I looked back and pulled the Bow up to my ear and pulled back the string as far as it would go, it was a bright sunny day in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with my heart and mind tuned to nature as never before for 2 weeks of fun.  As I pulled the bow string back I let fly the arrow that found it's mark sure as fire, sure as day into the center of the target of the range almost 50 yards away.  I heard a cheer as friends came forward to congratulate me, and as I nodded my approval of the target being found and hitting it right smack in the center.

This was at Scout Camp as a young man, where vivid memories of the scout motto come to mind "Be Prepared" has new meaning every day as I push forward on multiple fronts to make life as good as it can be.

As I witness interesting changes swirling around me, as I see moments that make me step back and whisper inwardly how can success puncture the target of life's dilemmas, concerns, twists, turns, and everything in between.  There are moments where you wonder how I ever got here, how did it all come to be, why is it that when time and time again when you have proven YET AGAIN, how you stand supernal to the little yacking, yelping dog like obstacles and yet overcome them with a grin and bear it hope that cannot be overthrown - is it not then that you find your goals can be achieved yet again.

Look out in the world today and you will find naysayers, doubters, and all manner of folks who are a little knuckleheaded in their egos to pin you in a box when you know deep down that you have more power to offer than such a thing as that.  It is an interesting twist how most things come to be as you are facing interesting challenges your perspective suddenly opens the gates to prosperity in new ways - hitting life's targets is a bit like knowing what you want and where you want to be.  Irregardless of what it is we face - short sighted individuals who don't know how to take the long view crowd into life's paths like snow - as it freezes it gets slippery and dicey I might add as you learn how to factor the direction to your inward sense of power.  It takes a sure target goal, and an unwavering focus as you turn your eye in the direction of the center.  Success doesn't just come by happenstance - it comes because you guided yourself there bit by bit - you made an unwavering commitment to see through the heart of the moment and pushed everything in your mind to fruition one step at a time.

I don't doubt that there have been times where each of us wanted to throw in the towel - or move to a new realm of endeavor - I have been there done that.  But it is when you look at everything within you and what it is that drives your goals, what it is that takes you to focus, what it is that will make your direction clear and your target pure, it is your hope for clear open and honest review of your most important goals - family, friends, relationships, and core convictions that amount to new ways of seeing that inevitably pave the way to the new day of opportunity.

I look back on those scouting days fondly, when I earned my Eagle Scout Award:

Being an Eagle is it's own reward, I can cling fondly to that memory of achieving a goal I set when my Grand Father past away.  When life gives me moments where staffing days might seem tough, where the goals I set previous might seem impenetrable, when I can't help but sigh when individuals are saying this or that cannot be done, but inwardly I am screaming that in spite of that chorus of negativity that I will succeed again in spite of such nonsense.  It is then that you clearly know and reach inward for the goals of the past and what you achieved, including the title of Eagle that I carry with such confidence and pride. 

It is important to use such memories to propel forward when everything seems at a loss, when people take your opinions, your outcomes, and your interpretation, and then disagree or put it in a light of negativity, it is then within yourself one can resolve that nothing, and no one, will stop core conviction at it's heart, and a Lion of massive courage which resides within - there is nothing more beautiful than that to me. 

Hitting the target and flying free as an Eagle, there is something deeply inspiring about just that.  I will not let fate, circumstances, or individuals hamper my inward resolve to make good on my goals, when set, they are like a north star of power, of a new greatness that nothing can destroy.  Just like that day where I hit the target as a youth, where I felt the power of an arrow flying like an eagle, to the goal, to the rescue, to the inspiring new day.  As an Eagle Scout I still fly proud, and there can be nothing to stop a New Year of pointed and powerful goals, when they are set with every part, parcel, and inward hope, nothing can stop that. 

An Eagle is a symbol of beauty and focused passion, as life throws new challenges our way, it is with the inward focus and pointed targeting of our goals, as well a key component of flying forward with persistence as an Eagle that success finds the target, and the arrow of life finds it's center and with it home to accomplishment, achievement, and everything else in between. 

A metaphor for life it is.  Recently, I finished watching the Biggest Loser on TV, some of the folks on the show had set an initial weight goal, inspiring it was when these individuals who had lost thousands of pounds collectively, and now could walk a 26 mile marathon, and yet complete it when weeks before due to thier health could not, I just couldn't help but be inspired of the power of the human spirit to achieve what it sets out to do.

We are like Eagles in our lives, and trained archers, hitting the target is such a powerful symbol.  May it be something that we can all aspire too.  As 2012 comes before me urging me on, I have no doubt that hitting my goals with a new perspective, a new push, and a new way of looking at things, and targeting the target ever more clearly with clear and present goals, that is when the outcomes I have set to be will help me find my freedom and fly with the Eagles.