Saturday, January 3, 2015

Conflict, Strife, and Sorrow Versus Self-Esteem, Self-Confidence, and Hope - Three of Swords



I've been gearing up for the coming year and attempting to clarify what it is I want to accomplish. Goals are very important to me, and have become more so the older I get, and the tangible-measurable objectives that I make in order to achieve the goals I've set.

The actions and reactions based on my decisions of the past, influence the goals I choose today.
The Three of Swords speaks of strife, conflict and sorrow. I've had enough of that in life, and the New Year is a great time to take stock, to take an inventory of the past year; to looking ahead to make the coming year free of negative events and full of positive happenings. This may sound idealistic to some.

I understand  very well, I can't shield myself from all things negative in life, believe me I've tried, and failed miserably. What I can do is change my attitude toward those events of conflict, strife and sorrow. I don't have rose coloured glasses on, nor am I a complete Pollyanna, though I do like her. My outlook these days is somewhere between George Jones and Pollyanna. I think those two would get on quite well.

I have been very blessed in my life to have had the opportunity to learn how to change my attitude and my behaviour. There is nothing too easy about it, but so very worthwhile trying, and then finding you have managed to overcome, and this makes me happy because it increases my self-esteem, and confidence. Mostly what it does, is give me hope for the past present and the future. I do not attribute this to my own wisdom, but to other individuals that have set the example and helped me along my path.

When I was studying Art Education in University, and during my training in as a Youth Care Worker, one of the lessons that helped me immeasurably was learning  how to set goals, and measurable objectives. There is a good acronym that can help me do this. S.M.A.R.T. Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound, are the descriptive adjectives these letters represent.

I think is is essential I put pen to paper, write out my goals, and then describe the objectives that are the action steps I will take, to achieve these goals.

The negative in life allows us know and appreciate the positive. If I can improve, build upon, and focus on the positive, I think this keeps the conflict, strife and sorrow at bay, or at least some what manageable.

Ending on a positive note, I just finished putting my Christmas 'ornies ' away and am ready to embrace New Year and start writing down those goals and objectives today, because there is 'hope for the hopeless!'

4 comments:

Ellen said...

It is a great idea to write down some achievable goals for the coming year. This will put us in that positive mindset..2015 will be the second time I've done this for myself: evaluating last year (with my journals) and setting goals for this year . Not as a rigid set of rules but more as a gentle guideline which I can go back to from time to time to see if I am still on track!
Hugs

Unknown said...

Happy you are still on track Ellen!
I prefer to think I am attempting to change my habits as opposed to making resolutions for the New Year. While I writing down my goals and objectives I got that old feeling of feeling over whelmed. This is my all or nothing habitual habit of thinking. I'm still working on this one.So I have to break it fall down in very manageable steps and be okay with not having to do everything. God isn't finished with me yet. Still very much a work in progress.

Yes I am completely in agreement guidelines, not a rule person unless it's illegal, unsafe, or immoral. I'm not planning on getting arrested for trying to change my habits!

Neopagan Priestess said...

Sometimes, I find not writing things down more helpful - then I don't get into anti-authoritarian issues (with myself as the authority - lol). Good luck, however it works best for you to chart your path forward :)

Unknown said...

Thank you Kerry. Mmm I understand about having authority issues. I've had those for a long time, still don't like it! :)

Actually I have never been so thorough writing down personal goals and objectives. So I'll see how this goes. I'm off to a good start but it's only the morning here. The afternoon might be a different story. ;)
I have written down Sutras for a number of years, that I learned about in Deepak Chopra's book. ' Path To Love.' You write them down once and send them out to the Universe and then pull them out a year later and see which ones have happened. This is really a helpful and affirming thing to do.