Owls and Orchids

image from http://www.onextrapixel.com

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders, or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason, and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it.”      Buddha

Creative Direction: It’s a valuable insight at this time of year, it empowers people. We have just taken our first really deep breath after the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving (for those in the US), and Christmas for everyone else. Many of us managed a gulp or two as we were swept between Christmas and New Year before the celebratory madness had its final fling with us.

Now we are into our first week of January and still taking stock, looking for that Creative Direction. Many of us have returned to work or are juggling work and children. Some are fortunate to be on vacation, a wonderful chance to take stock if you are single, but those shops, bistros, clubs, all calling to have more fun whilst we can. Well, thoughts of the year ahead will fall into line when we become more organised; when that Creative Direction is called for to empower us.

image from siobhanb.blogspot.com

For some this can be barely a second thought, and if you can wing it in this way and have a successful year, then all power to you! There are others who have different methods of preparing themselves for the year ahead, meditation, asking or seeking direction from a Higher Power, or another way they have found after years of trial and error which works for them. Empowerment comes from many sources.

As with any varied group of people, you find as many opinions and ways to do things as there are differences between the people in the group. With the best will in the world many people acknowledge that without a ‘plan’ they find themselves drifting along and at the end of the year they haven’t really achieved any of their goals, hopes or dreams. They need to be empowered in order to succeed. It’s one of the reasons journals have become popular again. People realise that keeping a journal imparts a degree of accountability.  It is the same encouragement which holds people to keeping to a limited period challenge, such as a Gratitude challenge, a fitness challenge, weight loss challenge and a self-development challenge or a Creative Direction.

image from http://www.elleuk.com

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs – ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” 

Harold Thurman Whitman : Philosopher and Theologian

~

The thing that keeps people motivated is that they have mini goals to reach and rewards to recognise they have made an improvement in some way. The program teaches them that they need to do this, then, this followed by that, in order to end up so. By no means are they molly coddled or have their hands held, but the guarantee of a reward of some kind as they reach towards their goals is ….. empowering.

I understand that. Some people need to understand each step of the journey and a simple one line instruction or advice is insufficient to get them to stay the course.  They need a structured plan, a Creative Direction, which helps them to see what they need to do and can measure the changes as they occur.  It’s wonderful there are people who have been at the self-improvement ‘game’ long enough that a simple piece of encouragement is all that they need. We need these people so that there is room for those who need the extra motivation.

Anyone who embarks on a weight loss challenge knows it will not be easy. They acknowledge that they may slip up and there are little ‘tricks’ to get them through the special dinners and breakfasts they cannot avoid. Once they are learned and implemented then they can navigate through the smorgasbord of life with more finesse.

image from ffffound.com

The same thing applies with self-development, self-improvement, personal development and even business development. Sometimes coaches or plans are needed to hit the mark. I don’t need a New Year Resolution. The statistics for their success are woeful, almost as bad as a successful marriage. I don’t need those bad vibes dogging my footsteps.

So I’ll stick with a plan, or program which I can keep a record with, so that I know if I’m going astray anywhere. If I make my goal early I can add something else to my plan. Fantastic! From working in various fields I know that a plan which is professionally drawn up, proven and I pay for will keep me motivated to achieve the right ends. My ends!

It’s all too simple. I asked for some help with achieving my health goals, business, family, and so on this year. I asked my Guide and meditated on it. The answer was beautifully simple.

 “Follow the plan Susan, the one you helped create; Life Change 90. You know it works.”

That’s one of the things which can happen when you try too hard to keep business and personal separate… I forgot to think. I had my Creative Direction there all along.  Then again, that damned brain fog has been pretty rugged recently.

 “It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.”    Alan Cohen

image from supersomebody.com –  The Perfect Example

 That’s it… now I’m putting it all to work.

Blessings,  Susan x

© Susan Jamieson  2014