Chapter 4

"When goals become partnered with awakening to God,
it yields a process I call “spiritual goal-setting.” Spiritual goal-setting is a tool for much more than simple acquisition of things and management of
life’s confusion. When goal-setting is spiritualized, results are not the main focus; it is the process we care about. Through the process, we grow,
learn, and awaken.

The goal itself is merely icing on the cake."

Chapter 4: Spiritual Goal-Setting

Modern life can be deeply stressful and confusing because of its complexity. Like a maze with too many directions, life fosters anxiety because it is difficult to know which way to go. This chapter can help you navigate the labyrinth by embracing two big “G” words: Goals and God.

Goals help you define your direction, gather your energy, and cut trough a dizzying amount of distraction. They relieve stress because they provide a conduit for wholesome, positive action.

Inaction fuels helplessness, generating the worst kinds of stressful states of mind: desperation and despondency. We become trapped in habit patterns of negative thinking, blind to opportunities, victimized by powerlessness. Setting goals helps reverse these conditions. By defining targets and taking small, consistent steps toward them, we clear a path through the complexity. Instead of being stuck, we become empowered.

Of course there is much more to life than setting and achieving goals. Life can be shallow and self-centered if it lacks an expansive connection to the infinite creative presence known as God (Goddess, Brahma, Buddha nature, Christ consciousness, Allah, Life, Being, Spirit). When we unite ourselves with a loving, inclusive God, we are lit from within. We no longer feel driven to define ourselves by approval or results. We build a consciousness that can move with equanimity through frustration, fear, and pain. We are naturally inclined to walk what Colleen and Bob MacGilchrist (authors of Match! Simple Strategies for Happily Ever After) describe as “the high road.” High-road decisions are skillful and loving. They reduce stress and minimize conflict because they are responsive, respectful, and collaborative. The MacGilchrists say, “Taking the high road creates a peaceful spaciousness that allows the grace of God to reopen your heart….Conflict can evolve into something easier to
manage, or it can go away entirely.”

What Is Spiritual Goal-Setting?

When goals become partnered with awakening to God, it yields a process I call “spiritual goal-setting.” Spiritual goal-setting is a tool for much more than simple acquisition of things and management of life’s confusion. When goal-setting is spiritualized, results are not the main focus; it is the process we care about. Through the process, we grow, learn, and awaken. The goal itself is merely icing on the cake.

Spiritual goal-setting works in partnership with desire — a tricky combination. Desire creates energy, but it must be steadied with equanimity,
compassion, and a growing sense of being spiritually complete exactly as you are. Otherwise, it spins you in circles, treading over the same tired
ground, generating an inexhaustible drive for more.

The ultimate purpose of spiritual goal-setting is to explore and strengthen qualities of being that bring enduring happiness: loving-kindness,
courage, composure, tenacity, generosity, compassion, insight, and humor. These qualities are beyond the limited world of desire and acquisition. When we operate from a center of divinity that embraces these qualities, we no longer experience stress; we experience liberation.

There are a few foundation principles upon which spiritual goal-setting rests:

  • You are not your thoughts. Your thoughts don’t define you. They are like clouds in the sky. They are generated by any number of stimuli, many of which are grounded in memory and fantasy. You are much bigger than your thoughts. The less you identify with them, the more freedom you’ll feel and the more insight you’ll experience. When an unwelcome thought grabs your attention, you can say, “Oh look, there’s that thought again. Isn’t that interesting?” Meditation practice is an excellent way to develop this skill.
  • You are never alone. Loneliness often seems to walk hand in hand with spiritual awakening. As we expand into our relationship with God, we shed our limiting beliefs and narrow definitions of who we are. This is why it is so important to begin each day with a spiritual practice such as
    meditation or prayer. You step back from your loneliness, seeing the greater picture and the greater you. In the silence, there is comfort and
    warm support from the universe. And you will probably attract new friends and companions who will keep you company along the path.
  • Small steps lead to big triumphs. When working on an important project, people tend to want fast, dramatic results. They devalue small steps, searching for shortcuts and easy answers. Then they wonder why they fail. They forget that every successful path is walked step-by-step. Each step is difficult or impossible to take without having taken the previous step. The more challenging the proj-ect, the smaller the steps may need to be. Marathon runner and author Tawni Gomes trumpets “baby steps” as her primary strategy for changing a lifetime of unhealthy habits; that is how she stepped out of a wheelchair, dropped 100 pounds, and evolved into an athlete and a nationally recognized motivational leader. (www.connectingconnectors.com).

