The Time is Meow!
You heard Hypno-Kitty right folks, the past is the past and new beginnings are upon us. 2016 is here and along with that comes a fantastic array of resolutions aimed at making this the most creative and productive year to date.
I hope that you’re ready because this year promises to be an exceptionally-fantastic one according to the leap year, the alignment of the stars, Abuela Cruzelda’s coffee grinds, and other forms of pseudo-scientific divination. In case you’re still nursing a 2015 hangover, however, I’d like to mention a few things about resolutions and good intentions before we let them slip away through our righteously-calloused, but well-intending fingers.
If there’s anyone guilty of tethering really ambitious goals to weak, dainty strands of desire and then left wondering why incredible things haven’t yet suddenly taken-off, it’s me. What I’ve learned through several trials, mishaps, and small—but significant to me—victories, is that desire simply isn’t good enough. Yes, sorry to say that while positive thinking, affirmations, and properly aligning our imaginations in the right direction are very important indeed, they simply won’t suffice without some serious intestinal fortitude.
To take full advantage of the pristine and unblemished canvas that 2016 offers, it would be helpful to get a good feeling for our intentions at a gut level by documenting them as fully and as vividly as possible. By doing this and then plotting out the necessary steps necessary to making these things happen, we can then move onto taking meaningful and productive action. Before that, though, I highly recommend being as descriptive, and as vivid as possible in committing intentions to paper; don’t let yourself off the hook. Declare all-out war against any of your doubts because that’s what attaining achievement is really all about, a slugfest of inches before miles.
The only real reason I let go of my higher aspirations is due to none other than doubt; fear stems from doubt, so I don’t use that one anymore. I can cite laziness, procrastination, and a whole bunch of other examples of undesirable maladies, but really it’s self-doubt that’s the root cause of my failing to hold true to my most-inspiring visions. I can personally say that once the sweet taste of any sort of victory hits your parched lips, you will be—say it with me—SSSSSSS-AAAAAAYYYY-VVVVVV-EDDD! Yes, saved like a good, old-fashioned revival, for you too will become electrified by the feeling of the profound power behind personal-validation; the treasure behind sincere, all-exhausting effort, divine providence and FAITH!. I’m still learning that this life I envision won’t continue to meet me if I don’t “keep giving the devil his due,” thank you Blue Oyster Cult (mild, unexpected burning-carnage scene warning @ approx 3:20, FYI).
For those interested, and as an added last step, I would strongly advise considering the notion of committing your New Year intentions/resolutions, in actionable language and detail, to paper. Then consider it as your—sometimes blurry with condensation, due to heavy fog—compass and barely-pieced together, foreign road map to accomplishment. No matter how it looks, keep it handy to ensure that you keep heading toward your own “true north.” The quality of effort that goes into articulating your vision, documenting the emotion, the steps, and the clarity of your desired outcome will help you burst through any unforeseen setbacks or temporary roadblocks. Here’s the best part for all of you creative, entrepreneurial and engineering-types, it’s iterative! No matter how bad your first, half-drunken, twisted stick-figure chicken scratch on a half-stained dinner napkin might be, it’s a Da Vinci compared to what’s floating around, untethered, in an otherwise uncommitted mind.
Now that you’ve taken this 2016 victory map and stapled it to your forehead, as I have, never mind the blood, sweat, and tears that, for sure, will come. Instead, let Hypno-Kitty’s smooth, intoxicating gaze lead you to meditate and consider a toast to new beginnings, committed action and to living in the Meow! ;P
Deuces!
–Robert