Man has been interested in planning and creating things since the beginning of time, it is indeed one of the attributes that makes us human. The ability to plan and create is a God given gift, however, it is a gift that many never develop into a skill and even less develop into a Great Skill or Mastery.

At the beginning of each year people the world over contemplate what they would like to do in the upcoming year and try as quickly as possible to forget the prior year now passing. Others will come up with “New Year’s resolutions” similar to: losing weight, making more money, getting a job, being promoted, getting married, having a child, volunteering more etc… But how well does the method of thinking and dreaming actually work? How many of us actually achieve our New Years Resolutions? How many write them down? If you do write them down, then what?

In a moment you will discover a truly powerful method to plan & attain your goals. First consider a Taoist concept: “The right person, who does the right thing, in the right way, at the right place, with the right people, commands success (The Integral Management of Tao, p. 62)”.

The ancient Taoists (in particular the Yellow Emperor in the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of the Internal, over 5,000 years ago) observed that the entire Universe was an oscillation of two forces Yin and Yang . After much investigation they discovered that Yang (——-, solid line) consists of: life, goodness, justice, righteousness, light, peace, heat, wealth, happiness, heaven, growth, the sun, active, things on the surface etc… With Yin (— —, broken line) consisting of: death, evil, injustice, unrighteousness, darkness, war, cold, poverty, unhappiness, hell, decay, the moon, passive, that which is deep or hidden etc… Yin and Yang represents every conceivable pair of opposites (Dr. Stephen Chang, The Integral Management of Tao, p.48).

If we look at the three solid lines or Yang lines, from the Pakua (Taoist symbol), we see the symbol that represents Ultimate Yang or Heaven. These three Yang lines represent absolute progressiveness, constantly improving-growing-learning. A person that wants to be successful will constantly strive to mirror the ways of Heaven by constantly improving, growing & learning. The nature of life is to live, and what one lives for is called a goal.

Throughout Taoism’s history these three Yang lines have held the secret to success and with practice you will understand why. The lines represent: immediate goals, mid range goals and long term goals. The method is to contemplate and then write down what you want to accomplish in the next: 6 months, 2 years and 5 years. Make sure the goals are challenging, realistic and specific. If you want to lose weight in 6 months; how many lbs, inches, body fat % etc… Also make sure you have a WHY for each goal, what does losing weight mean to you, why lose it; is it so you will live long enough to enjoy your grand or great grand kids? If you want to make more money, WHY, why should your employer pay you more, why should your business make more money, widgets etc…?

After you have the lists, the next step is to review them daily and make revisions at least monthly. If you take the time to do this, then this will be the beginning of a new you and this will, regardless of what others are saying, be a prosperous & blessed year!

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