Ideas to Grow On
January ~ Goals versus Intentions
It's January, New Year's resolution time. How do we see and think about ourselves in this process? This week, I have been mulling over the difference between goals and intentions. Goals seem defined by measurements and markers. We get to check something off our list, or we don't. Intentions, on the other hand, are broader ways of thinking about ourselves and our behavior. Goals are hard and fast. But how many of us really grow the hard-and-fast way? Most of us, in my experience, learn and grow through the experience of feeling safe enough to hang in there with our mistakes and shortcomings. Intentions allow for human error - the missed workout or unanswered emails - but keep us in contact with our ongoing human selves.
When inspiration has become hidden, when we feel ready to give up, this is the time when healing can be found in the tenderness of pain itself.
Pema Chodron, "When Things Fall Apart"
Everything changes;
nothing is lost.
Ovid
The morning wind spreads its fresh smell.
We must get up and take that in, that wind that lets us live. Breathe before it's gone.
Rumi
