purewellnessamy

Hi -

How are you? The weekend is almost here!

Today, I thought I’d share another introspective exercise that I learned at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN). Did you already work on the Circle of Life exercise?  Did you like it?

This exercise is all about the future, goal setting, and creating the life you want to live.  As Joshua (the founder and lead teacher of IIN) said during this particular class:

“Be clear about the future and it will happen. Most people are very vague about the future. Stop being a victim.”  

Joshua is possibly the wisest, most plain-spoken person I’ve ever met. He says the simplest things in the simplest way. But simple or not, his words usually cause me to have an Aha! moment. This exercise was one of those moments.

Basically, you pick a future date and first write down how old you’ll be, how old your spouse will be, your parents, your siblings, the ages of all the people closest to you. Second, write down what you’ll be doing in your life at that time, professionally and personally. Be specific!

But, let’s first start with a small timeline to get into the swing of things. 

1. Write down what you’re going to do before this coming Sunday night.

When I did this exercise back in November 2006 (before I was pregnant), here is what I wrote:

Do before Sunday night:

Take train home, have a glass of wine, eat dinner, do my nails, organize school stuff.  Shower, take train to class, go to school, have lunch with MA girls, go to hotel, visit Nathalie.

2. Write down what you’re going to do before next Friday, March 11.

From November 2006:

Do by Friday:

Go to Fast Track on Monday, go to office on Tuesday, have dinner with Deb and Katharine. Have MRI on Wednesday, work, make chocolate cake for Thanksgiving, go to Erin’s and enjoy Thanksgiving.  Friday spend time with Pete.

3. Write down what you’re going to do by Easter.

From November 2006

Do by Christmas:

Go to all med appts. to figure out what’s wrong with my feet (ultimately, MS diagnosis), work, shop for Christmas, read for school, go to yoga, go to gym.

4. Write down what you’ll do by Easter 2012

From November 2006

Do by Christmas 2007:

Start a new job in health counseling, get pregnant (accomplished!), buy a new house (accomplished!), pay down credit cards

Okay, now let’s jump into the future.  Now is when you should write down your age and the ages of those closest to you.

How old will you be and what will you be doing in:

March 2013?

March  2015?

March 2020?

March 2030?

Here are some of my future projections:

From November 2006

Doing in December 2008:

I’ll be 38, Pete will be 32. Living in CT with Pete and two kids, working as a health counselor, writing, teaching yoga, cooking healthy meals.

Okay – so I actually ended up living in MA with one child, still working in publishing, not writing much, not teaching yoga, cooking somewhat healthy meals! Oh well!

Doing in December 2011:

I’ll be 41, Pete will be 35, Dad will be 65, Mom will be 62, Terry will be 66, Kerry will be 35, Erin will be 34. We will live in CT or PA or Western MA, we will be earning a lot more money because Pete’s company will have taken off and I’ll be working as a successful counselor/author.

Well, I can tell you now that we will still be living in central MA in Dec 2011. We’ve recently come to the realization that we’ll probably be here for another 5 years. That’s actually what  made me think about this exercise. I did the math and was shocked, SHOCKED to realize that Peter will be 9 years old in 5 years! It’s mind-boggling. Five years doesn’t seem like a long time when you’re an adult, but when it comes to kids, it is a significant amount of time. He’s going to be in 4th grade in 5 years!

Oh, and my husband closed his business soon after Peter was born in 2007. But he’s very happy working for another great company and is doing well. And I’m working as best I can to be a successful health counselor/author! It looks like we’re on our way to creating my projected December 2011 future

So that’s it.  I hope you find the exercise to be fun and helpful!

BE CLEAR ABOUT YOUR FUTURE AND IT WILL HAPPEN.