I know of several people who shared with me that they were writing their Personal Vision Statements for 2017.  What I don’t know is how many of them are first timers or, how many Have done this before.  If you are a seasoned writer of vision statements, you may have been prepared for what happens when you open your statement and read it.  If this was your first time, it might have been challenging to read it.

Writing out a Personal Vision Statement is a lot like making a New Year’s Resolution.  Some people do it, but a lot don’t because there is a high rate of failure.  There is a lot of enthusiasm in new beginnings, we want to make positive changes in our lives, but sometimes making new habits stick is hard.

I have read a few blog posts about how difficult it can be to read a vision statement when some of the things you dreamed about didn’t happen.

In writing your Personal Vision Statement you are encouraged to aim high and see your life as you want it to be in your dreams.  When I opened my Personal Vision Statement from last year, I was pleasantly surprised about the things I did accomplish, but I have to admit I was pretty deflated by the things that did not happen.  There were some big dreams of mine that never got 1 millimeter off the ground.  Hmm…  But, as I always say, “There is a lesson or blessing in everything.”  So, what’s the lesson?  What’s the blessing?

Here’s the lesson:

I stumbled upon one of my favorite blog posts from 2014 called:  Warren Buffett's "2 List" Strategy: How to Maximize Your Focus and Master Your Priorities.  By James Clear.   The article shares one of the strategies Mr. Buffett uses to be successful.

The gist of the strategy is to make a list of the top 25 things you want to accomplish.  It could be career goals, household projects or anything.  After you make that list, you go through it and come up with the five most important tasks.  These are the things you need to focus on and accomplish.

What about the other list?

You get rid of it!

Wait, what?? 

I know!

It seems that a lot of us spin our wheels by spreading ourselves too thin.  Focusing on anything but our top five goals dilutes our efforts.  It causes us to be inefficient with our time and impedes our progress.

List #2 is not the list of things you do when you have a few extra minutes. It is the list of things to avoid at all costs.  These are often things that you do want to do, but they dilute your efforts at the other, more important things you want to do.  Those things pull at you, so you have to carefully avoid them.

In yoga there is a personal practice called Aparigraha which translates as non-hoarding.  Most people usually apply this to not hoarding things.  But the more you contemplate the meaning of non-hoarding you can apply it to many things:  you can hoard a conversation, by not giving others a chance to speak, you can hoard time by trying to get too many things done at one time and then causing yourself to be late.

Did you ever find yourself saying something that you know you didn’t mean?  Or, commit yourself to something you didn’t really want to do by talking too much?  In my 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training we were talking about how important it is to be precise and careful with what you say.  One of the students shared an acronym that helps her with this:  WAIT – Why Am I Talking?

So, maybe in my Personal Vision statement I put down too much, or maybe I put down things that really weren’t important to me just like what happens when you talk too much and over commit to things.  Maybe those things are only “List #2” important and because I didn’t have enough time to go around, they just didn’t get done.  Maybe I should have made the two lists before writing my vision statement.  Was I hoarding goals and accomplishments?   Should I have focused on fewer things but spent more time on other things?

That’s the lesson I’m taking away from this experience: non-hoarding of goals and accomplishments!

What does this have to do with chakras and sugar?

The first chakra has to do with your tribe and where you came from.  It’s the group, or groups, you belong to.  When you are little, your group or family provides food, clothing and shelter, your basic needs.  If these weren’t provided for you, or there was any kind of instability in your early childhood, you may have fear and contraction in this area. When your first chakra is clear, you are secure in your ability to make it in the world.  Hoarding is a contraction in the first chakra; it’s not trusting in your ability to take care of yourself and have your basic needs met.

If you are curious about your chakras, I am offering a seven week workshop on the chakras starting this Thursday evening, January 13th, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm at the Treehouse.  We will cover one chakra each week.  This Thursday, we will discuss the first chakra.  You will learn about: its properties, how to recognize the energy of this center, how it influences your life by whether you have any unfinished business at this level and how it affects the choices you make.  You will learn about the chakras through asana, journaling, meditation and breath work.

I have been slow to learn about chakras.  I’ve had some resistance to working with something that I cannot see:  energy centers aligned along the spine?   But, I have taken some courses on the subject that have powerfully influenced me.  I am a firm believer in gravity although I cannot see it, either!

One of the things I know about working with energy is that there are a lot of things that affect my energy.   What I eat influences my energy; sugar being one of the strongest energy disrupters.  My plan, as I dive deeper into these energy centers, is to fine tune my own energy to become more adept at sensing it without interference.  I have given up sugar.  If you are interested in working with your energy, I recommend that you pay attention to your energy and take care of and cultivate your energy through good food choices, adequate exercise and sleep, as well as working on your mental and emotional states.

As I craft my Personal Vision Statement for 2017, I will start off by making two lists and carefully selecting the 5 most important things to work on for the year.  I will be working on improving my health through better diet and continued exercise.  And I will be working with the energy of my chakras to find balance and remove the obstacles in my path!

What will you be doing for 2017?   Join me either in the giving up of sugar or in learning about the chakras. 

Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha 
(The chant to Ganesh, the remover of obstacles)