brings the needed motivation to support the will in its job of keeping us on track.
What if politicians, social leaders, business leaders and indeed each of us, were to fuel change through the heart – imagine the world we could create. That feels like a more inspired way toward new year’s resolutions.