Last fall, my dear friend Shannon Lee sent out an email she entitled “The Gauntlet“. It started out as a challenge to herself and some close friends, which has now become a growing phenomenon. The challenge was to create a list of goals; Share them with the group or at least put them somewhere you can see them; Then make your goals a priority for three weeks.Shannon says, “The beauty of the three weeks is that it takes away the overwhelm and replaces it with short focused bursts. And the beauty of the goals are they can be anything from painting your closet to meditating for 5 minutes every day to running 4 times a week. Your list of goals can have one item or seventeen. The beauty of the breaks in between is that you have a chance to rest - to see what sticks and what doesn’t, what worked and what didn’t - a chance to breathe easy and let your hair down. The crazy thing is that in between you begin to notice, “Hey. I don’t really want to eat a box of donuts because I don’t want to feel like crap.” Little epiphanies start to happen and you do change your life without even realizing it. Things that seemed hard become easier. It feels good to accomplish a goal - really good.”Most of us at some point in our lives will come across the biggest obstacle we will ever face… ourselves.Yes I know, we make lots of excuses as to why such and such really is hard and how there is no way that we can get around it. Then there are others, like myself, who can take procrastination to a level of high art. Yet when all is said and done we have to admit … “wherever you go, there you are.”I meet so many people who have a list of goals and become paralyzed by the thought of changing their routines. Here is a place where one can see that they are not alone. This months Gauntlet (#8) started on August 10th… wanna join me?Here is my list…

1. Start the day with the intention of being Whole
2. Get the Meditation CD out by the First week of October
3. At least 3 days a week at the gym…at the very best 30 minutes of carido a day (hey - it could happen!)
4. Clear out and file the paperwork on my desk
5. Be more present
6. Get more sleep
7. Read the books I’ve bought before getting new ones
8. Call Mom more
9. Save some money by being more aware of my spending (hey - it could happen!)

OK… so there is my list {{{GULP}}} I am really excited to see how I do. I will post updates here when I can.