Setting life goals.. and the Reason We Are Here (living our lives.. not on Mumsnet!)

[ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands]

Below I have copied and pasted most of an article I receive reguarly by email in case anyone is interested, about goal setting and 'why we are here'...


"Goals are interesting. They can show the way or they can get in the way, depending upon how we use them.

For years "goal setting" has been touted as the pathway to higher accomplishment. Personal Planners were developed, and in the '80s People of Power were seen carrying them around wherever they went. These were thick, diary-type books, often leather bound, with little tabs for Every Human Thought, Stray Notation, or Activity. Budgeting of one's time was seen as another tool with which to produce Optimum Output and Maximum Effectiveness.

A few years later personal computers became ever more personal, getting smaller and smaller and finally fitting into the palm of one's hand. The Big Fat Leather Books went by the wayside as fast as they'd come upon the scene, replaced by Palm Pilots, Handheld PCs, Blackberrys, Bluetooths, and Huckleberrys. (I just made that last one up, in case you rush out looking for it!)

Today Goal Setting and Day Planning is as ubiquitous as ever. Ours is an achievement-oriented culture, especially, I notice, in the West. Yet I see people asking themselves life's most important question: What is it I am trying to achieve?

Individually as well as collectively, we seem to have lost sight of the target--if we ever had it in sight.

Perhaps this is why our lives are stories of continuing struggle.

....... the difficulty lies at the core of our thinking. Most of us, it says, have no idea of why we are here (with a body, on Earth, I mean), and those of us who do have an idea have an inaccurate one. We're way off base. We're badly mistaken.

Heck, we don't even know who we are. ...(put succinctly)... .... Every problem in life results from a case of mistaken identify.

Once you understand who you are, the "why" of your being here becomes more clear, easier to understand, and exciting to embrace. Yet some people then replace the Inner Peace that this knowledge was intended to bring us with a sense of outer urgency; an urgency to get things done , or to heal the space, or to change the world , or to manifest destiny , or to alter personal reality. Or whatever else we have it on our agenda to do in order to demonstrate our awareness of our true identity, and to help everyone else demonstrate theirs. The irony of this is that this very urgency to establish our identity pushes us away from it.

So what, then, of Goal Setting and Day Planning?

Well, it has its place, so long as we understand the real Goal and the best use of a Day.

By "the real Goal" I am talking here about the goal of the soul, not the goal of the mind or the goal of the body. I have become very clear that these are very different. Profoundly different. I am very clear that our entire lives would change overnight if we could move into an awareness, in the key moments of every day, of The Goal of the Soul.

And we can.

This is something we can do.

Just stop. Whatever you're doing in that key moment, just stop. Stop.

Now ask yourself, Why am I doing this? What am I trying to accomplish? Why have I brought this experience to me? What am I creating here?

That last question is the most important.

What am I creating here?

In the language of the soul that question would be translated as: Who am I, and who do I now choose to be?

You cannot ask these questions in the key moments of our day, however, if you do not know what the "key moments" are. First, you have to notice them, you have to recognize them.

The key moments of your day are the moments in which you feel yourself losing peace, stepping away from joy, falling into confusion, embracing stress. You know when those moments are. You can't miss them."

(This is by Neale Donald Walsh, in which he mentions, (but I edited out) his latest and final book in the Conversations with God series, Home With God. Not read it yet but am going to get it..

Everything NDW says always makes so much sense to me.. but then I suppose it would seeing as much of it allegedly comes from the divine source.. !!

Anybody read Home With God yet or have any comments on NDW?

[wheelsanddollbaby]

Hi thanks for this thread. I have got conversations with God on my bookshelf, along with an army of other half read self-help books. I am going to dust it off and read it.

[ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands]

WADB, the original CwG trilogy, is fab in my opinion. When I first came across Book 1 in the library I dropped it in digust thinking "who does this guy think he is, saying he is talking to God and God is answering!? What a nut!" but when I went back (I was reading my way through the spirituality section at the time looking for answers to questions!) all 3 of the books were in together and I thought what the hell, I'll have a read..

I never knew how a book could be 'life changing' until I read Book 1, which I didn't find comfortable reading but eventually I couldn't put it down and have since consumed everything he has published (except the most recent.. and last.) I have also leant/bought Book 1 for lots of other people (most of whom really don't 'do God' (!) at all.. and it has changed the way a lot of us think. Not saying it has made me a better/happier person (..yet! I wish..) but it's as if a lot of answers have suddenly been pointed out to me, that deep down I already knew.. and I feel like I have something of a clue as to what we're all doing here (although I regularly have to remind myself.)

People of course think I am a 'religious nut' when they see I have a whole shelf of the NDW/CwG stuff.. .. which is crap.. I am not even a 'very good Christian' I don't think.. and less so since I have been reading so much spiritual stuff. I probably have more questions these days than I ever had before.. (I recently did an Alpha course and think I asked too many for them and they are supposed to be for that reason!) but I feel as the big questions are not such a mystery anymore.

Read the CwG stuff even if you don't read the 'other self-help' stuff.. (I have a shelf full of those as well.. "Creating Self Esteem" and "How To Make Your Life Amazing" etc.. .. lol!)

[wheelsanddollbaby]

Hi Shiny....
I bought book one on a friends recommendation, some years ago and have picked it up and put it down on a few occasions because of the things you described - how can this guy talk to God and get these answers? But I am going to perservere with it this time. I hope its life changing even if only a little. I let you know........