Take a journey into the things which you are carrying, the known –
not into the unknown – into what you already know:
your pleasures, your delights, your despairs, you sorrows.
Take a journey into that, that is all you have.
~Jiddu Krishnamurti
She wants her life to be different. More soulful. More spacious. Less restrictive. Not all about work. More about love and connection and beauty.
We played with an exercise called the Ideal Day, in which you wake up in your ideal life 3 years from now and watch yourself walk through a “regular day” in the life of your wildest dreams. You notice where you are and with whom. What you’re wearing. How you spend your day. Throughout the day, you pause and notice how it feels and list three feeling states.
Done at the right time, this exercise can be enlightening, delicious, inspiring.
Done too early, in the midst of burnout, fatigue, or grief it can be paralyzing. Maybe even discouraging.
My client (she is many clients) opened with a spacious morning with her loves, and then she froze. After a slow breakfast and a nice walk…then what?
The clear path ended.
Then she did what many of us do. She beat herself up for not knowing what she wanted.
But the fact is, she already knows a lot. She knows how she wants her life feel, even if she can’t yet see what she wants to be doing in her ideal life.
Is this you, too? You know you want something different than what’s happening now. But you don’t know what it looks like.
And it feels crappy.
Because "powerful" women should have big dreams and goals. They should have a vision board for crying out loud. A sense of purpose. Passion.
Right???
Here’s what I believe: “Powerful” women are women who tap into the power of who they are, right where they are. Vulnerable. Raw. Authentic. And that is very powerful (and sexy).
We played with an exercise called the Ideal Day, in which you wake up in your ideal life 3 years from now and watch yourself walk through a “regular day” in the life of your wildest dreams. You notice where you are and with whom. What you’re wearing. How you spend your day. Throughout the day, you pause and notice how it feels and list three feeling states.
Done at the right time, this exercise can be enlightening, delicious, inspiring.
Done too early, in the midst of burnout, fatigue, or grief it can be paralyzing. Maybe even discouraging.
My client (she is many clients) opened with a spacious morning with her loves, and then she froze. After a slow breakfast and a nice walk…then what?
The clear path ended.
Then she did what many of us do. She beat herself up for not knowing what she wanted.
But the fact is, she already knows a lot. She knows how she wants her life feel, even if she can’t yet see what she wants to be doing in her ideal life.
Is this you, too? You know you want something different than what’s happening now. But you don’t know what it looks like.
And it feels crappy.
Because "powerful" women should have big dreams and goals. They should have a vision board for crying out loud. A sense of purpose. Passion.
Right???
Here’s what I believe: “Powerful” women are women who tap into the power of who they are, right where they are. Vulnerable. Raw. Authentic. And that is very powerful (and sexy).
Follow your hot tracks Let’s start there.
Yesterday I got to sit in on a call with the author Elizabeth Gilbert. Liz talked about how the ideal of having a singular Passion can be a tyranny to many of us.
She invites us instead to create a life through the gentler Path of Curiosity. Living a life of Curiosity, she begins each day by asking, “What interests me today, even just a little bit? What makes me want to turn my head, even just a quarter turn? What am I curious about today?”
These are what Martha Beck calls your “hot tracks.”
It’s as if you are tracking a wild and mysterious animal through the wilds all for a glimpse of its rare beauty.
You follow each hot track to the next hot track. When the track starts to feel cool, you remember back to your last hot track and circle back.
You don’t have to know what it all looks like right now. As the poet Mary Oliver says, “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”
Yesterday I got to sit in on a call with the author Elizabeth Gilbert. Liz talked about how the ideal of having a singular Passion can be a tyranny to many of us.
She invites us instead to create a life through the gentler Path of Curiosity. Living a life of Curiosity, she begins each day by asking, “What interests me today, even just a little bit? What makes me want to turn my head, even just a quarter turn? What am I curious about today?”
These are what Martha Beck calls your “hot tracks.”
It’s as if you are tracking a wild and mysterious animal through the wilds all for a glimpse of its rare beauty.
You follow each hot track to the next hot track. When the track starts to feel cool, you remember back to your last hot track and circle back.
You don’t have to know what it all looks like right now. As the poet Mary Oliver says, “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”
Try this:
Reflect on what you already know. Let’s start with what you already know. That’s where your power is. Here are some questions to help excavate what you want:
These are your hot tracks. Be with them. Follow them. Your next hot track will show up. I promise.
(Want to go deeper with questions like these? Check out Danielle LaPorte's Desire Map. You'll love it. Even better, check out a Desire Map workshop with the fabulous Tiffiney Lozano).
Declare it! What’s one thing you know already? Let us know in the comments.
- What do you know right now? What are you clear on?
- What do you want your life to feel like?
- What do you want more of?
- What don’t you want it to feel like anymore?
- What’s fun for you? What experiences make you happy?
- What do you enjoy? (Even if it doesn’t make you money – yet.)
- What are you clear that you don’t want anymore?
- What must change?
These are your hot tracks. Be with them. Follow them. Your next hot track will show up. I promise.
(Want to go deeper with questions like these? Check out Danielle LaPorte's Desire Map. You'll love it. Even better, check out a Desire Map workshop with the fabulous Tiffiney Lozano).
Declare it! What’s one thing you know already? Let us know in the comments.
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