LIFE EXPLORATION EXERCISE
Set
aside a quiet time when you can do some brainstorming and write down some
ideas. While just thinking about changing your life is valuable,
statistics show that writing down the things you want to change
exponentially increases your results. Interestingly, we have found that
people often resist taking this important step. This is because putting
something in writing is tangible; it brings with it greater commitment.
This is also its value. If you commit yourself 100% to change, your
results will match your commitment.
To take a positive
step toward the goal of creating a more meaningful life and a better
world, we suggest the following.
1.
BRING MORE AWARENESS TO YOUR CURRENT LIFE.
We have found that
quantifying things between one and ten helps our clients, our students,
and ourselves to bring more awareness to what is happening and, when a
shift is made, to evaluate the degree of change. To start, then, evaluate
the following statements and, on the first piece of paper, write down how
strong they are between zero and ten, with zero being the least possible
and ten the most possible. Evaluate the degree to which you spend time
doing things that are not meaningful to you:
A.
to please others.
B.
to meet the expectations of others.
C.
to prove to yourself or others that you are a good person, an efficient
person, or worthy in some other way.
D.
Because you feel like you “should” for any reason, such as that you
should work eight hours a day, etc.
E.
Any other reason or reasons, list: _______________ .
With these reasons in
mind, on the first piece, write down all the things you can think of that
currently occupy your time and attention that you want to minimize or
eliminate to create a life that is meaningful to you.
2. FOCUS ON WHAT
HAS MEANING TO YOU.
On the second piece of paper, write down all of
the meaningful things you would like to focus more time and attention on.
A clue of where to look if you are not sure where you want to focus your
attention is to look into your heart, which we regard as seat of the soul
in the body. Your soulful heartfelt excitement and joy will lead you
lovingly in the right direction. As a note, we have a process on our
gettingthru.org for connecting with the soul that you can access at http://www.gettingthru.org/sn0599.htm.
3. DEVELOP AN
ACTION PLAN.
From this soulful, heart-oriented perspective, examine
both lists and, on the third piece of paper, write down an action plan
itemizing ways you can shift your time and attention in an increasingly
more meaningful direction, focusing on specific ways you can begin to
incorporate the meaningful things into your daily life. Also reflect for a
moment on how your life will look in six months or a year if you take no
action vs. how it will look it you take some conscious steps now. With
this in mind, the real question is: from zero to ten, how committed are
you to following your heart and your plan?
We all have
obligations that take some of our time, and grounding our spirituality
includes acknowledging the requirements of the physical plane. At the same
time, we can and must create spaces in our lives for the things that give
life meaning. It is easy to continuously put these things off until next
month or next year when it will theoretically be more convenient, but from
our experience, this convenient time never comes. After the dishes are
washed and the checkbook is balanced, the realization of a meaningful life
is what we are here for, after all. Another key here: small shifts made
now become major changes over time. Make it easy to change in small steps,
rather than crippling yourself with grand expectations.
With your commitment
and action plan in hand, review the five items you quantified earlier.
With your new awareness, quantify them again, ask yourself from zero to
ten how much you truly have to focus your attention on the things that
have less meaning to you. Then, quantify your commitment to the items on
your action plan and to creating a meaningful life. In coming weeks and
months, your results will match your level of commitment to the plan.
4. REEVALUATE YOUR
ACTION PLAN REGULARLY.
Following this action plan is a step toward
more conscious living. Set a goal to re-evaluate and update your plan each
month, or on some regular basis. If we can do this individually and
collectively, starting today, we are well on the way to creating a new
reality.
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