WOW. I've experienced it before, but sometimes you forget, ya know?
I'm talkin' energy flow, people, and the belief that the energy we put out there comes right back at us. We reap what we sow, so to speak.
So here's a recent example from the life of moi: a few weeks ago, my dear partner, Robert, and I stumbled upon our dream home. We weren't looking, but when opportunity came knocking, we checked it out, instantly fell in love with the home and the surrounding space, and chose to dive in with an offer together! Right around this time, we also decided to get hitched. (Technically, he asked, and I said "yes!") Big stuff, right? I mean, I'm almost 37 and have never gotten married, nor have I bought a home by myself, much less with someone else.
What preceeded these two events, though, was an intense time of self-reflection, seeing and owning up to some painful truths about each of us as individuals and together in our relationship, and a decision to dig in, work hard, love harder, and see what happened. The energy we chose to put into our lives was full on, positive, "we can do this!" kinda juju. And look what we're getting back!
Along with all of this, for me, has also come bunches of fear, which was surprising. After all, when Prince Charming finally pops the question, we all live happily ever after, right? Rose petals and rainbows? Well, what I've found is that sure, I'm thrilled at the events of late. And, I'm terrified! And, there's no where else I'd rather be.
One of the fears has been financial. How the heck am I going to pay for my full half of this place, anyway? This past year has been one of intentional debt accrual (with coach training, my leadership program in California, getting certified, etc.), and Robert's wonderfully taken over our combined expenses for a while. Now the rubber's hitting the road, though...time to hike it all into high gear and not only pay for what I used to contribute (my half of utilities, groceries, etc.), but now there's a fat mortgage in there, too.
I panicked about this for a few days. The result? I felt sluggish, dazed, worried, and my jaw started aching and popping from all the mid-night clenching I was apparently engaged in. So, I made a decision. I could continue down the path I was on, which was getting me nowhere fast. OR, I could choose to put different energy into the situation. A few days ago, I chose the later. I chose to believe that there's no way the universe/god/goddess/etc. would have placed this amazing home in our laps if we also weren't going to be blessed with the means to be there. And I also chose to believe that we're not given what we're not up to dealing with. (And in that light, it's kind of an honor to have all this challenge before me; someone must thing I'm up to it!)
The result? As of today, I have a new client and three more potentials. They've all just appeared, as if "out of thin air." But I believe differently, because it's happened before. When my energy shifted, and I put positive energy out there, I got positive energy back. But the trick? It's got to be real. Totally. Completely. No niggling doubts!
So. Where are you in your life? C'mon...you've gotta be willing to really look. Where are you hanging on to potentially negative, small, stuck energy or fear? Where might you play with letting go of that perspective and choosing something new?
After all, our good friend Albert Einstein defined insanity as something like, "doing the same thing you've always done and expecting different results." My other personal favorite: "if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got." Maybe not grammatically perfect, but point made nonetheless!
Find that spot, big or small, where you're stuck, and choose to put different energy into it. If your intention is really true, I suspect you'll be blown away by what you get back!
Friday, June 29, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Bliss...Right Here, Right Now!
Yo, blog readers!
Following is a short article I wrote on spec for a magazine. They said, "Thanks, but no thanks!" So, I pass it on to you here instead of there! Enjoy!
Mmmmmm… bliss. The word alone conjures up images of a warm bubble bath, phone off the hook, decadent bonbons within arm’s reach, candles all aglow on every nearby surface, and perhaps even a hunky massage therapist at your beck and call, just itching for his cue. Can you say, “Calgon, take me away”?
Unfortunately, our prevailing culture often does say we have to “get away” to experience bliss. It’s the good old “if-then” paradigm. “If I plan a great getaway vacation, then I’ll be able to relax,” or “If I get a different job/relationship/hobby, then I’ll be able to have a balanced life,” or “If I work my butt off now, then I’ll have the life I really want when I retire.” It’s a paradigm that, by its very nature, staves off bliss. Hello, counter-productive! Oh, and by the way, no guarantees that the “then” part of the equation will ever actually happen. Often, in our mad-cap, you-are-what-you-do world, it’s simply replaced by another “if.”
So what’s a girl to do?
Happily, everyday bliss isn’t far away. Working through the following three steps can lead you to a life chock full of everyday moments of bliss.
