The Theme of Goals; There Is No Place Like Home

“You were able to get there any time, dear. Just tap your heels together and say, "There is no goal I can’t reach, there is no goal I can’t reach, there is no goal I can’t reach.”

OK...so I took some liberties with that infamous quote from the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy finds that she always had the power to get home. (Uhh, thanks Good Witch Glenda for that little piece of info, by the way. Would have been extremely helpful before the flying monkeys came around!)

But now that I think of it, I guess that is the point of it all. We all have to take our own journey down the Yellow Brick Road or we don’t appreciate the joy of the journey. But when it comes to those dastardly things called “Goals”, we are not unlike Dorothy at all, are we not? But the difference is that we are probably more like the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow; We lack courage, a heart and a brain and become nothing more than fodder for the flying monkeys.

Now, as a Now Moment thinker, this may seem a bit odd me talking all goals and such, but I assure you I am still imminently in the Now Moment. Goals are our “Opening Night” as we relate theatrical endeavors. We set them up and then we rehearse each and every Now Moment towards being ready for them when it is time. Where most fall down in the process is not so much in the setting of Opening Night, but in the rehearsal schedule.

What do I mean?

You see, before we ever even audition for the people to fill the roles, we have to have a rehearsal schedule in place. The roles, of course, are the people and events that have to happen to fulfill our goals. Even if it is a somewhat focused goal, as the old saying goes, “No man is an island”. No matter what the goal is, there are most likely people and circumstances that involve others to get you to Opening Night; that which is your goal.

Where we become heartless, brainless and lacking in courage is that we set an ambitious goal and then just say it over and over like that is supposed to give it some type of meaning and never bother to set a rehearsal schedule. In fact, like most New Years resolutions, we set it, and go full force into it and then burnout as we realize it is seemingly unattainable. It would be like giving an actor chosen for a show the script, telling him or her that we will rehearse the play tonight, learn it all, and open tomorrow night.

Can you imagine the horror?

Anyone who has ever acted can tell you of having dreams of that very fright. Curtain opens and you know none of your lines.

The point is that the rehearsal schedule for your goals is really no different. By breaking the goal into tiny little rehearsal-night pieces, you ready yourself for Opening Night one Now Moment at a time.

Opening Night is out there but here is the difference between the egoic nature and Now Moment thinking. The egoic nature has you obsessing about all that might, could or should go wrong on Opening Night, forgetting about rehearsing. Now Moment thinking says, we are as excellent as we can be in this Now Moment and are confident that Opening Night will reflect our excellence in each Now Moment.

Set your rehearsal schedule before you audition for the show and the theme of your goals will always be peace in your Now Moments. You then will indeed be able to tap your feet and say, “There is no place like home.”

Let me know your thoughts below, get on the newsletter list HERE, and share with your friends, for the more people we have living successfully in this Now Moment and discussing the value of doing so, the higher we lift all others around us.

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DA Southern is a Now Moment coach, teaching the spirit of living in Now Moments with the principles he experienced during over 35 years as an actor and director in live theatre. DA coaches his clients to rid life of limiting beliefs that have kept them from achieving miracles in all areas of their life by embracing the beauty of this Now Moment with a renewed passion for life. Contact DA Southern for coaching @ directyourownlife@gmail.com

It's Not the Resolutions But the Questions We Ask to Become Better

 What is it About New Beginnings That the New Year Brings?

As a Now Moment Coach, I am often amazed at the hoopla given to a calendar date as is New Years Day. At the core of it all, I understand the significance of the celebration, but it is all fairly predictable, is it not?

Let me give you the cycle of discussion, such as it is, that we are exposed to during this time and the various stories that are written about that are inspired to feed your egoic nature..

The various "Best" and "Worse" lists in whatever you are interested in. (Either you are cool by being connected with the “Best” or you are made to feel better about yourself because something is worse that you in some way.)

