Why Is Goal Setting Important To Planetary Evolution?
There tends to be a very large division between how we perceive planetary evolution and how we think about our personal, daily lives. This is why planetary evolution generally remains on the level of fantasy rather than being treated as a practical reality that we can each participate in. Let’s talk about how we can bridge this gap and thus lend powerful purpose to our success as individuals.
The first order of business when it comes to planetary evolution is to determine who is responsible for it. Generally speaking, we humans like to leave this massive project up to God. We assume that we play little or no individual role when it comes to a subject of such vast proportions. With this belief, the best we can contribute as individuals is hope. We hope that somehow it all works out.
We are clearly the dominant species on this Earth. We are also enormously powerful creators, even when we live in denial of that fact. We can’t help but create. The problem is that when we live in denial of our creative capabilities, what we tend to create is chaos and a lot of things that we don’t really want. We create unconsciously and from a very reactive place.
Why don’t we center ourselves and assess what is really going on here? It seems that we are beautifully designed to function as co-creators primarily with God, and secondarily with each other. Let’s focus on the fact that we are made to co-create with the divine. What does this mean? This means that we are physically, mentally, and emotionally created to interface with a more powerful, non-physical quantum universe where anything is possible. But in our denial we are like a person that has a giant treasure chest full of gold in the backyard, yet we never bother to open it up. Instead, we like to sit around hoping to find a coin or two.
If you doubt that individual humans have an enormous capacity to create planetary results, then look at the condition of our planet. No one appears to be stopping us from collectively destroying things, including ourselves. So we clearly play a very large, creative role in the outcome, whether that outcome is good or bad.
Now let’s talk about how we can individually step into our power and realize experientially that we are highly capable creators. Rather than making this an abstract, philosophical discussion, why don’t we make this about some truly practical ideas? If we are to get really grounded and figure out our first step in having this experience, we have to find a way to know that we can accomplish things. Each time that you accomplish something, you have acted as an artist who has successfully created something. If you are to play a conscious role in planetary evolution, you must know for a fact that you can create.
Goal setting and achieving those goals form the clearest, most direct way to experience your ability to function as a creator. If you have tried to set goals in the past and failed to realize those goals, you might find yourself withdrawing from the use of that terminology. You may associate it with the pain of failure. You might believe that the idea of goal setting only amplifies what you perceive as an inability to create. In that case, let’s talk about what setting a goal actually means.
Goal setting means two simple things. Firstly it means making a decision about what you want to create. Secondly it means focusing your consciousness and attention on that goal. That doesn’t sound too difficult, does it? You actually do this all day long without realizing it. You do it each time you leave your house to go somewhere. You decide where you want to go, picture it in your mind, and then put your attention and consciousness on getting there. Goal setting is so utterly natural and constant that it is easy to overlook the fact that you are actually doing it.
You set and achieve goals all day long. This is what creators do, and you are indeed a creator. The real issue is that you are probably not reaching your full human potential because you are setting very small, repetitive goals that are exceedingly short term, such as “What do I want to have for lunch?” Or maybe you set a weekly goal of “I want to make sure that I watch such-and-such a TV show this week.” Yes, this is setting and achieving a goal, too.
So what we are proposing is that you expand on these tiny, repetitive goals and try something a bit larger and more interesting. Try something that yields a bit more fruit in your life. Go to that treasure chest in your backyard and find out what’s in there. Start by expanding on your ideas, even a little bit, and see what happens when you consciously create something new instead of unconsciously creating the same repetitive things over and over again.
Try having a larger goal for the purpose of setting and achieving goals. Have a larger goal of experiencing your ability to create and then building your confidence in that capability. Take baby steps instead of giant steps in the beginning, in order to ensure that you reach this larger goal. Imagine how happy you will feel when you know for a fact that you can create consciously and decisively. Imagine how your stress levels will go down when you realize that you have a great deal of say-so in how your life unfolds.
You can begin by consciously setting one small goal for the coming week. Make it simple and easy to achieve by the act of putting your attention on it. Write it down and put a date on it, so you remember it. In fact, you can write it down every day, if you really want to put some energy into it. Focus on the act of physically achieving it. Once you have achieved it, make sure you acknowledge this and point out to yourself that you just consciously created something new. This step is important so that you achieve that larger goal of raising your level of confidence as a creator.