    “Look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”
    — Jacob A. Riis, journalist and social reformer

  • Fear comes with the territory. Stop thinking that fear must vanish before you can start a project. Fear is part of life. You hear it when you’re perched on your growing edge. Tilt your head to listen, and then press on. Demystify the fear by saying, “There’s the same old fear sitting on my shoulder. I’ll just go about my business.” You’ll know in your heart if it is appropriate or paranoid. Attending to fear without losing your emotional balance is a simple, powerful skill that develops quickly with practice.
  • Every day is a new beginning. Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki Roshi says, “In the beginner’s mind are infinite possibilities, in the expert’s mind very few.”17 A beginner’s mind allows for a new view of an old situation. It is especially helpful when you feel like you’re off target, when you’ve made mistakes, or when old, unskillful habits reassert themselves. Through the eyes of a beginner, you can see each day as a new opportunity to wipe
    the slate clean. It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday; today you start fresh with no mistakes. Quoting scholar Edward Said, “Beginning is not only a kind of action, it is also a frame of mind, a kind of work, an attitude, a consciousness.”

How to Set Spiritual Goals

The Buddha talked about the importance of cultivating four states of mind: equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and joy in others’ successes — states collectively known as the “heavenly abodes.” The more they arise, the more happiness we experience. Stress has no room to take root.

Spiritual goal-setting provides a wonderful opportunity for cultivating the heavenly abodes. How? The answer is simple: through generosity. The driving energy behind spiritual goal-setting is generosity. As you’ll read below, every goal is extended into a generous action. The Buddha says that, in a single act of generosity, all four heavenly abodes are experienced equally.

“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.”

— Sir Winston Churchill

Now to the specifics. The process of spiritual goal-setting can be divided into three parts:

  1. Declare your goal;
  2. Define your extension;
  3. Design your process.

Declare Your Goal

Goals must be measurable. Make your goal as specific as possible so that you’ll know when it is achieved. It should also have an end date or condition. On her website (www.chellie.com), educator and businesswoman Chellie Campbell, author of The Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction, defines a goal as a dream with a deadline. Here are a few simple examples:

  • Submit my book manuscript to publishers until a contract is offered and accepted.
  • Finish my yearly status report at the office by the end of this month.
  • Ride my first century (100-mile) bike ride by September 1 of next year.
  • Reorganize the garage (floor cleaned, tools stored, workbench built, excess donated) by Labor Day.
  • Practice at least twenty minutes of daily meditation for the next thirty days.

Define Your Extension

This is where you extend your goal into an act of generosity. Some goals are naturally noble; others need to be expanded a bit. Find a way to serve others with the goal you have set for yourself. Here are a few examples:

  • Once I receive my book contract, I’ll donate at least 10 percent of my advance to the local animal shelter.
  • Once I finish my status report, I’ll take my spouse out for a special dinner.

    • After my first century bike ride, I’ll contact my neighborhood association to organize a ride for the kids.

  • After the garage is reorganized, I will host a “thanks for the help” party for my kids and their friends. I’ll also surprise them with a special storage cubby for their book bags and coats.
  • After one month of daily meditation, I’ll volunteer a full day of service to my church in celebration of my commitment to practice.

By extending your goal into charitable action, you fuel your enthusiasm for achieving it. Each act of charity brings you happiness in three ways: the pleasure of the planning, the joy of actually doing it, and the warmth of the memory. Generosity is a delight and a relief. It is the ultimate stress reducer. Through generosity, the uptight, demanding energy we sometimes bring to our projects is either expelled or never really has a chance to develop.

My friend Bob complained about this step. “Why should I extend my goal into a generous action? I already put in a million work hours to support my family. My whole life is a generous action!”

Let me clarify: The idea is to include generosity as part of your goal; it doesn’t have to be a staggering effort. Make the extension something you will enjoy or care about doing. For example, if Bob decides that he is going to submit his taxes on time this year, he could extend his goal into a special trip to the park with his children.

Like Bob, you may be burdened with “daily grind” responsibilities that feel emotionally and spiritually empty. You’re probably careful not to squander what little energy you have left at the end of the day, but energy and happiness grow from sharing, not hoarding — from emptying your cup so that it may be filled again. This is accomplished by acts of conscious, open-handed generosity. It may be challenging to get started, but no lesson is more important to learn.

