New Year- New Goals- New Beginnings

Sometimes when someone says the word GOALS, it is like saying Mufasa to a bunch of Hyenas on the Lion King (If you forgot, watch the 11 second YouTube). It brings a wave of motivation and excitement mixed with uncertainty and fear.  As such I am writing this post somewhat selfishly to better collect my thoughts about the new year before the clock strikes midnight and 2015 begins. 

There is something exciting about a new year. There are endless possibilities. It brings the refreshing outlook of a new beginning in which we put behind us the shortcomings and hardships of the previous year and look forward to something anew. We all need a fresh start and a clean slate. So what will the story be for 2015 and how will we fill that clean slate? 

I recently read a quote by the legendary UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden that has helped me to frame my paradigm for the coming year. It was something that his father used to tell him on the farm and continued with him throughout his life as he motivated some of the most successful teams and players in college basketball history. His father told him this: 

"Don’t worry much about trying to be better than someone else, learn from others, yes. But don’t just try to be better than they are. You have no control over that. Instead try, and try very hard, to be the best that you can be. That, you have control over."

 We live in a world of constant competition and it is so easy to compare ourselves to others and if we don't measure up to our perfect friend or neighbor, we are automatically a failure. I find Coach Wooden's view very refreshing. We don't need the anxiety that this comparison brings rather we can channel that energy into becoming the best person that we can be and that is all that really matters. 

Even still there can be something paralyzing and frightening about change and goals. It is not that we don't want to change, but it is hard to set goals and follow through with them. Why is change so hard? It seems so simple in our heads, we say I am going to eat better this year but then the pangs of hunger set in and we fall back into old patterns. Consistency just seems to be impossible. So rather than set goals, we shrink. 

This past year I read a quote by Albert Bowen that has taught me an important principle that I want to carry through this new year. I will attempt to summarize his thoughts. We all have experienced a motivating occasion, a conversation with a friend or family member, a spiritual or life changing experience wherein we are inspired with a list of things that we are going to change. We make high resolves to be better, to avoid past mistakes and realize our full potential. Then life happens and we become absorbed in more complicated pursuits and those high resolves are forgotten. Unfortunately many times that is the end of those goals. How can we then find lasting success in our goals that we so fervently committed to do during that inspired occasion? The truth is that even though our goals may seem like a steady stream of failures, long term success is most often found in regularly immersing ourselves in occasions, people, books and situations that inspire us again and again to set our sights higher. The more that we put ourselves in situations in which the warmth of new resolutions are made, the better equipped we will be for long-term success. Therefore the most important thing that we can do is frequently and often surround ourselves with people, places, books, clubs, religions and anything that inspire us on a consistent basis to realize our best selves. 

These sources of renewal will help us to stay on track and overcome discouragement that seems to always hang around. It isn't possible to do everything because change is a difficult uphill battle that most often requires us to get out of our comfort zone. So we should save ourselves the discouragement by limiting our goals to things that are specific and attainable. As we take small steps outside of our comfort zones our confidence increases which allows us to make greater strides with future goals. 

These adjustments and shifts of thought are why change can be scary but as we face up to these obstacles we will experience life more fully and completely. I have long loved the quote said by President Theodore Roosevelt: 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” 

In the coming year there are going to be struggles and failures mixed with great success and achievement. I hope that we can seek after sources of renewal frequently and often that will expand our vision, lengthen our stride and increase our successes that our souls "shall never be with those cold and timid souls that know neither victory nor defeat."

Jesus Christ: The Gift that Broke All Fear

I love the Christmas season. There is something about the traditions, the twinkling lights, the tree, and the nativity that always make it a special time of year. Although there has become an increased commercialization of the Christmas season there remains in many hearts an increase in love, giving, service and time spent with family which most often is the source of the greatest joys and memories of the Christmas season. Presents break and become used up but the memories and spirit of Christmas live on. Most of all the Gift of Jesus Christ, given by the Father, stands supreme as the ultimate gift. As it says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16)." 

When the angelic hosts announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds they began by saying: "Fear Not". Those words were most importantly an introduction to those shepherds and to the whole world that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was coming to save His people and to console every fear. His life was one of love. The blind saw, the sinner freed, the deaf heard, the dead lived. Yet He ultimately was taken by His people, beaten and bruised, rejected, forsaken and slain on the cross. Yet we find this the greatest gift, in His greatest suffering. He bore our griefs, and carried our sorrows, "the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:3-5)." The Book of Mormon teaches this principle in this way "He shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; He will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people that His bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that He may know according to the flesh how to succor His people according to their infirmities (Alma 7:11-12)." This means He perfectly understands every wound and pain, every tear and disappointment and every fear that we experience. There is no problem that He cannot relate to and no hurt he cannot heal, no slate he cannot make clean because He suffered all long before we did. As such He can succor or run to us in our time of need and be perfectly empathetic to every plight to every person who has ever lived.

Truly as we understand and accept Jesus Christ as our champion over all "Pain, affliction and temptations" that can potentially cripple our happiness there is no room for fear. As Paul said "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. O death (add fear, pain, disappointments here), where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory (1 Cor. 15: 55, 57)?" The more we who "labor and are heavy laden", Come unto Him, learn of Him and take the yoke of His gospel upon us, the more completely we shall find rest to our souls (Matthew 11:28-30)." He did not come to protect us from every hurt, but He offers us His peace if we will come to Him so that these pains are not suffered in vain. Consequently allowing our greatest challenges to change us and help us to become better people, more empathetic, more loving, more forgiving, more like Him. 

I am grateful that the Father loved us even that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ. I am grateful that He conquered all reason for fear and for this season in which we celebrate this magnificent gift.