CHAPTER 7
Shamans and
Opportunity:
Goals, Problem Solving,
and Success
"What's he honking about?" Annoyed, Larry looked
back at the driver behind him, honking and pointing wildly
at the roof of Larry's car. "Oh my gosh! My tennis racket!"
Larry pulled over to check the top of his Honda for what
he already knew with a sinking feeling was no longer
there. "How could I have been so stupid to leave my
tennis racket on top of the car?" A tear welled up as he
started to feel sorry for himself. Despite all the work he
was doing on his goals and his ability to have, the Uni-
verse was just not on his side lately. Then Larry remem-
bered a phrase from the goal-setting class he was
taking—Things aren't always what they seem." The big
picture? he asked himself silently as he drove the rest of
the way home. What is the big picture? The next day
Larry went to the sports shop to buy the racket he had
always wanted but never felt he could afford.For many of us, life seems to be a series of situations we
feel we must live through to get where we want to go. It is
riddled with hardship and effort, and obstacles await us at
every turn. A popular bumper sticker reads: "Life is hard
and then you die." Unfortunately, this is the attitude that
many of us have about life and its challenges. And yet those
very same challenges are what make life interesting; it is the
potential for success, for making it in the world, that keeps
people writing New Year's resolutions and setting goals. The
shamanic perspective on goal setting, problem solving, and
personal change can bring a sense of balance and flow into
these areas and make the outcome of your efforts more pow-
erful.
Shamans regard goal setting differently from the average
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