You can repeat this more frequently and gradually raise the level of each goal. Each time you succeed, remember the important step of acknowledging that you created something. In fact, you can even make a list of the goals that you do achieve as your evidence list which proves that you are able to consciously create. Decide to make this list as long as you possibly can!
Acknowledging that you are a creator because you have made the effort to prove it to yourself is an invaluable first step in raising your confidence levels and setting your sights on the larger goal of playing a conscious role in the evolution of our beautiful planet Earth.
Have you had the experience of setting and achieving a goal, and then felt the rush of confidence that this brings? Or have you been frustrated and given up on goals because of past failures? What thoughts would you like to share on this topic? Leave a comment below and tell me your point of view. I love reading what you all have to say!
Thank you Saratoga, this article is so supporting. Only this morning upon arising I had to remind myself that I am a change agent, in the evolutionary shift of our beautiful planet. Sometimes I find my “ego” reacting to events and being tempted to jump on so many bandwagons of today’s instant gratification, of wanting my voice to be heard in today’s competitive chaos. But, oh, what peace it now gives me to swing in the cosmic rays of chance. To swing beyond the constraints of the time and space in which I had been operating all my life, and now quieting creating my works within the framework of the goal I have set for the different stages of delivery – regardless of how much time it takes. I find that in creating from this peaceful place I am now looking to enjoy life to the fullest. I am now reconnecting with friends, for whom I was “too busy.” I am becoming more sympathetic towards others I once found displeasing, now that I can see they are merely operating in that state of chaos in which I was long embedded. Thank you and the entire Telstar for helping me along. And, oh, Adam, I cannot remember a past acquaintance, but his message has a profound impact on me.
Monica.
Monica, you make such an important point about creating from a peaceful place. I would call that place the quiet moment of Now. Ironically, it is not just a moment in terms of time, but actually contains all time, all space, and everything that exists. Because there is no duality there, it is a sublimely peaceful place. (Have you ever noticed that fear and conflict need reference points in the past and future in order to exist?) The Now is the place in which artists often find themselves when creating their art, where they could be working for hours, yet experience that little or no time has passed at all.
The moment called Now proves that we arise from an infinite place, because we are eternally in the now no matter what happens. Try to leave the moment of now and you will find it to be impossible. That is where all experience occurs. (Even your experience of memory happens Now.) When you set a goal in time, you are simply deciding at what point in your experience of Now that you want to see your goal manifest.
Thank you for bringing up this lovely point! 🙂
Hi Saratoga; I love your reminder that we are setting and achieving goals all the time but may not necessarily be conscious of it. It encourages me to take more responsibility for my thoughts and what I am creating day to day. This awareness, that I cannot help but create, positions me as a creator rather than a victim as I realize that it really is up to me to own my creatorship and set my intention step by step on creating something that I do want, something of beauty and inspiration that will be uplifting to others and the planet as a whole and to acknowledge my successes along the way. I can see how this last part would empower the process even more because I am acknowledging that yes I did create that and it didn’t just “happen” to me. I have been very resistant to goal setting in the past probably because of the high failure rate due to not following the process through to fruition and “biting off more than I could chew”, hence your caution to take baby steps. Now I am excited to implement your suggestions with much greater awareness of how the process works. It is now apparent to me that the process works perfectly every time whether I am unconsciously creating something I don’t want or consciously creating something I do want and that I really can create the life of my dreams.
With deep gratitude for your loving support,
Love Doug
Yes, Doug, you are right. The process does work perfectly every time, whether you are aware of it or not. By being aware that you are always creating, and understanding the process, you actually take very real steps away from the “victim” platform. The victim platform is all about creating unconsciously and as you said, telling yourself that things just “happen” to you.
The problem with the victim platform of perception is that it induces terrible states of feeling powerless. That powerless feeling will then be used by the ego as evidence that you should continue to live as a victim because the feeling of powerlessness is so-called “proof” that you really are a victim! How’s that for a checkmate? This is how the victim position tends to feed on itself.
At some point, when you see this for what it is, you can actually just become fed up with the whole thing and refuse to participate any longer. Then is a very good time to start taking baby steps and begin building your experience from the platform of a creator. Each time that you succeed at those baby steps and acknowledge yourself for it, you create positive leverage and the experience of empowerment. Thus you are consciously providing yourself with greater confidence and the inspiration to keep getting better and better at this.