1. What’s bliss to you? First and foremost, what makes you feel “blissed out”? Completely relaxed? All aglow like those bath-side candles? Awash in the savoring of a moment? There are as many ways to feel bliss as there are women reading these words. Figuring out what’s blissful to you is the first step in feeling it more!
2. Where are the gaps? Once you know what bliss is to you, look for the ways in which you might be staving it off. Maybe part of what’s blissful to you is savoring phenomenal food. So, what’s in your fridge? What restaurants do you frequent? Where do you “if/then” yourself around food? (“If I go to that great café, then I’ll be able to savor my food.”) Maybe bliss to you is being outside. So, how many days do you spend umpteen hours behind a desk, gazing longingly out the window, feeling like you’re stuck inside? It’s easy to unconsciously limit ourselves on a daily basis by not consciously weaving in a few moments of bliss. Where are the gaps in what’s bliss to you and the choices you make each day?
3. What’s possible? Once you see where your gaps are, brainstorms some ways you can add bliss into your daily mix. Maybe you let yourself indulge in a small square of high-octane organic dark chocolate after lunch each day, or you let yourself go to the Saturday farmer’s market and buy fresh, local fruit that you savor throughout the coming week, or you start a container garden so you can have your very own fresh cherry tomatoes and basil all summer long. Maybe you start parking a few blocks farther away from the office so that every workday starts and ends with a walk. Maybe you surprise the next person who comes to your office for a meeting by suggesting you walk and talk outside instead. Maybe you promise yourself five minutes outside each morning, no matter what. The possibilities are endless!
Despite the marketing savvy of our friends at Calgon, bliss doesn’t have to be a far-off concept. It’s available right here, right now, and it comes in your size, your flavor. All you have to do is see where it might live in your life today, and step toward it. I promise, it’ll be waiting there with open arms!
Following is a short article I wrote on spec for a magazine. They said, "Thanks, but no thanks!" So, I pass it on to you here instead of there! Enjoy!
Mmmmmm… bliss. The word alone conjures up images of a warm bubble bath, phone off the hook, decadent bonbons within arm’s reach, candles all aglow on every nearby surface, and perhaps even a hunky massage therapist at your beck and call, just itching for his cue. Can you say, “Calgon, take me away”?
Unfortunately, our prevailing culture often does say we have to “get away” to experience bliss. It’s the good old “if-then” paradigm. “If I plan a great getaway vacation, then I’ll be able to relax,” or “If I get a different job/relationship/hobby, then I’ll be able to have a balanced life,” or “If I work my butt off now, then I’ll have the life I really want when I retire.” It’s a paradigm that, by its very nature, staves off bliss. Hello, counter-productive! Oh, and by the way, no guarantees that the “then” part of the equation will ever actually happen. Often, in our mad-cap, you-are-what-you-do world, it’s simply replaced by another “if.”
So what’s a girl to do?
Happily, everyday bliss isn’t far away. Working through the following three steps can lead you to a life chock full of everyday moments of bliss.
1. What’s bliss to you? First and foremost, what makes you feel “blissed out”? Completely relaxed? All aglow like those bath-side candles? Awash in the savoring of a moment? There are as many ways to feel bliss as there are women reading these words. Figuring out what’s blissful to you is the first step in feeling it more!
2. Where are the gaps? Once you know what bliss is to you, look for the ways in which you might be staving it off. Maybe part of what’s blissful to you is savoring phenomenal food. So, what’s in your fridge? What restaurants do you frequent? Where do you “if/then” yourself around food? (“If I go to that great café, then I’ll be able to savor my food.”) Maybe bliss to you is being outside. So, how many days do you spend umpteen hours behind a desk, gazing longingly out the window, feeling like you’re stuck inside? It’s easy to unconsciously limit ourselves on a daily basis by not consciously weaving in a few moments of bliss. Where are the gaps in what’s bliss to you and the choices you make each day?
3. What’s possible? Once you see where your gaps are, brainstorms some ways you can add bliss into your daily mix. Maybe you let yourself indulge in a small square of high-octane organic dark chocolate after lunch each day, or you let yourself go to the Saturday farmer’s market and buy fresh, local fruit that you savor throughout the coming week, or you start a container garden so you can have your very own fresh cherry tomatoes and basil all summer long. Maybe you start parking a few blocks farther away from the office so that every workday starts and ends with a walk. Maybe you surprise the next person who comes to your office for a meeting by suggesting you walk and talk outside instead. Maybe you promise yourself five minutes outside each morning, no matter what. The possibilities are endless!
