Reflection: My 2016 Goals Part One

Every year, as the year winds to an end, I carve out time to take a look over the previous year and consider goals and plans for the year ahead. Over the years, as I've taken time to do this, I notice that my goals are not so much resolutions as they are an opportunity to go deeper on the things I value highly. The year end/beginning is a time for me to do a checkup on my life and recalibrate and refocus for the present and future. I don't necessarily try to come up with ten goals each year, but it seems like that has become the average for me. And what I have found is that the goals themselves may appear somewhat nebulous or abstract, but the pathway to achievement is always found in concrete steps.  As I share these goals, I hope you will take time to encourage me through the year, and, that you will take time to set your own goals and plans for 2016.

Cultivate my relationship with God. For me, it is as simple as this. Because my relationship with God is my anchor, my compass, and my lighthouse, this needs to take precedence over any other activity. That means that it needs to come first in my day, and that I need to daily start by connecting with God by taking time to listen, to pray, to read scriptures, and to cultivate spiritual disciplines. This goal helps me stay attended and aligned daily with my ultimate purpose, to be with Christ, become more like Christ, and to live more fully for Christ.

Pursue physical fitness and become physically stronger than I have ever been. I need to move. Barring injury, I plan to dedicate 30-60 minutes per day to movement of some type. If that means walking, I'll walk for at least 30 minutes. I am actually conspiring with a small group of friends to start doing some early morning/pre-dawn bootcamp style workouts in Morgantown. While a group of us have been talking about this for about a year, I need to give a shoutout to my good friend Stephen Beckwith and his friends at F3Nation for helping to give shape to this plan. This year, Jamie and I are already thinking through our training plan for Marine Corps Marathon and hopeful that Nuru International will be able to be a charity partner again.

Maintain a positive mindset. Again, this is a goal that is best worked out with a daily routine. That daily routine is simple. Aside from devotional activities and fitness, I have found that one of the most powerful contributors to a positive mental outlook, resilience, and tenacity is a sense of gratitude. Each morning, I commit myself to take a few moments to reflect on one or more things for which I am grateful. And when the events of the day seem like an onslaught of catastrophe, I am committing my mind to find the silver lining. I've noticed that it is just to easy for myself and for others to dwell on the negative. I don't want to ignore problems when they arise, but I do want to buffer myself against allowing a negative thought to spiral out of control and distort reality.

Write, read, and reflect. Every day, I will find time to write, read, and/or reflect. Every day is special and there really are no "ordinary moments" so I want to carve time to savor moments. I'm committed to blogging an average of at least once per week over the course of 2016. For inspiration, I am drawing on the encouragement I found last year from my friend and coworker at Nuru, Thomas Hong. I want to enjoy, savor, and learn from each day, and to do that, I need to be mindful and intentional about it.

Get outside. These days, it seems like more and more of our time is spent inside. Growing up, inside was probably among the last places you would find me and most of my friends while it was daylight. We were outside playing basketball, jumping rope, hiking, fishing, or pursuing the adventure of the day. This year, I want to spend at least 30 minutes per day outside. Of course there will be some days that won't afford this opportunity, but when possible, I want to go beyond the 30 minute goal. I want to soak in the sun and of course Jamie and I will be planning to plant a small garden again--planting and maintaining a garden on one's property is practically a guarantee to be outside. Just as much as it is important to get outside and enjoy creation, there's a valuable relationship with our food that most of us are losing because we've never grown it ourselves.

I'll share the rest of my top top goals in a future post, but in the meantime, I want to encourage you to consider (if you haven't already), what are your goals for 2016? Personally, I'm looking forward to a lot of growth this year! (And may none of us ever stop doing looking forward and growing!)

Getting Back Into The Groove

You know, sometimes people stop writing for lack of content or inspiration. For me, it has been a bit of the opposite. I feel like there has been so much going on in recent weeks that it makes it hard to determine where to start with writing. I look back on the experiences Jamie and I have walked through together over the last few months, and they have been unbelievable. We have seen many old friends and family members, mourned with some and rejoiced with others. We have journeyed through eight states and even made a short journey across our nation's northern border to Niagara Falls. We have engaged people to join our efforts to fight extreme poverty with Nuru, and begun our own training for running a marathon.

And I have been reading. Early in the morning and late at night. I find myself striving to learn more, grow more, and become the best version of myself I can be. I have been riding a bike, running, and even flirted with the idea of joining a gym so I could make my shape less 'round'. We visited old tribal friends, including my tribes oldest living member as we celebrated one of our younger members getting married. We have spent time in large cities and reclaimed strip mines.

It has been an incredible period. So much to write about, but I've found it hard to slow down to do the actual writing. But tonight, as tiredness began to set in, I decided that I the only way I'm going to get back into the groove is to just do it. It's just too easy to put off just about anything until tomorrow. Whether it is starting a diet, a fitness regimen, or writing a blog post, it is all easy to put off until the future.

But sometimes you've just gotta jump in and start doing things. There's no way I could sit down and write about all of my experiences and momentary reflections over the past few months in one sitting, but I can make a decision and write something. We can all start some new habit today and begin cultivating it. We can resume habits that we let go lax as well.

Is there a habit, a goal, or a discipline you have been putting off? Is it hard to find the time for it? While this may sound violent, I am of the opinion that there are times when we have to fight lethargy and inertia to begin to cultivate a habit. May we each make the time to persevere toward goals, and to take small steps toward resuming habits and cultivating new ones. The world needs people who are driven and who are pursuing good habits and goals. Let's go for it!

Busy Day

So this is why I have had a hard time blogging. It is 11:07PM and I am just settling in for the night. I got up at 5:20 this morning. That's what I call a long day.

My english class was pretty interesting today. We spent a lot of time talking about Native American stuff, so I was in a zone. This class seems like the first one that has pulled from a number of areas that I am passionate about. I've been able to talk about faith, history, Indian policy, linguistics, and even where the idea of being "american" comes from.

It was really fun. After four years in the program, I am starting to get a feel for writing scholarly work. Writing messages has probably also helped develop that skill.

It's ironic, because when I was in my undrgrad, I seemed to have a knack for communicating with clarity, and then as i journeyed away from writing for about 5 years, it was like there was a cloud in my mind. I feel like the cloud is being lifted.

Have you ever felt like that? Like you can't think clearly, or that you have a scattering of thoughts in your mind? At times it can be confusing because it feels like there are eight different unrelated thoughts going on in my mind. Writing has helped me focus, but this entry might not show it.

It has been a long, busy scattering day, so I am going to go spend some time centering my heart and mind on the words of my Rabbi Jesus.