If this is a holiday time for you I hope you've been enjoying it. As many of you have come to know political correctness is not really on my agenda, while telling the truth and raising consciousness is."

With that in mind, I’ll tell you what I have for you:

• A message about obligation
• A set of tools for setting and achieving your goals and resolutions for 2007

“Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas”? Actually, from my observations, the whole PC thing has turned the holidays into a ‘christMESS’. In the words of psychologist and comedian David Grainer, “the holidays; a time dysfunctional families obligationally get together to piss each other off.” Of course, that’s not necessarily true for everyone, but it sure is for many.

To me, there’s not much that is more satisfying than watching the excitement on a small child’s face on Christmas morning. But let’s face it, outside of that, Christmas is about consumerism. And even though we promise ourselves we won’t swallow it year after year—we do. For most of us, this consumerism that gets rammed down our throats all too often chokes the goodwill out of gift giving.

Let me ask you a question: How many gifts did you give this year out of obligation? Here’s a clue into knowing an obligational gift versus one that came from the heart: If you had a magic wand that would instantly remove the guilt from yourself or judgment from others, how many of the gifts you gave this past Christmas would you actually have chosen to NOT give?
So much of the consumerism we complain about is supported by us, because we end up feeding that hungry beast by virtue of obligation. Why do we do it?

I think you will find that the answer is that obligation consumes us. This is due to our society having contracted a murderous psychic disease I call WWTT. It is a disease that robs the soul of authenticity, robs the heart of passion, and keeps us following beliefs that we may intuitively feel are not true for us—even if they are for those who surround us.

The only way to treat this disease is step into a level of Mind Mastery™ by asking yourself the question: Why have I made what other people think of me so important?

WWTT is an acronym for ‘What Will They Think?’ Here’s what you will want to know:

Most of the time, most people don’t think!

You see, just as you may have been walking around wondering what people will think of you and, as a result, adjusting your personality in order to be liked, most of the people you are bumping into are doing exactly the same. They too are wondering who they should be in order for you to like them. The result:

Very few authentic people.

Now, let me ask you this: Who do we admire? The answer—I think you will agree—are those who stand up for what they believe in, those who own their trust, and are willing to face rejection rather than be inauthentic. People like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, even the Dixie Chicks. So, stop for a moment and think about what this means…

The only way to be genuinely liked—or, for that matter loved, is to stand in your truth.

Here’s one of my quotes on the subject: Those who are committed to being liked by everyone will never know genuine love from anyone. If you bend and twist in order for them to like you eventually you’ll twist enough that you’ll squeeze the authenticity out of yourself.

{josquote}Now you could have been reading this thinking, “Wow, that’s powerful stuff, but when is he going to get to the stuff on goals and resolutions?”{/josquote}

Here it comes: Whatever goals or resolutions you set for 2006 make sure they are your own. Take a minute or two and really question your goals and your resolutions. Are they really about you? Or are they the goals and resolutions you are setting in order to be liked a little more by your brothers, sisters, friends, bosses, peers, or even mom and dad? (By the way it doesn’t matter to your ego mind if they are alive or dead. Approval is gold to the ego mind.)

Anyone can come up with a set of goals and resolutions that sound right, but if they are goals and resolutions aimed at getting approval, you are likely to find a way to not reach them pretty fast.

Here’s an example: Last year I was working with Paul, a successful corporate Vise President, who had a goal to buy a particular model of a new Mercedes. I helped him to get really clear on the specifics of what he wanted: model, year, color of both the exterior and interior and many other details that would make it absolutely real for him.

His goal was to buy the car by March First. March First came and went, as did the entire month, and then April and May. When I asked him why he thought he had not manifested what he wanted, he gave me a long list of what he called ‘reasons’ and I called ‘excuses’.

My statement to him was that ‘it’ (the car), clearly didn’t matter enough to him. If it did, he would have done whatever it would have taken to have gotten the car. Paul wanted to argue about it until I asked him the question I’m asking you:

Who’s approval do you make up you will get by achieving this goal?

I might as well have slapped Paul in the face with a wet cod. He was stunned by the list of names that fell out of his mouth. There was a guy at work who had made a snide comment about how he thought Paul was doing better than to be driving what he was driving. There was his dad, who had always wanted a Mercedes. There was even some woman he had had the hots for ten years ago, who thought Mercedes were sexy.

Sure, Paul liked Mercedes and he certainly wouldn’t mind driving one. But, in truth, there was no genuine passion there; it was not something that mattered enough to him. Paul, like most people, had unconsciously set a goal that was more about what other people would think than it was about what he really wanted.

If you're on a few "Self-Help" lists, you're probably getting a lot of input on how to ‘properly’ set goals for 2006. I am sure they are all full of great stuff, but here’s the basics: It is important to have a goal written down. Goals in your head tend to mutate. In the words of Mark Victor Hansen (co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series):

Don’t just think it, ink it!

It is equally important to make your goal and resolutions specific. As for the goal, go into the details, get all your senses involved… What would it look like, sound like, smell like, taste like, feel like to touch, what would it feel like to have ‘it’ in your life?

If it’s a resolution, do the same:

• What would your life look like?
• What do you hear around you?
• What do you smell?
• What is the taste in your mouth?
• What are you touching now that you have fulfilled your resolution?
• What would it feel like to know you have become what you had resolved to become?

Even more important; write down the reasons why you want this specific goal or resolution. What is it that makes having this in your life so important to you? Here’s a big clue: If you can’t get emotionally charged by what it is you are going for, chances are you will find a way to NOT get it! It is the directed emotion that sets up the quantum wave that draws to you every opportunity to fulfill your desire. The drive to keep going, to accomplish your goal or resolution is not in the thing itself, it’s the “reasons why” that will power you through the obstacles.

So, whether it’s personal, business, health, relationship, make the goal specific, and emotionally charged, because that’s what creates compelling goals that pull you towards what you want and what you want towards you!

This is Dõv Baron, saying time, money, energy and effort spent investing in your authentic self is time, money, energy and effort well spent.

http://www.BaronMasteryInstitute.com