In my last post, I talked about the tendency to lose sight of our goals early in the new year – because, for most of us, it’s easier to forget our new future than to remember it. So, we began to explore a series of steps you can take to commit to change – and stay connected to your future self.

If you missed Part I, where I covered the first three steps, you can find it here. I encourage you to take some time to read it and complete the exercises before continuing with steps four through six, below.


Step 4. Learn to create from 3-D and 5-D

As powerful as it is to tune in to the unknown and create from the field – what we call the fifth dimension, or 5-D – there are still concrete steps you have to take, each day, here in the three-dimensional world – the plane of demonstration.

You’ll notice there’s a lot of overlap between making different choices – the third step, outlined in Part I – and doing the work in 3-D. If, in Step 1, you defined your purpose as being the healthiest version of yourself you can be physically, emotionally, and chemically, then in Step 2, you outlined goals that support that purpose:

• Meditate every morning and evening.
• Lose 10 pounds at a sustainable rate.
  • Prepare healthy meals and eat out less.
  • Exercise at least three hours a week.
• Cut personal screen time to no more than 30 minutes a day.
• Invest more time and attention in my relationships – in person.

Then, in step 3, you set the intention to make different choices – to achieve those goals. The concrete steps you must take in 3-D, then, build on the first three steps to align your actions, thoughts, and feelings with your stated purpose.

When you make those new choices, and take those concrete steps, you strengthen the signal you bring to the field when you work on your new future in the quantum, or 5-D. Here is where you tune in to the new life you’re creating. Here is where you experience how your future self will think, feel, and act as that new life unfolds.

And here is where you practice combining a clear intention with feeling the elevated emotions of your future – so you can sustain those emotions, and practice with your eyes open, when you come back to the plane of doing – and continue on in your daily life.

When you practice feeling – and sustaining – the feelings of your future on a daily basis, it takes you out of feeling the lack of not having that future. Those elevated emotions help you feel like it’s already happened – and thus, they will drive behaviors and thoughts consistent with those feelings.


Step 5. Resolve, reflect, revise, and record – every day

In a popular post last year, I wrote about the importance of beginning each day with intention and resolve – and ending each day by reflecting on how you did. These practices are about reminding yourself of your purpose, goals, and intentions throughout the day. I hope you’ll re-read that blog for an in-depth exploration of how transformative they can be.

Here, I’ll simply add a few more tools and suggestions to round out the daily exercises of resolution and reflection.

• Work with an “accountability buddy” – someone who understands and supports your goals and will partner with you in the purposeful pursuit of their goals.
• Try posting inspirational quotes or notes to yourself around the house – or send yourself reminders on your phone. You could try something as simple as Post-It notes on the bathroom mirror that read:
  
  • This is your year.
  • What would love do?
  • Are you in the feelings of your future right now?
  • You live in no time. You accomplish everything in the right state of mind and body.
  • Change yourself, change your life.
• You might hang inspiring pictures or symbols around your home – or listen to music that elevates your emotions.

This is a really fun part of the process. Take time to experiment, play with it, and keep it engaging. Incorporate anything that helps you stay connected to that new future you’re creating and motivates you to make different choices.

Remember, you have to make time for yourself. If you don’t make time for yourself now, there will never be “enough” time later.

The third “R” in this section is about revising your model. This is so important. Just as your purpose and mission will evolve over time, so should your model of what that looks like.

• This means educating and informing yourself and evolving your understanding – so you can fine-tune your intentions and bring deeper meaning to your practice.
• I often refer to this as understanding the “what” and the “why” – so the “how” becomes easier.

Let’s use a different mission as an example here. If your stated purpose is to generate abundance, you might want to study wealthy people – and the journey they took to become successful. You’ll find, for most, it never was a linear path. The important point is to study the characteristics that made them abundant. That includes the sacrifices; the long hours; the uncompromising vision; the hard choices; how they learned from their mistakes; how they evolved over time.

All of these aspects serve as the raw materials for you to get real about the reality you’re choosing. Those people became successful on their journey – and you can learn from their experience.

Finally, the fourth “R.” As we progress in creating in alignment with our purpose, we’ll begin to see feedback in our outer reality. It may take time, but it’s important to record it when it happens.

If you’re working on improving your health and have a breakthrough in how much weight you’ve lost … or how many minutes you can run at your newest goal pace … or you notice the pain you’d suffered from for years is suddenly gone … or your lab values from your blood tests have improved … write it down.

If you’re working on creating abundance and get a promotion at work … or you receive an advance when a pitch is accepted … or you get a letter describing an accounting error accompanied by an unexpected refund … record it.

Celebrate every sign. All it takes is one breakthrough to boost your enthusiasm for the work – and your resolve to keep going.


Step 6. Make it be about your EFFORT – instead of the RESULT

When you can get through a whole meditation, workout, or meal prep, or manage your emotional state the entire day – or whatever your purpose-driven goal is – and have your behaviors match your intention … when you can go through each step and gain value from it … when you get so lost in the act, it’s no longer about the event, because the act is actually producing the event or the experience … then it’s no longer about results. It’s about your effort.

When you can finish something with great effort, there’s a celebration of you that takes place. You feel satisfied with yourself. You feel worthy of whatever it is you’re working on. And that is a very profound state in which to receive.

In other words, you no longer feel the lack of not having your new future – because you’re becoming it.

Remember: it’s never too late to change. There’s no such thing as failure; there’s only learning and evolution. It doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of February, or the day after you missed an important deadline at work, or if you’ve just completed a major cycle of growth and change and are feeling a little unclear about your next experiment.

You can always make great strides in discovering and celebrating the mystery of yourself. I hope you decide this is your year – this is your moment – to choose you.