I have been playing around with the idea of feeling goals, that is goals about how we want to feel as a pathway to creating life change. Most of us use our thinking to develop goals. We think about a personal challenge, we think about a change we want to make, we think about a goal to help us make the change, and we think about ways to accomplish the goal. We love our brains. We need our brains. But our brains also feed us critical thoughts when we don't meet our goals. Sometimes our brains feed us critical thoughts before we even get started on a goal, which prevents us from feeling that we deserve to change. Then we get caught up in negative thinking and spend precious personal energy battling with our inner demons.

But we are more than brains. We are also heart. And, connecting the head and heart wakes us up and can be a powerful antidote to living halfheartedly.

So, here is the feeling goal idea. Think (yes think — we need our brains) of a monthly feeling goal, such as content, relaxed, feisty, etc. I suggest that you stick with no more than three feeling goals per month, otherwise it will become too unwieldy. Then write your feeling goal(s) down and put it in a number of different places where you will notice it throughout your day.

The next step is to connect your choices and decisions to your feeling goals. For example, if someone asks you do something for them, but you had intended to go to the art museum, which has been on your desire list, think of the feeling goal that you set and see which choice will bring you closer to your feeling goal. If resentment or distraction is one of your feeling goals, then by all means do your friend a favor in place of going to the art museum. If your feeling goal is inner peace, a visit to the art museum may be just the ticket. And, of course it's a both/and world not an either/or world so you can always do your friend the favor at another time or not at all. It's your choice. I love that word: "choice."

People seem to have a talent of taking care of other people and other things before taking care of themselves. I am hoping that feeling goals can remind us of what is important to us and help us on the road to that elusive state of life balance.

Let me know what you think, and if you decide to try out my feeling goal idea let me know how it goes for you!

Chris Wucherer, a life coach, business coach and psychotherapist, has 28 years of experience helping people create saner lives. She uses a wide array of practical tools, tips and a deep visioning process to help people move forward. Chris firmly believes and practices the principles that saner living makes for great living. She is the Saner Living Guru. Chris writes a blog and has a website. You can reach her at 734-669-7202 or by email.