83% of people don’t have a goal!

83% of people don’t have a goal!

Let this sink in. 

California has a population of  39 million  people.  

Of those people only six million six hundred and thirty thousand have a goal.  

Only 2 million of the six have taken the time to make their goal clear enough to have written it down.

I find these numbers staggering. 

Abraham Lincoln once said: 

This quote has been one of my personal favorites for a long time.

Without a dream or a goal not only do we feel worse but we have less or no ability to make a good choice that keeps us going in a clear direction.

The most painful times in life for me were the moments when I felt I had lost my dreams and I did not feel worthy to create a new one. At that time I felt empty, like I was not made to be a part of the world, as if my life had no meaning. 

In the darkness of self doubt looking for a goal is the hardest thing to do and not advisable. Goals are best found when you feel ready to take on life and are full of vitality. 

When experiencing the darkness the only way that I have found to claw out is simple action, for me that means finishing a project that is due. Cleaning my workshop “even though I don’t see the point”. Or doing something for someone around me.

Clearly these feelings are not unfamiliar to me. Over the years I have found ways to remind myself of the dreams and aspirations that I have. At first it was a little reminder in a book that I could read and later a bracelet or keepsake placed in just the right spot that allowed me to keep going when the tentacles of self doubt would start to latch on.

I don’t think that the human experience should be pain free, but I also don’t think that we need to start from the beginning every time we feel lost. 

Getting out of the doubt bog requires two things. First, we understand that there is someplace better that we can get to and second we feel worthy in ourselves to go there. 

The feeling of worthiness can be tricky to attain. If at all possible we want to set ourselves up for success. 

As I mentioned earlier mementos can tell us that it is okay to feel the way we do now and a reminder that it will change. 

A couple of these are gifts but the most powerful ones are little things that I have gotten for myself. These are gifts to myself from a happier and more inspired me.  When I see and hold one of these little objects I remember the intentions that I had when I put it there. It is a reminder to myself of better times.

When I started my jewelry journey it was because a friend told me about how the meaning of gems and form could be like a medicine or a little bit of magic to help someone toward a better life.

After ten years I am still on the journey chasing a feeling or “deep inner conviction” that jewelry is not just a pretty little object but a resource that we can use to help when we are in the darkness, a charge to keep us going when we are feeling unstoppable.