Coffee. Today I am thankful for coffee. Heck, I am thankful every day for coffee.
When I wake up in the morning, usually between 4:30 and 5:00 AM, the one thing that actually gets me to swing my big ol’ legs over the side of the bed and plop my feet onto the floor is the thought “Coffee…” (said in a slurred stupor).
I can almost smell the aroma, the sweet coffee shop smell of roasted beans and pastries (minus the pastries… a girl can dream). I can almost taste that first sip on my tongue, with its slight bitterness, nuttiness, creamy mixture of goodness. Sometimes it’s quite hot, sometimes warm from too much cream. I can see the swirl of creamer and the final drip-drop of the cream when you lift up the carton to finish pouring. Sometimes I say those little drip-drops are “dancing”!
ANTICIPATION MAKES IT SWEET
The moment is pure bliss and I get to live it TWICE- once when I get up and start anticipating the moment and once when the actual event is taking place. The first experience is all in my head. For the second, real experience, I take the actions necessary to make it happen, and then I mindfully enjoy the reward of my actions.
Goals can happen in very much the same way. You can think about the experience of achievement beforehand, picturing what it feels like, looks like, smells like, tastes like (in a metaphoric way). You get to FEEL the emotions before you achieve it. Why is that? Because your FEELINGS come from your THOUGHTS, not from your circumstance. So you get to feel it whenever you want- all you have to do it think about it hard. Live it and experience it beforehand and those emotions will DRIVE YOUR ACTIONS toward that goal.
FUELING THE JOURNEY
In fact, most of the emotions you think you will have upon achieving a goal is exactly the emotional combination you need to generate in getting toward that goal! That is why the journey is really the most important part of any goal.
First of all, you spend a heck of a lot more time in the journey than actually hitting an end mark. Secondly, we as humans don’t spend a whole lot of time basking in the achievement of a goal before we are working on another one. That sense of achievement and satisfaction is short-lived. But if every time you work toward something you are fueled by emotions that propel you forward, you will enjoy the journey and be much more equipped to work through the tough times.
And when you look back at your journeys, your sense of overall fulfillment will be AWESOME. I love how Wayne Dyer puts it- the point of your life is to enjoy the dance, not where you land on the dance floor when the music stops.
EXPERIENCE AHEAD OF TIME
Spend time every day experiencing what it will be like when you hit your goals and can look back at the person you became along the way. Feel that pride, feel that growth, feel the pain and agony and the blood, sweat, and tears and the moving past those moments, and the determination to take massive action and FINALLY entering into moments of glory when it all comes together. Think it and feel it and then TAKE ACTION FROM THERE.
