Empty field with a soccer goal and the title A Mindful Pursuit of Goals.
A Mindful Pursuit of Goals

For several days I had a terrible headache. It happened right during the time I was to write and post to my blog, but my mind was mush. Trying to write a post at that time would have been like trying to give a speech with a mouth full of cotton—an incoherent disaster. So, okay, no big deal, I just skip a week and move on, right? For me it was not that simple. I have made a goal to write a post every week this year. Now, suddenly, I was beset with panic and guilt because I was failing to meet my goal.

Fortunately, my more rational self pointed out that I was allowing my “goal” to overshadow my original purpose in writing a blog at all. If I forced myself to write something when my heart (let alone my mind) wasn’t in it, what value would that have?

Scrabble tiles spelling out the word vision.

Goals are great. They give us a destination to aim for and help us set a course of action to keep us moving forward. But sometimes our plan of attack is so rigid that we become consumed with checking things off our to-do list and lose sight of the reason why we are doing in the first place. It doesn’t hurt to pause now and then and re-examine our goals. In so doing, we can rediscover the excitement and desire that lead us to form them. By keeping our intent in focus, our goals won’t become burdens; they will be pathways to meaningful change and growth in our lives. My headache was a blessing for it reminded me that while setting and achieving goals is a good thing, it is the mindful accomplishment of the change we seek, not the mindless pursuit of “goals”, that is important.

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