Despite the marketing savvy of our friends at Calgon, bliss doesn’t have to be a far-off concept. It’s available right here, right now, and it comes in your size, your flavor. All you have to do is see where it might live in your life today, and step toward it. I promise, it’ll be waiting there with open arms!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
What Holds You Back?
WOW. I can't believe it's been close to a month since my last post. My apologies!
So today's topic: what holds you back? All of my clients know about their "saboteur," "inner critic," "gremlin"...it goes by so many names! And gadzooks, they're ugly critters. But they're not you, which is vital to know. Your saboteur/gremlin/inner critic/whatever is a result of so many "shoulds" that have been heaped on over a lifetime by family, friends, bosses, culture, media, etc. "You should look this way." "You should have this much money." "You shouldn't want that." Slowly, over time, your essential, higher self got covered up by those shoulds, and your saboteur--who takes its orders directly from the land of Should--was born.
Regardless of its name, or what your particular version looks like, we all have this sabotoging voice inside that sometimes whispers, sometimes screams, sometimes beats us up internally. Its most important jobs? To keep us "safe" (in its perspective), to maintain the status quo (at all costs), and to keep us unempowered.
Here's the "safe" part. Imagine yourself as a small child. One day, you toddle over to an outlet on the wall, stick your finger partway inside, and OUCH! You get a shock! The next time you toddle over, a protective voice inside your head says, "Stay away from that! You'll get hurt like last time if you don't!" This voice helped us all navigate the tumultuous terrain of growing up, but the problem is, once we grew into adulthood and were perfectly capable of making those "safety" calls on our own, that voice never went away. In fact, the older we got, and the more capable we got, the more dramatic and loud it got. (Capability scares it, you see.) So, does something like this sound familiar? "Who am I to think I could have that career/relationship/ place to live/etc.? Last time I applied for a new position/asked someone out/looked at my finances, it all went terribly and all I got was more stuck, so I might as well not even try...blah blah blah." That, my friends, is your saboteur in overdrive, holding you back.
And how about that "status quo" part? "Well, my job's okay. I mean, who am I to want more when so many have so little? So my boss is kind of a jerk, and the hours really are grueling, and I don't have any balance in the rest of my life...at least I don't have to go through the stress and rejection of looking for a new job. Even though what's here now isn't great, it's good enough...blah blah blah." Hello, gremlin!
Oh yes, and "unempowered." As long as your saboteur is operating in stealth mode, driving the bus of your life and whizzing right past your higher self time and time again, then you, my friend, are unempowered in your life.
So what to do? Step 1: bring that sucker out into the light. Saboteurs/gremlins/inner critics LIKE the cover of darkness. They do their best work there. So start listening. Really pay attention to the internal dialogue that goes on throughout your days. What are the circumstances that cause your gremlin to come out in force? When does it, in its uber-sneaky way, whisper so quietly you can barely hear it, but its there nonetheless? And what happens to YOU when it shows up?
Becoming aware of this inner voice and how it holds you back is the first step toward empowerment, because when you become aware of it, then you can be at choice about it. Awareness brings the ability to choose something different, either in the moment or next time, and that's a sure sign you're on the road to the fantastic life and incredible YOU that are waiting.
So today's topic: what holds you back? All of my clients know about their "saboteur," "inner critic," "gremlin"...it goes by so many names! And gadzooks, they're ugly critters. But they're not you, which is vital to know. Your saboteur/gremlin/inner critic/whatever is a result of so many "shoulds" that have been heaped on over a lifetime by family, friends, bosses, culture, media, etc. "You should look this way." "You should have this much money." "You shouldn't want that." Slowly, over time, your essential, higher self got covered up by those shoulds, and your saboteur--who takes its orders directly from the land of Should--was born.
Regardless of its name, or what your particular version looks like, we all have this sabotoging voice inside that sometimes whispers, sometimes screams, sometimes beats us up internally. Its most important jobs? To keep us "safe" (in its perspective), to maintain the status quo (at all costs), and to keep us unempowered.
