Reaching a Fork in the Road

Reaching a fork in the road is an invitation to reflect on where we have been as well as on where we are headed.  It is about recognizing we have the power to make different choices.  Making more conscious choices enriches and strengthens us from the inside out due to acting from a state of deeper awareness about ourselves. Feel the urge to change focus and/or priorities?

Now is the moment to recognize and act more based on things that really matter: the power of vulnerability, courage, innate worthiness.  Part of the journey involves bravely exploring our shadows, the characteristics and behaviours we adopt that echo we are less than we actually are.  More specifically, this is about making the unconscious,  conscious, growing aware of self-defeating and self-sabotaging choices that point to patterns. Our overt and covert behaviours are linked to our sense of belonging and fear of rejection. 

As we reflect on how we are taught to live, what we are taught to achieve and the persona/ role we project, underneath words like "success" and "fulfillment" is that compass that gauges our sense of belonging.  This points to our unspoken desire to be seen, heard and validated. Beyond that is a yearning to “be part of something bigger than ourselves, to experience genuine connection with others. Beig true to ourselves is what makes us aware of the nature of authenticity, true freedom and innate power.

5 questions to get in gear

As so many changes are currently unfolding within and around you, it sometimes feels like its challenging to ground or get your head around. You may feel confused, indecisive, or unsure of how to approach where you are.  As a way to get yourself in gear,  ask yourself these 5 questions:

1) Where in your life are you bothered?

Even if the issue itself is not yet obvious to you, you can begin to add clarity by identifying how you are affected in terms of categories; is it relationship-oriented? about a professional or other unresolved situation? are you directly or indirectly involved? Is this private or public? Is it an individual, collective (i.e. community), or a universal matter? A combo or, something else?

2) What are the problems you wish to solve?

What do you imagine that repeatedly irks you or motivates you to act? What triggers you or 'gets your goat'? What sparks your curiosity, stimulates the imagination to invent something completely new to add convenience, service or otherwise help others and the world around you?

3) Which specific results do you exist to achieve?

Notice your own intuitive messages. To what or where are you drawn? Your emotions are a reliable gauge. What brings you joy? What compels you or teaches you to improve your skills? Wish to be more certain about a choice, role change or group decision? Crave particular experiences? Ready to write a bucket list with columns of priorities? Writing words is powerful.

4) What evokes discomfort that you no longer wish to experience?

Notice what you have nightmares about, what keeps presenting to you in different shapes and forms to evoke resistance, avoidance, or denial.  As discomfort arises, behavioural patterns can be identified.  Now is the moment to make the unconscious conscious, to grow aware of what you repress, suppress or tune out from. Whatever you fear is pointing to what you are ready to  explore, take on or experience on a more conscious level to grow and thrive.

5) Why listen to yourself or others?

Focusing on particular people and experiences can help you accelerate and overcome perceived obstacles. Grow aware of the consequences of your own inaction. What is the cost of your own ignornace and passivity? What do you imagine unfolding with a change in perception? You have infinite opportunities right where you are. Feel your way into moving forward. 

10 Ways to redefine success

Something tells you it is the moment to review and refine your version of success.  This term has different meanings to different people. Ever ask yourself why this topic comes to your attention right now?  Maybe you are in transition, reflecting on the nature of your accomplishments, feel restless about professional progress or unsure of your current longer term direction.  Whatever it is, the moment is right to devote some time to what success means to you.  Observe how your own version of success is changing with you. 

1. Is success about meeting a deadline?

2. Is success about goal-setting, planning, and working toward short-term goals? 

3. Is success about giving yourself  the freedom to to help others reach their version of success?

4. Is success a moving target, always reched for but rarely if ever achieved?

5. Is success about shadowing mentors/ inspirations or drawing their qualities out of yourself?

6.  Is success a state of mind that you nurture or train inside to carry with you?

7.  Is success finding ways to be happy where you are, to love something about what you do?

8. Is success about soul-searching? Finding that perfect relationship  or situation?

9. Is success some combination of the above?

10. Is success something else? 

"My definition of success is fulfillment of your soul's purpose." -Jack Canfield