A Way to Make Real Life-Changing Goals for 2011.

For the past four years I have used a specific set of 13 questions from a daily reader to make real goals for the new year. These are taken directly from the Jan 1 reading in Melody Beattie's beautiful work titled The Language of Letting Go.

I had a loved and trusted Program Buddy request that I send her these questions after sharing how the exercise had worked so dramatically in my own life during a meeting this morning. She even suggested that I make this into a blog for others, so here goes.

Every year, on January first, after serious prayer, I write out answers to the following questions.

 1. What would you like to have happen in your life this year?

 2. What would you like to do, to accomplish?

 3. What good would you like to attract into your life?

 4. What particular areas of growth would you like to have happen to you?

 5. What blocks, or character defects, would you like to have removed?

 6. What would you like to atain? Litle things and big things.

 7. Where would you like to go?

 8. What would you like to have happen in friendship and love?

 9. What would you like to have happen in your family life?

10. What problems would you like to see solved?

11. What decisions would you like to make?

12. What would you like to have happen in your career?

13. What would you like to see happen inside and around you?


I know enough about myself now to understand that I am a basically verbal learner, so what I have done for the past three years is to write down the answers to these questions first, and then read them outloud so that I can listen to my own voise answering the questions throughout the year on a CD. Yesterday, on the last day of 2010, I listened to last year's answers and was astounded. First, some really huge goals were reached during 2010, and often God caused them to happen using means that were completely beyond my imagination when I answered those questions a year ago.

Second, I saw on an even deeper level how long-term personal goals were incremental. Some goals required more than a year to accomplish. Today I am excited to just move those few that were not reached on to my list for 2011. I am grateful to God for nudging these life-purposes forward during 2010, yes, but on a deeper level, I am grateful for the insight that life is short, that God's work never ends, and that I am stupendously priviledged to have this totally singular opportunity to experience this labor of love...this "work" on God's behalf on earth during this blink in time.

Yes, this will take some time and thought, but I have found the effort  sooooooooo rewarding!

May this writing reach some reader(s) somewhere in time and space to provide direction.

Thank you, GOD!

Ken P., author of the new book We Codependent Men-We Mute Coyotes.

copyright 2011, Recovery Trade Publications.


 

I had a great opportunity to go tour and observe Life-Line's recovery center. I got to meet with many of the staff and even the director of admissions. I got to see first hand what it is Life-Line does and what they stand for. I will write what I have observed from my visit. I really like what Life-Line stands for so I will use most of this first page to tell about Life-Line itself and what they do differently! I was not paid to write this review I wrote it in hopes to help struggling parents find help for their kids!

Let me first explain a little about Life-Line. They are a recovery center to help teens who have fallen into bad habits such as substance abuse, sexual abuse, pornography addiction, suicidal tendencies, grief and loss, and many more. They follow a simple yet powerful slogan, “When Good Kids Make Bad Choices.” Their program includes eight core principles, based on evidence based research, which are:

• Family - family is involved in the child's recovery every step of the way

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