Goals: How I Am Setting Them

I spoke with a hard-headed friend last night. He began talking about his therapist and how he is basically resisting her. But, he does want to change. So I thought about goal setting and how I can apply it to modern lifestyle changes. 
How many of you out there believe that you are who you are and you cannot control what you do tomorrow? If you put it like that, not many of you will say that you have no control of your actions tomorrow. But what if I asked you this "how many of you can change yourself for the better and be different then you were yesterday?" Some would say that you can't change who you were and that if you murder someone, then you will always be a murderer. How about something less permanent, like stealing. Do you believe that once you steal something once you will always be a thief? What about cheating, once a cheater, always a cheater?
Let's hope for all of mankind's sake that we can change because otherwise our past mistakes will always be held against us in every circumstance. I like to believe that I can change and that I can be different then the man that I once was. I wasn't even a man, I was an existing bag of flesh that brought misery on the world. Well, I don't like that man so I got rid of him. I still am. There is always going to be this remnant of the man that I was but here is the difference between being that man and being someone different tomorrow and today: I know that I have a choice. I have experienced this other side of me that is happy, joyful even. There is this other side to me that is wonderful and capable. I want that more often, every day in fact. So I strive for that. 
Here is how, I encourage you to do something similar when you know that you want to be a different person. Ask yourself exactly what you want. What kind of person do you want to be and what qualities is it that you don't possess currently? What will you do differently? What will you act like? What will you see? What will you hear? What are you doing now to get there? What will be the signs that your actually doing it? How will you know when you get there? What is the difference between then and now?

This seems like alot and it will challenge you. But how will you know what kind of person you want to be if you can't see yourself there at all? So sit back and day dream about it. Take that time and get to know the new you. You will never forget your past, but you can overcome it. Look at children, at one point you couldn't walk, but now you can. Or speak, at one point you couldn't talk, but now you can. You have evolved. What makes you think that you can't continue that process? We evolve everyday when we learn from our mistakes and dno't repeat them.

That's what I hope to get out.

Jeff Utnage