Nicola Walker Coaching

Transform Your Mindset: Reignite Joy, Live Your Dream

soul

Your Joy is Your Support System for Your Soul-Inspired Second Career

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Distant sunset over hills and ocean“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

Thank Yourself for Being You

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Tip of the IcebergIt takes time to know who you truly are, especially if you want to lift the veils of superficial perception to peer below into the depths of your soul. Such a concept is daunting for some, and not such an obvious thing to do for many, as it’s easy to get swept up by the overall impression we have built up of ourselves over the years. Yet our own impressions of ourselves are often flawed by self-judgment and distorted memories.

Fortunately for myself, life saw me as a coconut that needed cracking open. I was chugging along, when all of a sudden the rug was pulled out from under me catapulting me into an intense transition that lasted several years. Forced to face my fears around my survival and the beliefs I held that were holding me back from blossoming, I found relief by dropping into the well of joy within myself that existed despite all my judgments and self-inflicted suffering.

There is a succulence deep within you that feeds you, like the store of water a cactus holds for the dry days.  [Read more…] about Thank Yourself for Being You

How to Rediscover the Magic in Life: Part Two – Feed Your Heart and Soul

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Do you sometimes feel lost inside your own life? Almost like being swept away by a river’s current, beyond your control? Maybe you’re feeling the challenges of change and transition, where life doesn’t seem the same anymore. You wonder what happened to the magic in life.

It’s important to find your feet in simple ways that restore a sense of balance: a connection with who you feel you really are. Then you can begin to take back the driver’s seat.

Appreciation is a wonderful way to open yourself up to seeing and experiencing a sense of magic in life. Think of simple pleasures, and do something that feeds your heart and soul each day. So often people focus on the big things that they think will help them to find happiness, when really the best way to find happiness is in the little things. The simpler your focus, the greater your sense of gratitude.

When you can find happiness in simple ways, the big things will come much more easily. And if they don’t, you’ll still be happy. You don’t have to look far for happiness because it is inside you — it is your innate being.

For example, one way I can always restore that sense of balance and connection within myself is to go on an appreciation walk. Genuine appreciation helps you to feel your heart and soul.

An appreciation walk can take 5-10 minutes or longer if you prefer. Either take your walk in your neighborhood or near your office if you only have time to just step out the door. Or stop off when you’re driving in a pleasant area and take a stroll. Look out for things to appreciate: flowers, trees, buildings, architecture, birds, the blue sky, clouds, sunshine or rain.

Just recently, I was walking down a favorite path through some redwoods by a creek. I saw one of those big floppy butterflies fluttering down the path ahead of me. I stopped to enjoy the sight. The butterfly then turned around and flew towards me, circled around me and then glided off back in the direction it had been going. I love butterflies. They are also very meaningful to me. I stood in joy and gratitude for this moment.

I wonder about the precious moments I have missed through being caught up in my thoughts and not really seeing what’s around me.

Give yourself time every day to get really present and find something to appreciate and enjoy. And take the time to do some of those things that really nourish your soul. When you take time out and truly let go of your troubles, it is easier for you to see the life choices that are available to you.

I’ll publish Part 3 of Rediscovering Magic in Life next Tuesday.