I know inherently that I am a creator, and that I am always manifesting goals. The key for me is to generate momentum towards achieving all that I desire. That is my daily challenge. When I was a performing classical pianist I had to practice the same piano repertoire, likely 7 or 8 pieces by different composers, over and over each day for months and months until I had mastered and memorized them so that I could perform them to the best of my ability. It wasn’t enough to want to play them, I had to put significant effort consistently into this process of practicing until I could perform them.
This is a metaphor for me now to be brave enough to stand behind what I truly want to create both individually and ultimately for what I want to and can contribute globally. I believe if I can manifest the goals I set for myself this will allow me more opportunities to contribute good for the planet, because in essence I am making a statement each time I reach a goal I set for myself. I am sure that the resulting joy from achieving what I set out to create sends out powerful vibrations.
So for me, this piece you are sharing today is exactly where I want to be aligned. I know that I have much to learn, but I also know that I do know what to do. My challenge is to put my knowledge into action and manifest my goals and dreams. To have this incredible support and assistance from you, Saratoga, and Telstar allows me to stay in touch with all of this as reality, not just as possibility as I move along the path of evolution.
It really is hard to find the right words! 🙂 I hope the feeling behind the words comes across and connects with others of like mind on this amazing path. Everyone has such great insight–which helps so much.
Thank you, Saratoga!
With love,
Leigh
Leigh, one thing you can try is to connect with the emotion that you felt that motivated you to be so diligent about practicing the piano. What was that constant that made you do it even if you didn’t feel like it or could have easily made an excuse? I know that in the arts there can sometimes be negative motivation introduced when it comes to competition and stuff like that. But there had to be some powerful love overall, or you would have quit and found something else to do at the time.
If you can access that feeling within yourself and apply it now toward your goals, this might help you get past whatever resistance there is to taking action. Putting knowledge into action is all about a strong feeling of love or passion. The feeling overrides procrastination. Procrastination is a form of resistance stemming from some kind of fear, which is often unconscious. The fear can even be as simple as a fear of believing that something is possible.
In fact, if you can find that same depth of love, you will probably find that taking action is a natural expression of that love.
Thanks, Saratoga. I wanted to prove to myself that I could accomplish what I set out to accomplish, despite the fact that all of my peers at McGill started playing at 5 years old and I didn’t start until I was 12. Didn’t matter to me. I knew I was just as talented and I wanted to accomplish as everyone else did. I will definitely bring these ideas into the forefront of my consciousness now. Amazing point! And yes, the driving force is always love in everything I do. I’m feeling that way about everything in my life right now. Great advice… thank you! Procrastination is fading fast…. 🙂
What a profound point that we as individuals end up creating much of our lives unconsciously and reactively. Thank you for this powerful insight. I see now that unless I am consciously focusing on what I wish to create, what I end up manifesting is by default and not by design. Your suggestion to focus on goals is such a wonderful way to start making the creation of one’s life more and more of a conscious endeavour.
Also, I totally agree with just how important confidence is in one’s ability to create at any level. As a musician and composer, I have experienced this in a very tangible and direct way. I think the act of composing a new piece of music is quite similar to what painter feels like facing a blank canvas. If you have confidence in your ability to create, this blank canvas is full of opportunity and possibility. Lacking it, the empty page can be daunting and challenging. I have learned that a key element in this process is that your confidence to create directly relates to what kind of mental dialogue you allow to go on in your mind. The extent that you listen to that internal criticizing voice is the extent it will eat away at your sense of confidence to create.
But I have learned that this can go in the other direction as well and this lines up with what you say about setting small goals. The more music you create that you enjoy and appreciate, the more it builds your confidence to create more and it is the acknowledgement of your accomplishments that you speak of which makes this happen. Perhaps it begins with a small phrase or melody that you really like or a beautiful harmony and, eventually, you are creating full musical works. If you are persistent, and keep writing music as often as you can, over time you begin to develop real skill and aptitude.
What I am learning now is that all of this works in exactly the same way when creating the life you want. Life is just like the blank canvas or piece of manuscript paper – full of potential. It’s up to me to consciously decide what I want and what I will create and, as you say, it makes complete sense that the first place this starts with is setting goals.
It’s certainly a better idea than sitting around and waiting, hoping that everything will work out the way I like (because that’s worked so well before). 🙂
Avalon – Oh my gosh, I love your last sentence! That just cracked me up! 🙂 🙂 🙂
You certainly paint a beautiful picture of how creating one’s life is the same as creating art. I was also thinking about another one of your sentences, “If you are persistent, and keep writing music as often as you can, over time you begin to develop real skill and aptitude.” I was thinking that you could replace the words “writing music” with “setting and achieving goals”. I don’t really have anything more to add, since you have made your points so beautifully. Thank you!
