Socrates said (we are told): “Be how you wish to seem.”
It seems to me that’s a perfect instruction for creating a five year plan for yourself. I’ve been thinking about a five year plan a lot lately. There are several reasons for this, but perhaps the most important one is that the last time I created one was five years ago.
So here is a blueprint I made up, based on what I experienced last time, which is still very dear to my heart.
Imagine your Plan in five layers – sort of like transparencies.
- Inner: How do you imagine yourself inwardly? Wise? Brilliant? Happy? Successful? In love? Reconciled? Satisfied? Adventurous? What is the feeling you long for your soul to experience in five years?
- Environment: What is the situation in which you wish to find yourself in five years? Look around you. Then close your eyes and imagine your ideal environment.
- Work. What is your ideal work in the world?
- Friends and Lovers: What kind of relationships are most important to you?
- The heart of the matter: Summarize what matters the most to you – how you would like to see things differently (or the same) in five years?
What are some of the aspects for you to examine as you move through these five elements to your five-year plan? Here are some tips:
- Past-present-future: Think of yourself as a river. You are a source, a flow, and an ocean. Appreciate where you came from, enjoy the journey, and imagine where you’re headed.
- Trust in whatever happens. Overcome your fear! Fear – even a tiny one – prevents us from doing pretty much anything we want.
- Work within the reality of what is – don’t plan for windfalls or wishing something would change that’s outside of your situation. Only work with what you can change.
- Perseverance. This is one of the most quoted phrases in the sacred I-Ching: “Perseverance bring success.” I’d say that, with regard to your five year plan, perseverance is essential.
- You’re freer than you realize. Basically, your five year plan is restricted only by your self-imposed assumptions that something might not work… release those. Let them go. You are free to manifest your destiny in any way you plan.
This is the most important:
Love yourself for who you are now. Adore yourself so much you want to give yourself the moon.
Good luck!
Thank you, Samantha Stier, for the photo of the ducks.
You’re welcome!
Lovely and wise, as always.
I think your ducks are considering their five-year plan too. Mulling the possibilities. How to cross, when to cross, who to cross with … and, indeed, why?
Thank you Winslow for the 5 Year Plan… I had been thinking along the same lines as I will be 65 in December. Where would I like to be at age 70? back in South Africa reading my poetry among other SA poets? Here in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales where I have been made so welcome and feel so free?
Lovely to mull your two wonderful opportunities, and to know that what you are planning is not a fork in the road but a path through life. Actually, I have a feeling you may be vibrantly experiencing BOTH your current options, and possibly a third will emerge as well. What a fabulous biography you have – your years will surely continue to expand and offer experiences: http://www.poemhunter.com/john-garth-raubenheimer/biography/ Hugs to you, and thanks for writing!