New Year Commitments:  Really Manifesting What You Desire

 “. . .Nothing positive can happen in our lives unless we are willing.”

 —Anne Wilson Schaef

“Try to realize and truly realize that what stands between you and a different life are matters of responsible choice.”  --Gary Zukav

 Every year in January, many of us make New Year commitments with the desire to make profound changes in our lives.  We often start out with a strong feeling of commitment and find ourselves sabotaged (sometimes even by ourselves) at some point on the journey. Disillusioned, we may decide that we can’t have what we truly desire.  So, how do we hold onto the energy necessary to focus our effort and create quality of life changes that we desire?

 It is my belief that we go through four primary stages in our lives at varying times and in cyclical ways. 

Those stages are:

Awareness

Willingness

Surrender

Action. 

 How to move through these four stages is the basis of the teaching of Leading from the Heart.  In the stage of Awareness we gain new information in a variety of ways.  We often expand our comfort zone and open a field of possibility for ourselves.  Have you encountered a new idea or heard a new concept and felt that it opened you to a new possibility?  This is common in the stage of awareness.

 The stage of awareness is exciting.  However, sometimes a person may stay in the field of awareness, knowing what she or he needs to do, without ever actually moving into action.  This is why the second stage is critical.

 The second stage—Willingness—is key.  In the words of Anne Wilson Schaef, “Nothing positive can happen in our lives unless we are willing.”  When we want something for ourselves but then decide that we may not have it (especially decide that we don’t deserve it), we divide our energy against itself. 

 Willingness as a stage of growth involves making a conscious commitment to stay enlightened about a specific issue and to see yourself into action with it.  For example, if you desire greater balance in your life, are you willing to restructure your time to create that balance with a conscious commitment?  While awareness opens the field of possibility, willingness sets the field in motion.  This is important to understand, for willingness is the key to holding consciousness.

 The third stage is Surrender.  If you have experienced surrender, you know that when you surrender you recognize that the energy you need to stay willing may be more than you can manifest without support.  You often set up a structure for yourself that allows you to hold consciousness.  For example, if the change involves transforming a deep-seated belief, you must analyze this belief and how it impacts your life as a way of surrendering and moving through it. Understanding it alone, though, is not enough; being willing to give up the belief and the corresponding behavior is critical for real change to occur.  The stage of surrender is a place of endings and beginnings.  It is about giving up the need to control the outcome.

For example, if I fear rejection, I must engage in activities that allow for the possibility of rejection in order to move beyond the fear.

Finally, Action is the fourth stage and natural outcome of surrender.  Action is the place of manifestation.  When we are aware, have been willing to hold conscious intent and to surrender to movement, we find ourselves manifesting our heart’s desire.