Hi Saratoga,
My Goodness. this is the most interesting of all articles. I don’t think I have ever heard of the words Goal Setting and Planetary Evolution used in the same sentence. (I think this is a first for the English language).
This information has really helped me re-contextualize the term Goal Setting. Previously when I thought of goal setting, it reminded me of my day job, where I am required to submit a report of “Goals” for the upcoming year. And this is what my company uses as a basis for the upcoming budget. (How painful is that??). I have never even thought of using goal setting in the context of our planet. How many people who have goals, tend to think of our earth?
And when I think of people who do care about the Earth’s Evolution, I think of people who would consider themselves “spiritual”. I know these people are sincere in their love for the earth, but I don’t think they have ever considered setting goals in that regard.
And when we think of setting Goals in regards to Planetary Evolution, doesn’t creating joy and abundance in our personal lives also contribute to the health of our planet?
I love thinking of myself as a Creator. What a beautiful word. I also love this context of being a Creator with The Divine. It makes me feel so safe.
I know for myself, I am using this information to create my life with the purpose that the Divine has gifted to me. Thank you Saratoga. I hope that many people read and apply this information. I am sure it could bring great joy and change in their lives.
Thank you, Kathleen! These are wonderful points. I think you are right that there is a definite spiritual association with planetary evolution, which is great and necessary. But the missing piece might be – how do we ground this in practical reality?
A goal is a focal point for intention. Our individual lives are the perfect practice ground from which to learn and understand this. When we individually master our own lives as creators, we can then see our place in the practical reality for the much bigger picture.
And I also agree that joy and abundance are powerful goals that bring an immediate benefit to the greater whole, energetically speaking. We can already see what despair and struggle lend to collective consciousness. So why not counter that influence by bringing joy and fulfillment into the overall atmosphere?
I just wanted to chime in again and relate an experience I had today. I started really noticing how much I really had created over the past couple of years and, after having read this wonderful post, I really began to acknowledge these things in a way I never had before. I immediately felt a strong sense of gratitude as well as feelings of empowerment and confidence. I really like your suggestion to make a list of goals achieved!
I mean, we are creating all the time – our entire existence, really, whether conscious or otherwise. I feel that, not only is it is important to recognize that fact, but also to really highlight those things we _have_ created with intention and consciousness.
“You know? I really did create all that.” A simple statement to myself, perhaps, but I felt a real sense of strength and confidence in saying it and also a sense that there is so much more that I am capable of. We all are capable of great things.
Thank you again!
Avalon, thank you so much for sharing this with all of us. I’m so happy that you tried this out.
I think that writing a list of goals achieved is a good idea because in putting pen to paper you really affirm that you did it. It is also extremely helpful because you can go back and look at this list later on for encouragement. The next time your mind or ego says “I can’t”, you can go back and read your list to prove that thought wrong.
The phrase “I can’t” is simply your mind censoring a new thought or idea because it does not fit in your comfort zone. It’s nothing more than a censoring device letting you know that you have gone outside the lines of familiarity in your own thinking.
I’m not sure if you wrote down what you accomplished, but thanks for giving me the opportunity to emphasize this point. 🙂
I know this is really late in coming, I actually unconsciously trashed the notification email for this blog! Or should I say subconsciously! How is that for resistance! I just had to acknowledge that. I have been very resistant to goal setting for all of the reasons you mention in your blog. The fact that I am so resistant to it only tells me that it is probably the most important blog for me to read and embrace! I will do my best to revisit goal setting and I am grateful for this experience and for all of the contributions here. I have learned a lot, Thank you – Susan McDonald
Thank you, Susan. That’s pretty neat that you figured out what you feel is resistance to goal setting. I think this is sooo common! It would be interesting to see what the subconscious resistance is all about. It could be related to any number of things. It could be fear of change. That’s a big one for people. It could be lack of faith in oneself. Of course it would mean exiting one’s current, familiar comfort zone. Sometimes it’s not the goal itself that is a problem for people. Oftentimes it is more about the personal changes that will be necessary in order to reach that goal. Good luck with this, Susan. And thanks so much for sharing this. I’m sure it will help others. 🙂