This year has been trying like no other. As winter breaks and large numbers of people receive vaccinations, we have a better opportunity to look out into our futures. There are possibilities, dreams, aspirations that we may have been too preoccupied to be able to envision. Many of us have developed new perspectives of what is truly important in our lives; the journeys that we truly want to experience. Now is an opportunity to set new goals, to put ourselves on journeys that are more consistent with our values.
There is a saying, “You have to see it to be it. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” An interviewer once asked Novak Djokovic what made the difference to finally achieving and sustaining his goal of being the number one tennis player in the world. His answer: He came to understand that he was ‘seeing’ his competitors on level above himself. With that awareness, he flipped the picture around and has dominated ever since. This technique applies to all of us for any endeavor we set out on. Create a movie visualizing yourself in the richness of the journey and the action of success. And run the movie frequently.

When people come to our clinic, they have some limited ability. One of our primary goals is to understand “who they want to be.” Some want to be the person who manages the woodlot on their property, or the grandmother who cross-country skis with her grandchildren, some want to be the gardener who creates beauty with flowers and gardens that surround their home, and some want to be the athlete who takes their skills to the limit. Psychologically, emotionally, and physically we do our best to support the vision of who they want to be. As we begin to emerge from this pandemic, I hope you are able to formulate more of your own dreams into goals, and appreciate the journey. You have to see it to be it. And be it with sincerity.
Billy Cioffredi