Here are instruments for reflective living that are useful to me and may also help you to enjoy a more reflective life.

Using these instruments will leave a trail of the results of your life. They also help you to reach dreams, manifest desires and gain perspective when viewing your life over decades. These are tools to help you live a better life.

If you find that you are constantly struggling to reach a goal despite using these instruments, then discuss your frustrations with your personal coach. Your professional coach is trained to work with you and work towards making your goals reality.

These are instruments to remind you of where you want to go, where you have been, and your successes along the way. These instruments have proven to work for me. They also to help you learn from your mistakes and not repeatedly make the same mistakes.

Guidance from personal experience: I prefer tangible paper books and not electronic copies. It is easier to write freehand and use difference colors when working with paper books. Real books are more personal, and can easily be passed on to future generations. Who knows what technology will exist in the year 2148 and if future generations of children will benefit from your electronic copies. Rather create handwritten books. If you feel the need, then create the entries on your computer and print out copies to form hard-copies for future generations.

Instrument One: Book of Dreams

Purchase a sturdy, hard cover book of size 10.5 x 8 Inches or A4 size, or similar. Draw three vertical columns on each page. The left column should be one-inch from the left side of the page. The right column should be one inch wide from the right side of the page. This leaves a wide middle column. Write these titles at the top of each page.

Date entered, Dream, Date Reached.

Recording your desires for future realities that you want to come true will help you to reach them. Once or twice a year, when you have quiet time, review your Book of Dreams, and reflect on your entries. Have any come true? Do you have new dreams that you would like to record? Which dreams are no longer relevant, and can be crossed out?

I have kept a Book of Dreams since 1994, and it was one of the few books that I brought with me when we immigrated to the USA. Some dreams have come true, some have not. This is normal. Your Book of Dreams is a living document and work in progress as you reach dreams and add new ones. My experience is that a dream written down is a seed planted in fertile soil. It most likely will grow into reality.

Instrument Two: Little Scorecard of Life Success.

Life is not just about future dreams. You are demoralized if you only always focus on future goals. Along your path of success, you will feel good and reach some accomplishments. You will also achieve some goals that may you feel "Wow! That is a job well done. I achieved something here".

Write down your successes in your personal Scorecard of Life Success. Over time, your Scorecard of Life Success will reflect the successes that you have achieved over the years, and the accomplishments that you reached. Keep your scorecard handy, and browse through it when things are tough or when you have some time for quiet reflection.

Your little Scorecard of Life Success will help you to stay motivated and keep on taking actions. Take this action today. Take a notebook. Write on the cover "My little Scorecard of Life Success". Then write entries for successes, from your past and as they happen in the future. In life, you win some and you lose some. Keep record of your wins and remind yourself that you can enjoy them in the future as well.

Instrument Three: Vision Board

Put up a Vision Board. Purchase a bulletin board for your office, or take a flip chart and tape it to your wall or something similar that works in your environment. Put your vision board where you can see it, and where it is not public for everyone else to see and comment on.

Make sure to keep your vision board pure. Only add photographs of objects that you desire to manifest in the material world. Tack up descriptions of your desired states. Take time to imagine yourself reaching your visions and possessing the objects you desire to possess, with emotion. Feel what it would feel like. Smell and taste the objects of desire. The more real you can make the objects feel to you, the faster you will attract them to you.

In case you are unclear on what a vision board is, here is the definition. This is where you keep photos and images of goals you want to achieve and objects that you want to own. For example, if you want to own a Porsche, then put a picture of the model and color of the car you want on your vision board. When you look up from your work, you will see the photo. When you see the photo of the object of your desire, then take a moment to get emotional about it. How will you feel about owning this object? What does it smell like to drive the Porsche? Where will you drive it? Imagine polishing your Porsche, and driving it in traffic. The more emotional and more vivid that you can make your visualization, the stronger your desire becomes to own your Porsche and the faster you move yourself towards attracting the Porsche into your life.

You can use a vision board to bring objects and circumstances into your life. Use a vision board, for any or all of the following:

1. Material objects, such as a car or a new house.

2.  Circumstances that you desire, such as a new job or a promotion at your company.

3. Moving to a new city or country.

4.  A life partner.

5.  Dream vacation.

6. Specific income, such as getting a check for $5,000 for speaking engagements.

 Don't delay on this one. Put up a vision board as soon as you can, and tack photos up of objects that you want to own, as well as goals for the coming year.

Instrument Four: Decision Book.

Write down the important decisions that you take, in a book. Keeping a written record of personal decisions reminds you of what the decision was that you took, and thus does not require you to keep on revisiting the decision. For example, if you decide to lose ten pounds, write the decision in your decision book with the reasons for taking the decision and your action steps to implement the decision. Review your decision book from time to time to keep on the same consistent path and not waver from your decisions.

Instrument Five: Success Journal.

I believe a life worth living is a life worth recording. Keep a journal. Write down the highlights and low points in your life. Record as many thoughts and ideas as you feel comfortable with. Over a period of years you will be able to see trends in your life and make changes if you want to. You are also leaving a legacy for future generations in your family. Think back to how much you have learned from others who recorded their lives in journals. You can do the same thing to help future generations. Who else will be there to tell your great grandchildren what you did, how you felt and the lessons you learned in life?

Instrument Six: Objects to focus your energy.

Just as a magnifying glass, you should identify objects that you can focus your energy on. This may be the photos on your vision board. Or it can be symbols that you keep on your desk every time you see the symbol, you refresh your desire to obtain your goal. Having one object that symbolizes what you want, helps you to take the energy of your mind and narrowly focus it on the object. Just like a magnifying lass focuses sunlight on a piece of newspaper until it ignites, your mind can focus energy on a particular object. Then you will get energy that inspires you to take the actions that you need to take in order to reach your goal. Your tasks is to take the time to create or obtain "Energy Focusing Objects".
 

These instruments are helping me in my life every day. I am passing this information on because giving it away does not diminish my abundance. Your possession of this knowledge allows you to get more from your life when you use these instruments. This is a true win/win situation.