Setting Soul Goals

Now that we have gone over why regular goals can often be tied to the ego, allow me to explain how Soul Goals can help you reach the fulfillment and joy we all want. Soul Goals set you in alignment with your purpose and keep you motivated and on your path to bliss. Regular goals are ones that might unintentionally align with your soul’s purpose, but odds are they won’t. Regular goals are often rooted in the ego and won’t lead you to inner fulfillment even if they help you rise in your career or somewhere else. Instead, they can leave you feeling empty, confused and then misunderstood when people see you succeed and can’t understand why you are unhappy.

There have been times in my life when I wanted something so bad, I’d pray for it to be, cross my fingers and let my happiness be reliant on the outcome. I would feel awful I felt when things didn’t go the way I wanted them to. If my goal had been to be happy, just happy, I would have just done my best and left the rest in God’s hands. Imagine how much better I would feel and how much quicker I would have been able to rebound from the disappointments.

Sometimes the things we think will make us happy, we try to force the universe to give us, and when we get them they actually bring us the most pain. Like a child, we don’t always know what’s best for us. We might fight our parents in our youth and adolescents but parents, grandparents, and teachers are here to guide us. We just have to stop fighting and listen to the wisdom within. When you make happiness your primary goal, you free yourself from your rigid belief of how things must be and you stop trying to control the world. The Universe will conspire to get you where you want to be if you allow it to; you just have to peacefully go with the flow and keep yourself ready for when the right opportunity, one aligned with your purpose, comes along.

I have felt deep guilt in the past for not feeling as happy as friends told me I should after reaching a big goal. After a lot of reflection, I realized I had been trying to prove something, to be something in other people’s eyes. I had felt so small as a child, so insignificant that I thought if others could see me achieving and rising it would somehow transform me and heal the pain I hid inside. It was a trick of the mind. Don’t ever feel like you have to do something monumental to have value. When you feel small, it’s just a matter of perspective, and it’s not real. You are important. Don’t ever let your thoughts tell you; you don’t matter.

You are a piece of the divine; there is so much love, genius, and creativity in you. So much that you might not even be able to see, but I know it’s true. Should you find yourself fighting to feel you matter or thinking that your accomplishments aren’t ever enough, I’m here to be that supportive friend we all need sometimes. If your mind is setting goals and it’s causing you to hurt when you don’t reach them as well as when you do then you aren’t setting soul goals. I know I can’t look you in the eyes as you read this but I’m tearing up thinking of you because I know what you’re going through. I’ve been there too and would like to share some ways to get through this. 

First I want you to know that you do matter and you will feel beautiful contentment within, when you are living in alignment with your purpose. Now you might not have your purpose completely figured out but consistent meditation will help you find it as well as other things that make you happy. Meditation is one of my personal Soul Goals, one that I think it’s important for everyone. I will write more about finding your purpose later but doing things to delight your soul is a great place to start. I know firsthand how overwhelming it can be to go about finding your purpose and people struggle a lot with it, which is one of the reasons there are so many books on the topic. For now, let’s keep it simple. Allow yourself to enjoy the process of uncovering the things that make you happiest and before you know it your purpose will unfold and you will find yourself in alignment. This leads me to the most important Soul Goal everyone should have- 

Soul Goal number one: Happiness

In “The Art of Happiness” The Dali Lama said– “the goal of life is to be happy.” I love the beautiful simplicity of this. If you are truly happy in life, you are feeling loving energy and beaming it out into the world. You are affecting others in ways you might not even know. Happiness and other positive emotions are here to help guide you toward the things that are right for you. 

Happiness is the number one Soul Goal and it’s universal. All other Soul Goals should branch off from it and lead you deeper into a state of joy. For example, my Soul Goals are as follow-

*Workout to clear my mind and feel better several times a week. 

*Read something uplifting every day.

*Spend time in nature.

*Meditate in the morning, before bed or even better–do both.

*Reach out to someone and lift their spirit a few times a week.

*Look for opportunities to make miracles (acts of love) happen in everyday life by helping people.

*Paint a picture every once in a while on my porch. 

*Practice Gratitude by listing out several things I’m thankful for each day.

*Sit and sip coffee or tea with a calm, peaceful mind a few times a week. 

*Write in my journal. 

Soul goals are just little rituals, habits and healthy things that can get you to a state of happiness and inner peace. You can use some of these that I’ve laid out and you can create your own. I’d love to read what you come up with in the comments below. 

On top of Soul Goals I work to be conscious of is what I watch and listen to. It’s important to notice how something makes you feel, if it inspires and lifts you up, keep reading, listening or watching. If it seems to bring you stress, feel depressed, or bad- turn it off. If you’re addicted to the junk, slowly ween yourself off it by adding more into your life that makes you feel good –because who doesn’t wanna feel good. 

One other thing I would suggest to put you in a positive mood, keep things in your home that make you happy. Frame some pictures you love, maybe paint a quote or purchase something with a good one on it and hang it on your wall, have mementos from your happy travels and things that remind you of good memories or places you love. 

Now that I’ve outlined some Soul Goals you can see that they are simple. If you practice your soul goals and incorporate things that bring you bits of joy, more and more will come. In time I know you will find yourself surrounded by good things, people, and experiences. Your happiness will no longer rely on distant goals or anything outside yourself; you’ll be living in happiness that you’ve created inside yourself. This joy will touch people, and they will wonder what your secret is, and you can share your Soul Goals.