Another goal for the year
I want to work on my ability to conjure and hold happiness. To find strength within myself without appealing to the sense of self or ego. Using meditation, but also training my brain in other ways.
The result: feel empowered, more balanced and less discouraged.
Here's a quote from Tony Robbins' book that expresses the opposite:
What these people demonstrated is something all too familiar to so many people: 1) They didn't know what they really wanted out of life, so they distracted themselves with a variety of artificial mood alterants. 2) They developed not just neurological pathways but expressways to pain. And their habits were driving them down these highways on a regular basis.
Despite achieving the levels of success they'd once only dreamed of, and despite being surrounded by the love and admiration of millions of fans, they had far more references for pain. They became quite adept at generating it quickly and easily because they'd made virtual trunk lines to it. 3) They didn't know how to make themselves feel good. They had to turn to some outside force to help them deal with the present. 4) They never learned the nuts and bolts of how to consciously direct the focus of their own minds. They allowed the pain and pleasure of their environments to control them rather than taking control themselves.
And finally:
Anyone can continue to feel good if they already feel good, or if they're "on a roll"; it doesn't take much to accomplish this. But the real key in life is to be able to make yourself feel good when you don't feel good, or when you don't even want to feel good.