Design Your Process

This is where you divide the goal-setting process into bite-sized pieces. There are a thousand ways to do this, but my favorite is to reverse-engineer the project. I take the end product (the goal) and work backward using a calendar to schedule interim goals. Walking backward through time, I usually get a pretty solid list of tasks. I write them in pencil because I’ll probably need to rework them as the process unfolds. I then look at the task closest to the present and divide it into smaller steps. Once I finish working with one task, I’ll divide up the next task on the calendar. Sometimes reverse engineering isn’t required. Every goal, every situation is a little different; you have to be flexible.

Naturally, you want to be able to check off your interim goals as you accomplish them, but busy people always live complicated lives. You’ll probably need to reschedule and perhaps even renegotiate the end result. When you’re stymied and you can’t see around the corner, try taking even smaller steps. Big leaps can work, but they tend to be intuitive and serendipitous — an unexpected confluence of circumstance. It’s a case of fortune favoring the prepared.

A final word about this process: always include quiet time for meditation or prayer. Try starting and ending your day with a spiritual practice. It will help transform a potentially self-centered effort into an openhearted, creative sharing of universal abundance.

Common Excuses for Not Setting Goals

When people don’t set goals, they usually have good excuses. I’ll discuss some of the most common excuses and offer a spiritual perspective on each.

I Can’t Pick a Goal

Some lucky folks have only one aspiration weighing on their minds, making it easy to choose a goal. Others can’t seem to focus on anything specific. They’re either overwhelmed with possibilities or they’re indecisive and nothing stands out. In either case, there are many ways to get around it. Try any of the following suggestions:

  • Choose a goal that’s easy to meet. Build your confidence by starting small.
  • Work on organization first. That is, pick a goal that provides a foundation for your efforts: clearing your desk, organizing your files, updating your software, cleaning out your closet. It’s much easier to start an important project when your world is more orderly.
  • Pick something that involves another person. Working as a team is a great way to keep up your motivation and energy.
  • Divide goals into two groups: complicated and simple. Pick one from the “simple” side.
  • Which goal do you instinctively turn away from? Perhaps tackling the most challenging goal first is the best way to wake up your energy.
  • Write some goals on little pieces of paper and stick them to a dartboard, then throw a dart at them. Voilà! Your goal is selected!
  • Try something off the wall. Take up aikido or decide to grow vegetables in your yard. A new project can be revitalizing and will generate energy for the other goals on your list. This is because energy and momentum empower you. Their positive effects are felt throughout your world, not just in one area.
  • Have your best friend choose a goal for you. Often, friends can see things you can’t. Enlist your friend as a goal buddy to help define your direction and support you when you feel like giving up.

The Spiritual Perspective: Relax. It doesn’t matter which goal you choose. All actions foster awakening — the real purpose of your existence. If you’re feeling particularly burdened by the decision process, ask for comfort and direction during prayer time. Then get started on something — anything — and listen for your guidance to come through action, not idleness.

I’m Not Motivated

Most people expect to ride motivation like they might surf a wave. They hang back, biding their time, assuming that the perfect curl will suddenly appear and carry them easily. They say things like: “I’ll start that project when I feel motivated,” “I’m just not ready, I guess,” or “It’s not the right time yet.”

The problem is that motivation is unpredictable; it waxes and wanes with your circumstances and emotions. For example, if you sprain your back, fear can motivate you to take up yoga. If your check bounces, embarrassment can motivate you to balance your checkbook. Events are as unpredictable as the incentive they generate. Don’t wait. Enthusiasm and motivation build up faster and more reliably when you take action first.

The Spiritual Perspective: Emotional states are interesting, powerful, and compelling, but they should not be the only fuel you use to generate action. When you center yourself in Being, you become open to the infinite source of energy that never runs dry. That source doesn’t rely on emotion or circumstances, and its foundation is generosity of spirit. From this vantage point, you take action because it is your divine nature to do so.

I Don’t Follow Through

Think about how upset you would feel if your best friend told you that you were no longer trustworthy. You’d need to have a long honest talk, then make it a priority to follow through with your promises. Well, you also have a trust relationship with yourself. When self-trust is weak, you don’t believe in your own ability to follow through with commitments. You resist meaningful projects. If you do try something big, your stress load will shoot way up and you won’t be able to tolerate the burden. You’ll give up.