Here's the "safe" part. Imagine yourself as a small child. One day, you toddle over to an outlet on the wall, stick your finger partway inside, and OUCH! You get a shock! The next time you toddle over, a protective voice inside your head says, "Stay away from that! You'll get hurt like last time if you don't!" This voice helped us all navigate the tumultuous terrain of growing up, but the problem is, once we grew into adulthood and were perfectly capable of making those "safety" calls on our own, that voice never went away. In fact, the older we got, and the more capable we got, the more dramatic and loud it got. (Capability scares it, you see.) So, does something like this sound familiar? "Who am I to think I could have that career/relationship/ place to live/etc.? Last time I applied for a new position/asked someone out/looked at my finances, it all went terribly and all I got was more stuck, so I might as well not even try...blah blah blah." That, my friends, is your saboteur in overdrive, holding you back.
And how about that "status quo" part? "Well, my job's okay. I mean, who am I to want more when so many have so little? So my boss is kind of a jerk, and the hours really are grueling, and I don't have any balance in the rest of my life...at least I don't have to go through the stress and rejection of looking for a new job. Even though what's here now isn't great, it's good enough...blah blah blah." Hello, gremlin!
Oh yes, and "unempowered." As long as your saboteur is operating in stealth mode, driving the bus of your life and whizzing right past your higher self time and time again, then you, my friend, are unempowered in your life.
So what to do? Step 1: bring that sucker out into the light. Saboteurs/gremlins/inner critics LIKE the cover of darkness. They do their best work there. So start listening. Really pay attention to the internal dialogue that goes on throughout your days. What are the circumstances that cause your gremlin to come out in force? When does it, in its uber-sneaky way, whisper so quietly you can barely hear it, but its there nonetheless? And what happens to YOU when it shows up?
Becoming aware of this inner voice and how it holds you back is the first step toward empowerment, because when you become aware of it, then you can be at choice about it. Awareness brings the ability to choose something different, either in the moment or next time, and that's a sure sign you're on the road to the fantastic life and incredible YOU that are waiting.
Monday, April 30, 2007
"This Sh*t is Hard!"
Okay, so that's not a direct quote, actually, but I sometimes suspect it's what my clients are thinking about their life coaching work. What is so hard, anyway, about this stuff?
Being a life coaching client requires that you are ready to take action in your life. It requires that you're ready to commit to finally making the changes it'll take to get what's on the outside of you to match who you are deeply, inside, under all those layers of shoulds and what ifs and ought tos and all that stuff that keeps us small and unempowered. And it requires that, when the going gets tough (because it will), you'll at least consider the idea of "keep going!" In essence, it requires that, once and for all, you radically become your very own best friend, and you treat yourself and your life as such.
I just finished SARK's latest juicy book, Fabulous Friendship Festival, in which the whole first chapter is dedicated to "Self Friendship." Here's an excerpt from page 21:
"Friendship with yourself means that you maintain the relationship, no matter what else happens in your life. Many of us turn away from self-friendship when or if things feel difficult. We might feel or think that being friends with ourselves doesn't provide enough of what we need. It is easy to think that something outside of ourselves might be better, easier or more fun. Or, we might just feel tired of ourselves...Self-friendship requires time and practice. This practice calls for us to be friendly with all the parts of ourselves we might consider ugly or unworthy. (Being 'friendly with all the parts' doesn't mean you need to like it--you just need to feel it.)"
So, how do you know when you've turned away from yourself?
What's the first thing you would do differently today, if you decided to be your very own best friend?
And if you look around your life, when are the times that you abandon yourself? When do you need your self-friendship the most?
I invite you to consider these questions...and not only that, act on them! You are hereby encouraged to not abandon yourself by just thinking about the answers. Do something radical today...do what it takes to start becoming your own best friend!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
"Work/Life Balance": A Skewed Perspective!
I've been chewing on this topic for a while now, and part of today's Daily OM finally prompted me to 
dive in:
"Balance helps us avoid becoming lost in what we enjoy while ensuring that we always have enough mental and physical energy to explore new forms of fulfillment. While we recognize the importance of those concerns that are related to our basic survival and our overall well-being, we also understand that no one activity or obligation can take precedence over another. We are complex beings with complex needs, which means that our health and our wellness is a product of the many different choices we have made during our lifetimes. Dividing our time between areas of focus is the best way to guarantee that we are doing all we can to take care of ourselves in a thorough manner."
So then, if that's true, which I personally believe it is, what's up with the phrase "work/life balance"? That, to me, indicates that in the pie of our lives, work takes up 50% and the rest of life (family, health, fun/recreation, home, hobbies, friends, personal growth, travel, etc.) squeezes into the remaining 50%. How have we gotten so off course?
