Using meditation to plan your goals in the post-quarantine future
We are focusing a lot this week on goal setting and planning for the future. While the country looks like it will start to reopen soon, we at Bullionite feel it is important to reassess our lives and future goals post lockdown going forward. Perhaps the quarantine has given you time to reevaluate your life and what you want, or perhaps the lockdown has affected your finances and you need to regroup on some of your goals, either way, now is a perfect time for getting your plans in order. Once the world completely reopens, we may not have this opportunity to sit quietly with ourselves for hours for a long time. Today we are going to focus on using your daily meditations to help keep your goals in the forefront of your consciousness. We are going to work on bringing our goals down to a small phrase or word and use that as a sort of mantra or point of focus for our meditation. If you haven't already, check out our previous article on How to Form a Goal in order to get started. Once you have completed the writing and thought exercises there you will be ready to bring your goal(s) to this step.
This is an exercise I used at the beginning of my Master's Degree and I found it truly helped me when I was feeling for a loss of why I was pursuing my degree. I had brought my life goal down to one word, “truth” and even took to writing it in large letters on an index card while on the back of the index card a list of the goals I hoped to accomplish related to that and why. I placed the card on my bedroom mirror where I could look at it everyday. I had a photo in my phone as well if I felt like I needed to look at it. Whenever I started to feel lost or questioned why I was living my life the way I was, I referred to the card and thought about it. From here I was able to assess my current situation and judge myself as impartially as we can judge ourselves.
To begin, take your goal and plans for achieving your goal and look them over. Be sure to have some sort of writing device nearby. Give yourself time to focus on each step and note the emotions the steps convey. Visualize yourself moving through your life accomplishing these tasks, moving through the years till you finally achieve your end goal. Now that you are here, ask yourself, why did you want this goal? Was it for contentment, love, legacy? Jot down a few keywords that come to your mind. For each of these keywords, expound on them. For example, if the key word you found was contentment, perhaps what you write down is feelings of safety, a home of my own, a beautiful family and so on. Feel free to revise and rewrite as many times as needed until you have a keyword and explanation you feel happy with. You can store the keyword in any way you wish. Written on an index card on your mirror like I had once done, saved to the notes in your phone or tablet; written and kept in the nightstand, anyway that makes sense to you.
Once you have this goal and explanation you are now ready to start your meditation for goal setting. Find your place you would like to do your meditation and start with your mindful breathing. Once you feel ready begin your body scan working from your toes to the top of your head, making note of how your body is feeling today, in this moment and in this place. Now that you have an awareness of your body, continue with your mindful breathing and simply be in this current moment. Let your mind open and focus on the now. If thoughts, emotions, ideas, noises distract you, simply acknowledge the distraction and let it fade away. When you feel ready, say your keyword aloud. How does the word feel in your mouth? How does your breath, tongue, teeth, lungs, lips all work together to speak this word? Say the word again, feeling the intonation and the vibration of your voice in the air around you. Say the word a last time and hold onto the feeling it spreads over you, hold onto the echo of your voice in the air, the feeling in your body.
You may stop here, or if you would like to move on to a guided meditation you may continue. Visualize yourself completing your goal. You can make the visual as detailed or as vague as you like, but hold in your mind the feeling of accomplishment and what achieving this goal will have done for your life. Hold this visualization for as long as it serves you, when you feel ready, release the image of your future self and let yourself come back into the present moment. Bring your thoughts back to your breath and recenter your mindful breathing. Wiggle your fingers and toes, rotate your wrists and ankles, stretch your limbs and come back center. Drop your head to your chest and do a few half circle neck rolls before raising your head back and opening your eyes. Give yourself 3 more mindful breaths and stand up. You are now ready to go about the rest of your day with your goals renewed in your psyche.
Do you set goals or 10 year plans for yourself? Have you accomplished goals that you have set for yourself? Reach out to us at info@bullionite.com with any questions or comments.