Steps Towards My Goals

This morning when my alarm sounded, I was still tired - I pressed the snooze button a couple of times - I was tired, I went to bed late last night.  And my Yin is wanting to sleep, there is still time to sleep before it would be urgent to get up for work.  And yet I remember that I have a Goal - a Running Goal - and I can choose to train to achieve my Goal - I can choose to take Steps Towards My Goals.

Lying in bed, drifting in and out of sleep, I remember one of my favourite verses - The Invitation.  I just love The Invitation and love the part - "I want to know if you can get up, after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done, to feed the children" - I am weary and tired and one day I will have children - and for now my Goals are like my children - so yes - I can get up to feed the children.

Here are the words of The Invitation - Oriah Mountain Dreamer - Canadian Teacher and Author -

"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. 

It doesn't interest me how old you are
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dreams
for the adventure of being alive. 

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain. 

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it. 

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your
fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human. 

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself. 

If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy. 

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day. 

And if you can source your own life
from its presence. 

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand on the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
"Yes."  

It doesn't interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have. 

I want to know if you can get up
after a night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children. 

It doesn't interest me who you know
or how you came to be here. 

I want to know if you will stand
in the center of the fire
with me
and not shrink back. 

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied. 

I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away. 

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments." 

So I get up and go running - I have a time to beat - my Yang part of me is keeping a record of my times as I progressively run for a longer period of time - so I have 34 minutes to beat.  I am so happy once I start running - I just love to run - and it is definitely helping having a Goal - I am feeling motivated and also get excited when I achieve Wins along the way.

Today's run showed me the strength of my Yang part of me and my Yin part working together.  

 

Sometimes when I go out running my Yang gets into the Shadow of Overthinker - busy busy thinking - thinking about all I need to do - or thinking that I am getting tired or thinking about trying not to think - and the run is more of a struggle - and I miss the scenary.  Yet today my Yang was literally my feet on the ground, in action - yet very relaxed - and my Yin part of me was loving being present to my surroundings, loving seeing the Trees and the plants and the colour and feeling the warm sun and hearing the birds singing.  My Yin enjoyed looking at the world with curiosity, as if I was stepping into the world for the first time, seeing all the beauty.  

My Yin was also in delight seeing the beauty in the simplicity and creativity and energy - seeing a coathanger serving as a car aerial and shaped like Australia - seeing a recycled bin with stickers of leaves that covered the bin (although perhaps there is something ironic about producing stickers for bins which encourage us to recycle and do what we can for the environment??) and then my favourite was a beautiful laborador bounding to race their best friend, a man riding a bike, no leash, just freedom for all.   

My Yin also loves being imaginative - seeing the eucalyptus trees - I imagined koalas climbing, relaxing in the trees - that would be a beautiful sight - and of course tonight I look up koalas and I just love this image...

It was wonderful to run 36 minutes today and I felt great - great that I was taking Steps Towards My Goals - but very much, just feeling great that I had been out running, I love to run.  When I got home I was running up my street and as a ran past a maple tree, my Yin energy imagines that the leaves of the tree are hands clapping and cheering me for finishing my run and congratulating me for achieving what I set out to do today.  I love maple trees - I love that the leaves are shaped like hands - when I see these trees, it makes me think of the saying "Many Hands Make Light Work".  And today, all these hands were my cheering squad.  I also love that the maple trees are deciduous - the leaves in autumn are magical.  Here are 2 of my clapping hands from my local, neighbourly, friendly maple tree...

 

As well as my running Goals, I am also excited to be getting close to printing my business cards for my business - it is very exciting to be taking Steps Towards My Goals of starting my Coaching Business.  My Yin energy is loving the creating and process of designing artwork - and my Yang energy is working hard with the Graphic Designer and Artist to get this right and get this "done".

It is an exciting time...