I think we're entering into the conversation from a skewed perspective when we go through the doorway marked "work/life balance." We are human beings...complex human beings. We require well-roundedness expressed in all facets of our lives in order to truly find balance in our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual selves. When any one of those areas is neglected, we are out of whack, if not screamingly on the surface than at the very least secretly deep inside. The result? Stress-related dis-ease, failed or ultimately unfulfilling relationships, physical maladies, disconnection from anything "bigger out there," even if, for you, that's simply the rest of humanity.
Susan Jeffers, in her impactful little book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway! has an entire chapter devoted to the question, "How Whole is Your 'Whole Life'?" In it, she introduces a simple nine-block grid that represents a person's life. Each block is labeled with a different area of life, such as hobby, leisure, family, alone time, work, relationship, friends, personal growth, and contribution. When any one of these blocks takes over more than its allotted space, she posits, then it threatens to become our identity. And we then succumb to a "fear of losing" and neediness mentality that can be all-encompassing. So we run around our lives doing everything we can to not lose that job, relationship, etc., to the detriment of the rest of our lives, and probably in a way that isn't in concert with who we'd really like to be. She offers a great seven step process to regain balance, and encourages her readers to "continue to create such richness for yourself that nothing can ever take away your basic sense of completeness. Can you imagine how little you would then have to fear?"
Another tool to determine the current state of balance (or imbalance!) in your life is the "Wheel of Life." It's an easy way to get a birds-eye view of where you might be neglecting an area or two for another, and a starting point for taking corrective action.
However you go about it, I challenge you today to take a hard look at your life. If we stepped into the conversation from the perspective of "whole life balance," what would you need to change? And what would make it worth the effort?
Go for it!!!
dive in:"Balance helps us avoid becoming lost in what we enjoy while ensuring that we always have enough mental and physical energy to explore new forms of fulfillment. While we recognize the importance of those concerns that are related to our basic survival and our overall well-being, we also understand that no one activity or obligation can take precedence over another. We are complex beings with complex needs, which means that our health and our wellness is a product of the many different choices we have made during our lifetimes. Dividing our time between areas of focus is the best way to guarantee that we are doing all we can to take care of ourselves in a thorough manner."
So then, if that's true, which I personally believe it is, what's up with the phrase "work/life balance"? That, to me, indicates that in the pie of our lives, work takes up 50% and the rest of life (family, health, fun/recreation, home, hobbies, friends, personal growth, travel, etc.) squeezes into the remaining 50%. How have we gotten so off course?
I think we're entering into the conversation from a skewed perspective when we go through the doorway marked "work/life balance." We are human beings...complex human beings. We require well-roundedness expressed in all facets of our lives in order to truly find balance in our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual selves. When any one of those areas is neglected, we are out of whack, if not screamingly on the surface than at the very least secretly deep inside. The result? Stress-related dis-ease, failed or ultimately unfulfilling relationships, physical maladies, disconnection from anything "bigger out there," even if, for you, that's simply the rest of humanity.
Susan Jeffers, in her impactful little book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway! has an entire chapter devoted to the question, "How Whole is Your 'Whole Life'?" In it, she introduces a simple nine-block grid that represents a person's life. Each block is labeled with a different area of life, such as hobby, leisure, family, alone time, work, relationship, friends, personal growth, and contribution. When any one of these blocks takes over more than its allotted space, she posits, then it threatens to become our identity. And we then succumb to a "fear of losing" and neediness mentality that can be all-encompassing. So we run around our lives doing everything we can to not lose that job, relationship, etc., to the detriment of the rest of our lives, and probably in a way that isn't in concert with who we'd really like to be. She offers a great seven step process to regain balance, and encourages her readers to "continue to create such richness for yourself that nothing can ever take away your basic sense of completeness. Can you imagine how little you would then have to fear?"
Another tool to determine the current state of balance (or imbalance!) in your life is the "Wheel of Life." It's an easy way to get a birds-eye view of where you might be neglecting an area or two for another, and a starting point for taking corrective action.
However you go about it, I challenge you today to take a hard look at your life. If we stepped into the conversation from the perspective of "whole life balance," what would you need to change? And what would make it worth the effort?
Go for it!!!
Monday, April 2, 2007
What's your body trying to tell you?
Hola! Happy Spring! I hope that applies to you, wherever you live. Here in North Carolina we're experiencing a gorgeous--albeit heavily pollen-and therefore allergy-laden--spring. The leaves are starting to emerge, all the azaleas and dogwood are in full bloom, the daffodils are just gasping their last bright sighs for the year, and the garden is starting to look orderly and bright green again!
