I started a daily mantra practice, and I feel like it's starting to work!! I'm beginning to feel like I'm expanding my life into greater opportunities to use my gifts. What's the secret? I think it's due in part to reciting the daily mantra and allowing myself to feel the expansion happening. For fifteen seconds each morning, I silently repeat the mantra and just sit with it for a bit. That's it! Well, there's more to it to be honest, and I'll share with you some of what I've been working on to bring this alignment into my life.
Here's the ultimate success mantra from The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks:
I expand in abundance, success, and love every day, and I inspire those around me to do the same. ~Gay Hendricks
Are there forces in the Universe at play in my luck changing, or am I tuned into things in a new way? Honestly, I'm not sure it matters. What I do think it important is how I've changed the conversation in my head about the focus of my life purpose and the opportunities that I see in front of me.
Let's go back a bit in time to about 18 months ago when I started taking my new business seriously. I took The Creatively Made Business by Jeanne Oliver and one of the things she had us focus on right away was 'the why' behind our desire to create our business. I took nearly a year of contemplation, writing and coaching for to come to terms with my 'why', and it led me to pursue my life coach certificate. In a nutshell, my 'why' is to help others realize their dream life. I've been chasing after mine for quite a while....like, 15 years. I think I can help people get their faster as a coach. In fact, I know I can.
What does that have to do with the title of this blog 'Can do, should do or born to do'? I think they are key questions we can ask ourselves as we begin any new chapter in our lives. I think it's especially important if you find yourself in a career that hasn't been as fulfilling as you would like, but it's not necessarily limited to career discontent. These questions can be applied to relationships or any other important areas of our lives that we're noticing aren't giving back like we had once hoped.
Let's take the question 'Is this something you can do?'. There are probably lots of things you can do. For instance, I was looking for a new consulting contract and the client wanted a storyteller. I said 'I can do that' but the client went with someone else. It's not that my response to them was inaccurate, I do in fact have the skills to be an effective storyteller but that wasn't enough, and I think they spotted that in my work history.
The next big question to consider might be 'Is this something I should do?' Let me give you a bit of background here. Anytime I see or hear the word 'should' it sends up a red flag and I have consciously tried remove the word 'should' from my vocabulary as much as possible. Too many times, I find that when we say that word there is a judgement behind it....a hidden agenda that is probably not our own. So, watch out if you're thinking you 'should do' anything. It may be accurate, but there may be a hidden belief behind it as well that's not authentic to you and your purpose.
That brings me to 'is this something I am born to do?" If the answer is 'yes' then you're on the right track. When we start to align our time and energy with the things we are born to do, that's when we start to manifest the kind of luck and opportunities I've been noticing in my own life. As I begin to create a path forward for using my gifts and passions, I see opportunities before me in new ways. It's an amazing feeling when you start to see things line up to support you. Honestly, I can't think of a better feeling, especially as I'm stepping into the unknown. And it's what I want my clients to someday experience too.
So, take a moment to ask yourself what your true gifts are. These are often things that we become totally lost in and time flies by. It can be referred to as flow. When we're in flow, we're getting energy back from the activity. Going back to the storyteller contract I didn't get; I realize it's actually a blessing. Yes, I can write a good story, but I know that doing so every day would be an energy drain for me over time. I'm pretty sure I would become bored of it fairly quickly and the job would start to feel like an endless chore and not something that truly lights me up. The job went to someone who was born to be a storyteller and that's exactly how it should have worked out.
Consider the questions in your own life. Where are you showing up in your 'born to do' state? Are there areas you feel like you're performing as a 'should do' or a 'can do' that aren't serving you anymore? Are you fulfilling your own purpose or are you serving someone else's expectations of what or who you should be? These are BIG questions to start asking yourself, but if you're feeling restless, it's worth going deeper into your thoughts and feelings to see if a change might be on your horizon. The first three steps in my Transformation Model are to feel, think and say what's going on. Once you can do that, you're standing on the foundation of great things to come!
Until next time, I'm wishing you the best of luck!!
XOXO
Ann