It occurred to me this morning that, over the past few months, I’ve managed to put myself back in to a little bit of a box.
What I mean by this is that I started wondering if I was being limited by my own world view. As regular readers will know, I recently started a new job in London and went through some other changes. By ‘normal’ standards I’m doing well. I have a good job that allows me to live in a lovely flat in a good area of London, right by the river with great transport links in to the City.
What does all that mean? It means I’ve stopped wondering what ‘else’ I could do.
I’ve decided that what I’m doing right now is good enough which means I’ve stopped wondering what could be better.
Kim Snyder doing ‘Scorpion’ yoga asana (on a beach!) – thanks to Tayler Alexis
Something I firmly believe in is the premise that sometimes you have to give up the good to get the great. Right now, I’m not rushing to change anything, but I have opened my eyes again to the possibility of options. I’ve taken a job, I’ve chosen a flat, I live in a big city. None of that means that I have to have those things in a year’s time, or even six month’s time, or even next month.
I get to choose what I have and where I live and how I spend my days.
Life is too short to spend it doing something that doesn’t take you nearer to where you want to be.
But what if you don’t know what that is? Or if you want different things that don’t seem to work together?
My friend posted a link on Facebook this morning from Mind Valley which really made me think about this. You don’t have to pick a job or career path or money-making scheme to find yourself on your ‘right’ path. Any path you pick will be right for you. But if you want to make the most of your time, have a think about what experiences you want to have, how you want to grow as a person and how you want to contribute to the world. You might not do it all, and you won’t do it all at once, but at least you’ll know if you’re being congruent with what you want to achieve with your life.
In case you’re interested, here are some of my answers:
Experiences I want to have:
- Surf more (as in…properly, not just on holiday in the white water)
- Swim in a warm ocean
- Go to India and learn yoga from a true Guru
- Feel my toes reach the back of my head in Scorpion pose (see pic above)
- Know, without a doubt, that my parents are proud of me
- Love fully, without any restrictions
- Travel
- Wake up to a beautiful view of a beach (which I’ll then go do yoga on)
- Visit Machu Picchu
How I want to grow:
- Learn to love others, regardless of whether they are nice to me
- Be more patient with myself and the speed of the universe
- Get fluent with my Italian
- Learn Spanish
- Lose my fear of failing (instead of pushing through it)
- Be truly independent – have courage in my own convictions and not need validation from others
How I want to contribute:
- Show people the joy of yoga, meditation and mindfulness
- Help people find their peace, however they need to
- Make someone laugh when they were about to cry
- Make an impact on my parents business (a positive one obviously!)
So that will at least get me started. For all the sort of ‘find your purpose’ tools out there, I rarely actually write anything down. Perhaps because this one is so wide reaching it appealed.
Want to join me in working out what really matters and keeping your options open? Why not let me know a few of your own answers in the comments section below? (if you’re reading this via email, click here).