Herein lies the problem. Making resolutions inadvertently assumes that there are things that need to be resolved. Dealt with. Settled. Solved. Figured out.

This approach – while well-intentioned – places all the focus on what’s “wrong”. On what you believe needs to be improved upon, changed or even eliminated. It utilizes perception and interpretation of what has been in order to determine what can be now.

What you have believed, thought and been willing and able to accept up till now has got you exactly where you are. Go you! Good job.

But if reaching beyond your current reality is what you seek, a new level of thinking – and a whole lot of imagination – is required.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when creating them.

– Albert Einstein

Don’t get me wrong. Your personality is important. Your own personal genius. Flavor. Uniqueness. Individuality.

But it’s time to let your personality serve your soul – not the other way around. You can’t expect your expansive, inclusive, all-encompassing soul to be fulfilled by a lil’ resolution that was created from the same mind that has, up till now, kept you from the reality you want.

I define the soul as the essence of who we are, despite any human experiences, episodes and encounters. It’s us at our core – beyond our five senses, interpretations and judgments of the world. It’s our natural, beautiful, infinite, peaceful and passionate state of being.

 

From The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav:

(In reference to the writing and works of William James, Carl Jung, Benjamin Lee Whorf, Niels Bohr and, my personal favorite, Albert Einstein – who Zukav refers to as mystics.)

“…in the depths of their own thoughts they each saw much too much to be limited by the five senses…”

“…I came to understand that what motivated these men was not Earthly prizes or the respect of colleagues, but that they put their souls and minds on something and reached the extraordinary place where the mind could no longer produce data of the type that they wanted, and they were in the territory of inspiration where their intuitions accelerated and they knew that there was something more than the realm of time and space and matter, something more than physical life.”

“…what motived these men, and many others, was in fact something of great vision that comes from beyond the personality. Each one of us is now being drawn, in one way or another, to that same great vision. It is more than a vision. It is an emerging force. It is the next step in our evolutionary journey.”

 

What am I getting at here? This: The materialization of our ideas, dreams and visions ends at our own perceived boundaries and limitations.

The answer is not to define a NEW boundary and limitation. It is to accept that there are no boundaries, that the possibilities are truly limitless.

Don’t accept jumping from one lily pad to the next. Leap out of the pond and into the ocean.

What’s motivating you in 2017? What’s your vision? Look deep within your soul for the answers. Don’t resolve. Create freely instead. Allow expansion and openness in your heart and mind.

Here are a few simple steps to get you started:

  1. Start with your head – the mind – and make space. Clear whatever thoughts, judgments, fears, doubts you might have about what has been, what you want and how you’re going to get there.

My favorite technique is to identify the thought. Label it “thinking.” Nothing more. It just is. And then drop it. Let it go. Release attachment.

2. Open your heart. Be receptive to possibility. To not knowing. To trusting. To having faith. To allowing and having willingness to participate and trust things you don’t already know or can’t see.

Try new things. Take chances. Be silly. Allow fear to come and go.

3. Acknowledge and enjoy what the external world then reflects back to you. You will either experience things differently (perspective). Or circumstances and surroundings will actually change (physically). Take time to notice. Celebrate even the smallest of shifts.

As we enter this new year, take this week’s Adventure Challenge! Let go of what you believe you know to be true in order to make room for a new reality and possibilities beyond your current understanding.

This year, instead of deciding what you think you want, maybe it’s time to simply ask, “What now?”

Recommended reads for expanding your mind, heart, soul AND reality in 2017:

  • The Adventuresome Life Blog by Dana Shane  (If you haven’t already, enter your email address below in order to receive FREE weekly tips and tools for living an Adventuresome Life in your inbox)
  • The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav
  • Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard
  • A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle