So here we are. Three weeks into the new year. A new beginning. Another year filled with endless possibilities and new opportunities for expansion.

Of course really every moment is a new beginning. In each and every moment we have the opportunity to start over and begin again. But it seems that whenever we arrive at the beginning of a new year, for many people the possibility of starting over seems to come more into focus.

Chances are you may be one of these people. If so, you may have declared some kind of new years resolution, some change that you’re seeking to make in 2012. Or maybe you’re one of the people who don’t think too much of new years resolutions, for the simple reason that they never really seem to amount to all that much. How often have we heard of or known someone who’s made some great enthusiastic declaration for how they’re going to improve their life in the new year, only to find that they seem to have forgotten all about it usually around halfway through January?

I believe new years resolutions are usually flawed for a very simple reason: we’ve only focused on stating what our goal or intentionality is, but we haven’t spent enough time actually coming into alignment with it. Or in other words, we haven’t spent enough time changing our habitual thought and behavior patterns to conform to the new lifestyle that we’d like to cultivate.

Simply put — it’s the old habits that are cancelling out the new goals or intentions.

So rather than encouraging you to stick with a specific new years resolution, I’d like to suggest a different approach. If you truly want to make 2012 your best year yet, I would suggest considering changing some of your habitual ways of looking at yourself, your life, and the world around you. Perception creates reality. The way you look at things determines what your experience will be — every single time, no exceptions.

To some degree we’ve all allowed ourselves to be conditioned in one way or another when it comes to how we look at the world and our place in it — be it either by well meaning friends or family, or the media. Moving away from our old perceptions which are usually fear based and reflect an erroneous and chronic belief in lack, scarcity and limitation, into a new perception that is in alignment with the Divine qualities of Love, Joy, Peace and Well-being, is what I’m calling moving out of the comfort zone into the Excellence Zone.

• Move Into Your Own Personal Excellence Zone

Did you know we all have our own personal Excellence Zone? What I mean by that is that we all have something at which we’re naturally good at, which also happens to be something that we love to do. It’s been called passion, hobbies, interests, talents, dreams. Well, while all those words are certainly accurate descriptions, I like to sum all of them up by referring to them as our own personal Excellence Zone.

What are some of the things you like to do? What are you naturally drawn to? What things are you passionate about? What are your skills and talents? If you carefully examine those questions, you will find that the answers to all of them have some things in common. You’ve just found your first clue to your reason for being here.

Once you’ve done that, you can then ask yourself the following question: if time and money weren’t an issue (which they aren’t, by the way), what would I be doing with my life?

And then pay attention. Listen to that Inner Voice.

Whatever it’s pointing you towards, pursuing it is what puts you on the path to your own personal Excellence Zone.

But what’s happened is that so many of us have gotten stuck in the opposite zone — the comfort zone. And, yes, while the comfort zone may sound alluring at first glance, let’s not be fooled by it. One of our inherent natures it to be ever expansive, to evolve beyond what we’ve been before, to grow and become greater versions of ourselves, to increase our capacities for sharing our gifts, skills and talents, to find new ways for being of service and for being a beneficial presence on the planet.

• Making Excellence in Thought, Word, and Deed our Daily Habit

Remember the main challenge we talked about when it comes to new years resolutions? Letting go of the old habits and coming into alignment with whatever your resolution was. Alignment is the key here. In order to create real lasting change in our lives, we must be in alignment in thought, word, and deed.

So to move out of the comfort zone into the Excellence Zone, we must ensure that our thoughts, words, and deeds reflect the excellence that we’re reaching for. Our words and deeds flow out of our thoughts, so naturally our thoughts is where it all must start. Now, how might we go about making this shift? I believe the best way to sum it up is this:

Every thought that you have is either a thought of Love or a thought of fear. There is nothing else to choose from but Love and the absence of love, which is fear.

In our society we’ve been trained to come from a place of fear. But we’ve been trained so well that we don’t even realize it most of the time. In fact, we think it’s normal! We think it’s normal to be worried, to imagine worst case scenarios by projecting our fears into the future. We think it’s normal to walk around complaining, being dissatisfied in one way or another. We think it’s normal to blame others, be it a spouse, our parents, our employer, or the government. You ask someone how they’re doing, and oftentimes they’ll tell you, “I’m hanging in there. I’m trying to make it. I’m okay, I guess.”

Enough of that!

You’re not here to try and make it, you’re here to thrive, you’re here to radiate and embody the qualities of Love, Joy, Well-being, Health, Prosperity, Generosity, Creativity, Beauty, and Success! You’re here to live an extraordinary life!

The life of your dreams is the life you were meant to live!

But as a result of these conditioned habitual patterns, it can feel easier sometimes to reach for those mediocre thoughts, thus perpetuating our comfort zone. Well, I’m here to invite you to break free. I’m here to invite you to create change from the inside out.

Why not begin every day with saying, “today I am available to Love. Today I am available to Possibility. I am willing to let Excellence express and reveal itself through me in all areas of my life. I am willing to allow Love to pour through me. I am willing to go beyond of what I previously thought was possible. Love is the very activity of my consciousness!”

Then ask yourself, “if Love was the only thing I was capable of, what would my life look like? What would my life look like if the only response I knew was Love? How would I interact with those around me? What thoughts would I be thinking? What actions would I be taking?”

And then allow that vision to form in your awareness. Allow it to be as vivid as possible. Don’t censor it, don’t judge it. Just allow it to form. What you’re doing is planting a seed, you’re becoming more conscious.

As you become more conscious, you’ll start catching yourself whenever you’re coming from fear. You’ll realize it when it’s happening. It won’t be automatic anymore. And that’s when you realize that you actually have a choice.

Freedom comes from the realization that we have a choice.

When those thoughts come that tell you why you can’t accomplish your dream or why you’re not good enough, you can switch that around by reminding yourself, “Today I am available to Possibility. I am willing to go beyond of what I previously thought was possible. I am available to Excellence.”

When you find yourself getting frustrated, annoyed, or you have that urge to complain about something (or someone), you can switch it around by asking, “What if Love was the only response I knew? What if Love was the only thing I was capable of?”

When you feel the urge to judge a situation, a person, or yourself, just say, “What if I loved unconditionally? What would my response look like then?”

Quite a shift compared to our normal way of thinking, isn’t it? It’s radical. Well, it may seem radical, but that’s what we’re here for, to start making these shifts and live the awakened life.

Now, let me finish with this: it’s important that whenever you do find yourself reacting from a place of fear, anger or frustration, be easy on yourself.

Don’t judge yourself. It’s all good. This is a continual process that can show its full effects only when practiced on a regular basis.

I hope you find this helpful. Feel free to share your comments as I would love to hear from you. Also, if you have any questions or would like further clarification, please let me know.

Let’s grow together!

Let’s make 2012 our best year yet!

Peace and Blessings to you!