Resolutions - the making and then, breaking, of them. (Again, we are losers for wanting to do something because we are lacking in some way to make them to begin with and then again for failing at our lack mentality when we break the resolutions.)

Weight loss/Health - We are evidently "guilty" of eating too much over the holiday period and are all a bunch of fatties and now we must "get in shape" or, at least, be shamed to think as much. (Here is simply a lack mentality of how you see yourself. Do you need to shape up? Maybe, but on your own terms, not someones dictates on how you should feel about yourself.)

Damn Ego needing to be fed!

But, I make no judgements. As a coach, it is my mission to bridge the gap between the feelings of anxiousness that does indeed accompany this time of the year according to the calendar and the truth of Now Moments that we all must exist in.

First, let me say that there are some things that I do appreciate about this time of the calendar year.

For one, people, by and large, are in better spirits, or, if nothing else, at least open to renewal. Also, great questions are asked to help you focus. It’s just too bad that we don’t engage this way at all times. Well, I mean to change that for you.

What do I mean?

  Well, people get reflective and tend to dwell on successes and failures of the year past (Usually, more on the failures as that is the proclivity of the human experience) and will ask thought-provoking and reflective questions that tend to refocus their efforts into the New Year.

This is good at its core, as it is great to be always evolving into a better you, but the drawbacks are that the thinking is most always future-based on an experience that is based firmly in the past, completely negating the present Now Moment, which is exactly what the ego desires. Keeping you tied up in the past (failures) and hopeful of a better future, keeps joy from being completely present in this Now Moment.

Yes, we are to learn from past experiences, but not to the point that they glorify some future that doesn't exist as of yet. This the very nature of Now Moments. The past is simply a guide and the future is but an experience of Now Moment Actions. So this is the Moment that matters. Your past does not dictate your future. You dictate your future right NOW.

To Direct Your Own Life means you ask the right questions in each Now Moment. This is the important part of the questioning process; It is not someone else who may have a desire for the path you think you must take, for the goal will always be moving and the future will never be anything more than murky. It must be your journey alone that incorporates those around you. Therein lies the happiness factor; the individual journey taken with joy that lifts those around them in that same wake of joy. It is a universal law.

  Remember, again, it is not so much the state we are in, but the questions we must ask to free us so as to move forward, and, yes, some of that may mean we have to ask tough questions about the reason we are here in this present Now Moment state not to dwell in the past but to see the framework of this moment and adapt and change as needed.

By looking at the process as if you were in a theatrical production, it is essentially the rehearsal process here. We have rehearsed certain scenes to this point and we understand that we are now ready to rehearse another part of the play. We look back at the last scene to understand the context for this next stage of rehearsal. The past, the last scene, was merely a set up for the current piece we are rehearsing. It has no baring to the future but to set it up and work together to make the play all make sense at the end.

That is the framework of the questioning process; to set up the framework for the next scene of your life. Just allow it to flow and appreciate the journey to this point and allow the questions to guide you into the next Now Moment.

In the end, it is a matter of perspective and allowing yourself to flow in that place of peace that you must find to allow yourself the freedom to move forward.

For some reason, beer commercials always seem to have great slogans, but it is not the drinking that propelled me to like this, but the message of finding yourself in that happy place where you are free to create.

The slogan is "Find Your Beach" and it is great for the disgrace that are resolutions in general as well is the comparing of the past "failures" to some future happiness.

Indeed, if you do find your beach and allow an organic way of living to become your new reality, you will have no choice but to embrace this Now Moment alone.

This will be your guiding emotion for the Now Moments that make up your future.

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DA Southern is a Now Moment coach, teaching the spirit of living in Now Moments with the principles he experienced during over 30 years as an actor and director in live theatre. DA coaches his clients to rid life of limiting beliefs that have kept them from achieving miracles in all areas of their life by embracing the beauty of this Now Moment with a renewed passion for life. Contact DA Southern for coaching @ directyourownlife@gmail.com