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I’ve been following some of our countries most famous and popular life coaches to observe what they would say or offer at the turn of the New Year. I’ve also noticed countless ads for personal trainers, diet groups, health club memberships and so on. We all know why. These are businesses that offer services that are most attractive to people who are seeking to make changes during the year. There is a ton of great advice, services and products out there to help us.
I’d like to prime your attention to something that I think will serve you as you navigate the field of options. Each available offer will help you in a unique way, but will come at the cost of other offers. So how can we pick the right thing without lunging for another set of fitness DVD’s.
The truth is, the change in the New Year is not incidental to our humanity, our society, and our systems of faith. We just went through the Christmas season, which was conveniently laid over the winter solstice, and now as we start to see the days get longer, we start to mover our eyes towards a warmer brighter day rather than the cold dark days of winter. We are no longer focused on the short-term year end, but on the long term again.
If we pull back we can see that the thing that changed was the anchor point to our life winch. We moved the winch farther out, and now we are less myopic and more hopeful. This is a vital key for future transformation. It is also the best way to move beyond painful experiences.
I really like this time of year for the above reasons, because a change of our life-anchor point is the closest thing we have to a reset button.
The type and location of ones life-anchor has everything to do with making lasting change. For example, maybe you are taking a beach vacation in the Spring, or a wedding, our class-reunion, or some other life event that you are using to pull yourself into better health and appearances. These are all short-term anchors that can serve you well. They are like training for a marathon, a century bike ride or having other fitness goals. But what happens once that special day passes?
If you grasp the concept of the life-anchor, then my advice for you is to pick your anchor point wisely. The farther you put your anchor point out, the more soul-searching and self-discovery you will have to do, but it will allow you to move beyond distractions and setbacks far easier. Picking a close anchor point can give you short term wins but it is like flying by landmarks rather than using destination coordinates.
My second offering is to evaluate your life-Soundtrack. We all have one. We all have life messages that play over and over in our minds. These are the messages that keep us stuck, or fearful, or procrastinating. They also keep us optimistic, hopeful, and energized. Again, if we are to have lasting personal change, we must do the soul-work of identifying our life-soundtrack that is on rotation. If you have a lot of bad soundtracks, then you likely have a very short winch cable. Can you see how these two go together?
I can’t underscore how vital it is to know your life-anchor and your life-soundtrack. These are spiritual realities that fuel the outcomes of our lives. I’d like to give you a fun way to make sure you are keeping these realities consciously in front of you:
Change your real soundtrack.
Look at your song library and make deliberate changes. Make a commitment to add one song per week that brings your attention back to these vital aspects of life. This exercise can help enlarge your spiritual space.
Music is powerful. Lyrics are often poetry in that they get us at a heart level. Pick a song based on content. Pick different artists with different styles of music and begin to look for it out there. You’ll discover a sea of people who are talking about and anchoring to the same big thing, but each in their own unique way. Not only will you have a new song each week that brings inspiration, but you will teaching yourself how to see the Thing behind the things.
If you need ideas, you can go back and sign up for my newsletter where every week I offer a new soundtrack.
Now if all this seems like a distraction from your real or practical goals, then it might be that you are not yet connecting the dots. That’s ok, this takes some time. You see, our practical goals are not end products, like we think they are, they are actually by-products. Only the best coaching will tell you that. We only want better fitness and better finances because ultimately we want well-being or Shalom even if we are not aware of it. Our true wanter is not Buns of Steel, but acceptance or adoration. Our wanter is not a million dollars, its options or freedom.
The Truth is that health and the right disposition toward money flow FROM shalom and not TO shalom. Yes, I know that the worlds soundtrack says otherwise, but that is why I’m offering you this FREE timeless wisdom.
One anchor and soundtrack says a great life comes from having a lot of money or health or privilege, and another anchor and soundtrack says a great life can be had in the midsts of any money, any health and any status or privilege. The choice between the two is made by our faith.
We can chase the Good Life or live it but not both.
Our sorrow is knowing that a good-life exists, but despite our best efforts we can’t possess it. Sorrow means we are living incongruent to our faith. I invite you to test the veracity of these claims. They have been taught for a very long time.
“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity…Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.” Ecclesiastes 5:10,18
Thrive in Exile 