Fortunately, trust in yourself is something you can rebuild. First, you must release the vision of yourself as untrustworthy. This is more difficult than it first appears because unreliability has a payoff: someone else does the hard stuff, and you get to take it easy. But doing hard stuff builds self-confidence and self-respect; it crafts your character. Hard projects are typically more interesting and satisfying to complete. If you don’t take on hard stuff like maintaining relationships, staying healthy, or meeting career goals, you become boring and colorless. You never dance on your growing edge. You stagnate.

Second, you must forgive yourself for your past bad behavior. Continued blame and self-hatred will undermine your efforts. Guilt and blame don’t change the past. The best way to make up for past wrongs is by making better choices. Remember, energy follows thought. If your dominant thinking remains self-destructive, it will be hard to change your behavior — and this is the kind of “hard” you’d be smart to avoid. Consider attempting a project that you feel reasonably sure you can complete successfully. Lost trust is like muscle tone; it can be regained, but you have to start small and build it up over time.

The Spiritual Perspective: Belief in yourself can always be rekindled. Every moment is an opportunity to live up to new standards of accountability. Every decision is a fresh chance to take the high road. When you meditate or pray, fill yourself with an image of self-forgiveness. This could be a feminine energy such as Kuan-yin or Mother Mary, a teacher such as Jesus or Buddha, or even a simple warm light. Dotti Coon, proprietor of the busy website “Dotti’s Weight Loss Zone” (www.dottisweightlosszone.com) knows all about the importance of beginning again. Her motto: “One day at a time, no guilt, and move on.”

I’m Afraid of Failing

Everyone is afraid of failing. Some of us are afraid from the get-go, others are afraid of failing after we succeed (that’s called fear of success). Even though we understand that successful ventures almost always follow several past failures, emotionally we still see failure as final — no second chance. It’s almost a primitive fear. We’ll do anything to avoid failing, even if it means never getting started.

Failure is nothing more than feedback; it’s information. When you fail, you learn something. Next time, you’ll have more data and a better chance at success. Of course, this is only so much intellectual mumbo jumbo until you put it into practice. Here are a few suggestions:

  • Reframe failure as a positive experience. Failure means that you did something, you took a chance, you had courage, you didn’t play it safe. As the saying goes, when you hit a speed bump, at least you know you’re moving.
  • Remember that failure is relative. I may feel bad because I failed to catch a fish, but the fish feels pretty successful. Even my most spectacular failures (oh, there were some good ones!) produced positive results somewhere down the road. Every failure contains the seeds of victory.
  • Rehearse success. Determine which problems you’re most likely to encounter and practice handling them successfully. Rehearsal is a standard stress-reduction technique used by speakers, athletes, and actors. Try practicing some of my favorite responses, such as, “So what?” “Who cares?” “Big deal.” “Oh, well.” “Go figure.”

The Spiritual Perspective: Everything fits inside God — even experiences like failure. All experiences have value. This perspective doesn’t excuse bad behavior or discount negative events, but it does provide a context for handling them. When you make the decision to find a positive outcome, something wonderful can happen in the unseen.

I’m Too Old, Young, Disabled, Tired…

Some excuses masquerade as good reasons. For example, fifty years ago being physically disabled would have been a good excuse to avoid competitive sports. But today people with disabilities are encouraged to participate in many forms of physical activity. We even have the Paralympics, in which elite disabled athletes are judged by their achievements, not their limitations.

People allow all kinds of limitations to keep them from living large. They become what writer Spalding Grey calls “vicarians,” living through others because they believe they can’t do it themselves. Don’t settle for being a vicarian. Life is too wonderful to limit. Tailor your goal to fit your capabilities. Start with small tasks, then gently, slowly, reach beyond your comfort zone. Find your edge and inch past it. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish — and at the fun you’ll have.

The Spiritual Perspective: See yourself as a whole spiritual being, regardless of how limited you may feel. When you center yourself in a quiet frame of mind and consciously align yourself with infinite possibility, you’ll find the courage to touch the edges of what can be. Because energy follows thought, your first small step toward a goal helps you take more and more steps in the same direction. You can go much farther than you think.

Goal-Setting Hints and Tips

Here are a few ideas to help you meet your goals with greater ease and less anxiety.

Identify a Grail

Most people seem to remember (and often relive) their tragic failures in greater detail than their stirring successes. This is especially unfortunate because energy always follows the dominant thought pattern. If your primary focus is on failure, guess what you’ll probably continue to experience? You would be smarter to ponder your successes and stash the failures as reference material.

