“I’ve always dreamed of having an exciting life,” a woman in her mid-thirties told me. Now she was concerned because she had given up on her dreams in order to play safe, while at the same time fearing that her life was running away from her. Are your fears making you give up on your dreams? I often come across people who feel like they have compromised on their dreams. Dreams change. The dreams you have in your early years can be transplanted by new dreams as you grow and evolve. Yet, the more you’ve been knocked around by life, struggled and tasted failure, the harder it can be to rise up and experience the fruits of your yearnings.
dream life
Making Peace with Now, Even When What You REALLY Want is Different
“You don’t have to have an ideal life, which appears to be the pinnacle of perfection. You are also not a failure if you don’t yet have the life you really want. You just want to be creating the life you really want.”
If you are focusing on what you really want, it stands to reason that you don’t have it now. So why pin yourself to the wall with an imaginary knife, twisting it round saying, “How could you have landed up in a marriage where you still feel lonely?”, “How could you have taken so long to be doing work that’s deeply fulfilling?”, “How could you be once again starting over, trying to find your way?” or “How could you still not be doing what you really want to be doing?”
Here are 3 enriching practices to make peace with your current reality, while creating what you really want: [Read more…] about Making Peace with Now, Even When What You REALLY Want is Different
Your Joy is Your Support System for Your Soul-Inspired Second Career
“Moving towards your soul-inspired second career and doing your current job? – Even your highest destiny can’t land in your hands when you’re drained, disconnected and frustrated.”
OK. You’re all juiced up with the vision that is forming inside of you, your inner calling, the life that is a perfect match for your soul and so much more exciting and more meaningful than your current life. Like a distant beacon of light on a far-off hilltop, your dream life pulsates, beckoning you to clamber over the rocks and brambles to claim your deepest truth and highest destiny.
Then, as desire and ambition flood your being, your mind feverishly trying to work out how and when, you suddenly find yourself feeling drained and hopelessly human. The beacon of light remains just as distant as before, even when you start to move stealthily towards it. Is it a golden carrot that beams before you like a cosmic tease, so beyond the confines of reality that it belongs to the world of unicorns, life on stars and big ideas that go pop in the night?
When the delicate balance between moving towards your dream life, your soul-inspired second career, the deepest truth in your heart and doing your current job or whatever practical considerations you have right now becomes out of whack, you have to look at the warning lights instead. Even your highest destiny can’t land in your hands when you’re drained, disconnected and frustrated.
The key to sanity and success in following your new soul-inspired direction in life is to weave in your joy, to let joy be your balm, your freedom and your best friend. Many people ignore their joy just to get everything done, do the right thing, be responsible, feel safe and to cling to their fears. They mistakenly think that their to-do list or financial security come first. Yet, part of them is dying of thirst, starved of nectar, even on the path to golden lands.
Here are three simple ways to keep your joy alive and be enlivened by your joy: [Read more…] about Your Joy is Your Support System for Your Soul-Inspired Second Career
Want to Feel More Joy in Your Life?
This summer I received some wonderful guidance from the wisdom in my heart. It all began when I was driving one day and I heard whisper #1: “Go to Mount Shasta.” Mount Shasta is a beautiful sacred mountain in Northern California, which I’ve visited before, the last time six years ago. This unexpected idea felt so right. I really felt like being in the mountains and I particularly love this area. Miraculously, once I got clear about what I really wanted in terms of accommodation, a friend suddenly told me that she knew someone up there who could offer me a room at a very reasonable price. This sounded perfect, and from then on my plans all fell into place, just like they do when you’re really meant to do something.
I had a mission for my trip. I wanted to receive guidance on my coaching business. There was something I knew I needed to realize, a special focus for me to articulate. So one day, hiking up on the mountain I stopped for lunch under the shade of some old fir trees and my inner voice spontaneously started to speak, very softly. I seized the moment and asked, what is the one the most important thing for me to achieve in the rest of my life? Then I received whisper #2 as the word Joy formed itself in front of my eyes. Then the words floated up in my consciousness, “Find your joy, then help others to find theirs.” I smiled. This was my purpose. I felt an affirmative glow of warmth that filled my being.
Finding your joy is not a one-shot deal. The ability to feel joy in your life, no matter what your circumstances, is a choice. It’s a commitment to your soul, to shining your light, because then you can love your life without having to get somewhere first. When you focus more on the getting there, whatever dreams you’re chasing, and less on the being here you start to lose your center of peace, joy and inner wisdom.
Once you’re aware of what it takes for you to find balance, then you can keep adjusting the steps you are taking to live your dream life and create cool new changes with whatever it takes for you to feel the joy of being alive, of being you, of having the rich, ever-unfolding life you have.
Joy for me is enjoying simple pleasures, catching myself when I start complaining or feel irritable to find out what I really want, and doing what I love even if I can only do it some of the time. Honor your dreams and take steps towards them, yet loosen the intensity of your desire when it stops you from loving life as it is right this moment.
For you to reflect on: How frequently do you feel joyful? What do you do to find your joy when you lose it? Do you have any beliefs that limit the amount of joy you think you can experience in your life?
Feel free to share the results of your reflections either by commenting to this post on my blog or sending me an email – Nicola[at]nicolawalkercoaching.com.
