Setting Goals is an Ongoing Practice of Beginning Again and Again and Again

All my best-laid plans…

For all of the goals I have set, the intentions I have made over the years, not all have been achieved. Time becomes the great equalizer. It has taught me that without commitment to myself, there is no goal or intention that can be achieved. And even with commitment,  it’s time and and the business that invites me to begin again and again.

Generally, I know what’s good for me, I know what would support my most vital thriving self. And yet, do I always make those choices? Nope. Do I make them most often? Not always that, either.  We often steal from our best selves by making short sighted decisions. Decisions that don’t serve our higher self, our long term goals, our intentions .  

Asteya, the third Yama, Non-stealing, invites us to begin again, in each breath, each day, and look at how we can feed our most vital self.

When We get tired, overwhelmed, out-of-balance in this way or that, we often fall off of our commitments to the choices that will keep us moving in accordance with our deeper intentions. So what to do in the spin of behaviors that can lead us away from our own health and happiness? How do we learn NOT to steal from our own vitality?

We begin again.

Beginning again is itself a practice. As Pema Chodron says in Start Where You Are, “We are one blink away from being fully awake.” This reminds me that as far away as I may feel from my goals, they are just a breath away.

My yoga practice reminds me that I can begin again simply by remembering the incredible gift of this moment, this breath. It reminds me to drop my self-criticism when I meander off the path and to return to my intention so that I may recalibrate my moment-to-moment choices and inner dialogue.

The thing about coming back to the present moment is there’s no time to berate yourself for having failed to align your actions with your Intentions.  In this present moment You ARE your whole self, awake and vibrating without the burdens of the “shoulds” or the “what ifs.” In this present moment, I am brought back to the calling of showing up as my best self, in this breath. There is no before or after. There is only NOW.

One of my favorite quotes..”If you are not here, you are nowhere...” And it’s only when I meet myself in that present place that I can align most fully.

So the next time you find yourself straying from the path that brings you closer to yourself, I invite you to simply blink and meet yourself where you are, in witness. I invite you to leave your inner judge and jury behind and move forward in THIS breath into your best self. 

And the entire team at Inspired will be here, ready for you, wherever you are on your current health and wellness path. We are here, lighting the path forward.

Jennifer Fujii
Inspired Fitness Training Center, Founder & Owner