So, here's what I have for you today. A friend sent a link to a short and, to me, very intriguing article on adrenal fatigue. Basically, it says that our adrenal system--the system that gives us energy--is our barometer for the degree of true satisfaction in our lives.
You know those times in life when it's just hard to get out of bed in the morning? When you lay there and mentally review what you're about to go do, and you just dread it? And feel exhausted at the thought? Well, according to Charles Eisenstein, that's our body saying, "HEY! YOU DON'T LOVE THE LIFE YOU'VE CREATED! IT'S NOT SERVING YOUR HIGHEST NEEDS AND DESIRES! SO I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU THE ENERGY TO GO DO THAT YUCKY STUFF!"
And typically, we respond by forcing ourselves out of bed, swigging down one or two or three cups of coffee to bypass our body's message, popping a few Advil or aspirin or Tums or whatever, and off we go, happily self-medicated but ultimately no happier in our lives.
Our bodies are so wise. They communicate with us ALL THE TIME. You know how sometimes your stomach clenches up? Or you get a stress headache? Or you catch yourself clenching your jaw? Or your chest tightens up? All signs and signals, my friends, that we're not honoring our highest selves somehow.
So, what's you're body telling you?
Friday, March 23, 2007
What's your stake?
Wow! Time flies by so quickly. The past month has seen me in Atlanta assisting a Fundamentals coaching course for CTI, in L.A. experiencing delicious time with dear friends who live there, and in northern California for the third of four Leadership retreats. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, garden seedlings are growing like mad and the days continue to be warm and sumptuous. Face-to-face coaching clients have really enjoyed me moving my office out to the deck lately!
So what's top of mind for this coach today? Lots of things. Here's one to try on, though: what's my stake in the world?
We've all heard the phrases, "put a stake in the ground" and "claim your stake." (And here all this time you thought it was "steak"!) :-) This is really about purpose, either one you feel has been assigned to you or one you get to make up from scratch, either way, doesn't matter. What does matter is that we're all consciously up to something in our lives...about something in our lives.
Lots of times, new clients will freeze up at the question, "what is your life purpose?" It can feel far away and overwhelming, or impossible to discern. But, to quote a favorite band, "the thing we need is never all that hard to find." So, consider any of these three questions as a starting point:
- What's happening in the world that I'm not okay with?
- What's missing that the world really needs?
- What something already meeting a deep need in the world that I want to align with and contribute to?
And when you look at those places, what do they tell you about what kind of stake you might have to make in the world?
Here's an important point: often we look inside for our purpose. We navel gaze, ponder, wish and wonder years away waiting for some huge epiphany to strike. But guess what? The answer is out there. In the eyes of the person sitting across from you, or the thing you hear on the news that's just not okay, or the work being done that you admire so much you can hardly dare to believe that there might be a place there for you, too.
It's a radical idea, I know, that our purpose is to be found outside of us. The key is to get out there and start doing something, and your purpose will walk up and wrap you in its arms, welcoming you home!
So what's top of mind for this coach today? Lots of things. Here's one to try on, though: what's my stake in the world?
We've all heard the phrases, "put a stake in the ground" and "claim your stake." (And here all this time you thought it was "steak"!) :-) This is really about purpose, either one you feel has been assigned to you or one you get to make up from scratch, either way, doesn't matter. What does matter is that we're all consciously up to something in our lives...about something in our lives.
Lots of times, new clients will freeze up at the question, "what is your life purpose?" It can feel far away and overwhelming, or impossible to discern. But, to quote a favorite band, "the thing we need is never all that hard to find." So, consider any of these three questions as a starting point:
- What's happening in the world that I'm not okay with?
- What's missing that the world really needs?
- What something already meeting a deep need in the world that I want to align with and contribute to?
And when you look at those places, what do they tell you about what kind of stake you might have to make in the world?
Here's an important point: often we look inside for our purpose. We navel gaze, ponder, wish and wonder years away waiting for some huge epiphany to strike. But guess what? The answer is out there. In the eyes of the person sitting across from you, or the thing you hear on the news that's just not okay, or the work being done that you admire so much you can hardly dare to believe that there might be a place there for you, too.
It's a radical idea, I know, that our purpose is to be found outside of us. The key is to get out there and start doing something, and your purpose will walk up and wrap you in its arms, welcoming you home!
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