Posted on by bearsox

Starting Where You Are

The time for New Year’s Resolutions is upon us. I’d like to provide some encouragement to those starting with a less than confident attitude about their chances of success in this year’s attempt at improvement.

Feeling stuck is among the most common reasons for failing to achieve goals. We become trapped by energy draining circumstances, comfort levels, financial and social status, the perception of others, and our fear of the unknown. We too often respond to feeling stuck by settling and trying to justify to ourselves that the deferral (read abandonment) of a particular goal was for the best “at this time” (read forever).

Committing to a new challenge is uncomfortable. We tend to be where we are currently for a reason, namely it has been the path of least resistance. Our basic needs are somewhat satisfied and the passion to rise above inertia has not ignited a sense of urgency. In the end, the passion required to change the status quo and prepare us for the consequences of change is made possible through dilligent discernment.

Spend time with your goal. Challenge it. Ask questions about it. What are the benefits of achieving this goal? Does society improve if this is achieved? Will this make me a better person? Does it lead me to a higher purpose? Is anyone negatively impacted by this effort? Are there more purposeful endeavors I should be considering? Think about it. Pray about it. Talk about it with people who you respect and those who could be impacted. Discern the value. if you approach the process seriously and conclude the path is important, the fire to defeat inertia will be lit.

History is full of examples of people who have had dramatic impact after finding their calling and radically changing course at the conclusion of a well formed discernment process. Augustine’s work has influenced people for over a thousand years after starting from the inertia of “give me celibacy, just not now”. Benedict was led to tear his mind from past trappings by rolling in thorns on his path to impacting the world. Newly canonized Saint John Henry Newman relinquished status and comfort when he concluded over a century ago that a conversion from the Anglican church to Catholicism was his calling. His impact is felt by multitudes to this day. Each of these men found the strength to commit to a new way of life through discernment and found their highest purpose in the process.

Not all goals are worth pursuing, and applying energy to the ones that are usually will not require the magnatude of life change described in the examples above. Inevitably though, all worthy goals are achieved by a commitment to pursuit. Discernment is the process that makes pursuit reality.

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