Years ago, I participated in an organization that promoted structured experiences they called “grails.” A grail was an exceptionally challenging goal — the object of a difficult quest, an undertaking that taxed a person to the core. I realized that I didn’t need to engineer a grail because my life was built on them: learning to walk, riding a two-wheeler, surviving high school, and recovering from relationship and health crises. Military boot camp is a classic grail experience, as is Outward Bound. Grails give us the opportunity to say, “If I can do that, I can do anything.”

Take a look at your life and bring to mind a grail that you achieved — a big success. Think about the challenges and struggles you endured. If you can’t find a grail in your repertoire of experience, then look at what you’re working on now. You may have a grail in process. Keep the thought of your grail close to your heart because it is a strong magic. It reminds you in no uncertain terms of what you’ve already accomplished. It fuels belief in yourself and empowers you to persist. If you can do that, you can do anything.

Devise a Routine

Old, unhealthy habits are always ready to return. Sometimes it feels like everything and everyone is sabotaging your noble intentions. When you’re tested by such forms of interference, your resolve can drain away. This is the time for a constructive routine to save the day.

For example, when I decided to start swimming regularly, I established a routine of packing my gym bag the night before, draping my swimsuit and sweats over the dresser, and storing my shoes next to the bed. When the alarm clock rang, I rolled out of bed, donned my swimsuit, sweats, and shoes, then headed out the door, gym bag in hand. I was in the car turning the ignition key before I thought to complain about it being so early in the morning.

I still have thoughts like, “Oh, just stay in bed one more hour.” But my routine prevails because it’s a habit; habit kicks in when the flesh is weak. I don’t have to think much about it. If you are ready to tackle a goal, take a good look at the areas where you’re most likely to blow it. Plan a routine to handle the negative influence, then practice it. A positive routine is one of your greatest allies.

Release and Redefine a Goal

When we decide on a goal, we must commit ourselves to it. Otherwise, why bother? On the other hand, as we progress down our path we may find that the goal needs to be adjusted or even released. We often grow beyond our goals. Yet some people cling to them like outdated hairstyles. (“Well, it used to look good on me.”) We’re afraid to set a new direction because it seems like we’ve already missed the mark.

When I was in college, my goal was to be a psychologist. As I neared completion of my degree work, I became distracted and bored. Graduate schools favored a research orientation that didn’t interest me. I was a mediocre student. My goal seemed to fizzle. For a while, I felt like a failure. Then I realized that I needed to stop whining and create a new goal. I didn’t have an ultimate career in mind, but I knew my strengths, so I became a technical writer and eventually a computer programmer. After many years, I redefined my goals and returned to writing. I take Anne Sullivan’s words to heart:

Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose — not the one you began with perhaps, but one you’ll be glad to remember.

Expand Your Perspective

If you look closely at the area around your eyes, you’ll likely see small lines and flaws, some inherited and others earned. It’s easy to fixate on these imperfections if you keep staring at them. But if you step back, you’ll notice that the imperfections work together to create your unique, special face.

Obstacles blocking your goal are like the imperfections of your skin. When you focus in too closely you’ll lose your perspective and give the obstacles more influence than they probably merit. Instead, step back. Look around the issue and don’t be so myopic; you’re less likely to be derailed by it.

Stay Open at the Top

As you work toward a goal, whether it’s the embodiment of a quality or the completion of a project, stay open about the end result. Yes, it’s important to set specific, measurable goals; that’s how you know when you’ve reached them. However, it’s entirely possible that, no matter how carefully you strategize, your plans will steer you into unforeseen territory. If you keep your options open, you’ll be able to respond quickly and proactively. When a plan goes awry, it may just mean there’s something better cooking.

For example, a friend who was anxious to be a mother learned that her body wouldn’t support pregnancy. Devastated but not destroyed, she decided that there was more than one way to start a family. She researched foster care, Big Sisters, and domestic and foreign adoption. Ultimately, she decided to adopt a child from China. “My world is bigger and brighter because of my daughter and her birth culture,” she said. “What seemed like the end of the world was actually just the beginning.” My friend stayed open even though she was hurting inside. She didn’t shut down, and the result was better than anything she could have dreamed up herself. When you stay open at the top, you make room for miracles.

The Spiritual Practice

All goal-setting processes should be supported by daily meditation or prayer. Both practices can open your heart and teach you to hear the infinite. Both will transform goal-setting from a self-absorbed ritual into an openhearted evocation of universal creativity.

Prayer is a simple, elegant practice that varies from religion to religion. If you don’t know how to pray but would like to learn, try reading Prayer Is Good Medicine by Dr. Larry Dossey or talk to your minister or rabbi about techniques.

I’m a big fan of meditation. There are countless books that describe how to establish a daily meditation practice. Some of my favorites are listed in appendix 1. In my book Meditation for Busy People, I offer an uncomplicated four-step system that incorporates prayer. Here’s a summary:

Step 1: Relax

Sit in a comfortable position with your back supported. Avoid lying down, which makes you more likely to fall asleep. Either focus your eyes on the floor in front of your feet, or close them completely. Mentally sweep through your body, telling your muscles to relax. Take a few deep breaths and release all the air from your lungs, imagining the tension in your body flowing away with your outgoing breath. Allow your muscles to unwind and your hands to open. The idea is to minimize internal physical distractions as much as possible.

Step 2: Center Yourself

Using your breath as a focal point, find a place around your nostrils or the back of your breathing passages were you can feel the flow of air. Feel its temperature. Pay attention to each breathing cycle. If your mind wanders off into distraction, gently bring it back to your breathing. Don’t become upset or angry with yourself. This isn’t about force; it’s about patience, tolerance, and — most of all — persistence.

Centering helps you delve into the spaces between your thoughts. In those spaces, you can find solutions to problems. Centering also cultivates mindfulness — the ability to witness what is going on without getting lost in it. When you’re mindful, you stop behaving like a slave to habitual reactions and unconscious, counterproductive behavior; there’s room in your heart for compassion, understanding, and new responses.

Step 3: Pray or Visualize

If you find comfort in prayer, this is an excellent time to do it. Your mind is settled and your body is quiet; you’re primed for inspired thinking. You could also creatively visualize your goal being accomplished. Creative visualization involves imagining yourself experiencing completed goals or desired feelings. The key is to mentally use all your physical senses; whatever you’re imagining, try to see, feel, taste, smell, hear, and touch it. Immerse yourself in it. You’re making a blueprint of your desired experience in your mind.

Step 4: Release

Release is the wrap-up portion of your quiet time. It bridges the gap between meditative and everyday awareness levels. It also reinforces the entire experience, making subsequent sittings easier to approach. Simply take a very deep breath and begin to move your fingers and toes. This reconnects you with your body. Next, acknowledge yourself for having allowed this experience to take place. If your quiet time was rewarding and uplifting, that’s great. If you were restless, distracted, or bored, that’s okay, too. Observing all mental states teaches you how capricious they are. You can practice not taking them too seriously.

When to Set a Goal

There is some danger in overstating the importance of spiritual goal-setting. All of us experience times when we flow effortlessly with life. Many great achievements are intuitively guided. Many tasks can be completed without struggle. So when should you consider spiritual goal-setting as an option? Here are a few suggestions:

  • When you want to do something, but never get around to it;
  • When your blood pressure is rising from too many projects in the works;
  • When your resistance to a goal increases as you near its completion;
  • When you feel unmotivated about a goal;
  • When you’re frustrated because you seem to be repeating the same mistakes;
  • When you’re afraid to tackle something important because you might fail.

Spiritual goal-setting is a tool for dealing with resistance and challenge. If you’re not experiencing resistance, then you don’t need to do it. But if you’re at your wits’ end from slogging through stress, distraction, and meaninglessness, then spiritual goal-setting can make a difference.

At some point in my life, I realized that no white knight was going to ride up and present me with a fit body and a happy mind. Stress wasn’t going to just fade away on its own, and neither were my unhealthy habits. My life trajectory wasn’t good. So I put one foot in front of the other. I decided that I didn’t want to live with anxiety attacks, chronic health problems, and postponed happiness. I was sick and tired of it. Day by day, I started to make small changes in my behavior and my outlook.

I hope that by reading this book, you, too, will decide to make stress reduction a priority. You don’t have to live in the hell of anxiety. There’s a way through it. You can find peace in this chronically anxious world. If I can do it, anybody can do it. It may not be easy, but so what? Life is supposed to be challenging and interesting and full of surprises. There’s no time like the present to start appreciating it.

“The place you are right now God circled on a map for you.”
— Ibraham Hafiz