What is your work? Do you know?
Of course you do. It might seem like you don’t really know so much about it, or that you know exactly what it is and can’t get there, or you might actually be doing your work and finding that it’s evolving and morphing into something different than you thought. Whatever stage you’ve reached on your path, you are set to have a collision – a collision with who you really are and what you really want to be doing. If you don’t notice it, or don’t heed it, it’s because fear is getting in the way.
Before you go throwing up walls and altering your course to make sure this doesn’t happen, hear me out.
Fear and anxiety, even among the most intelligent and well developed people, often dress themselves as rationality and practicality. Sometimes we won’t move forward if there are a thousand rational reasons not to do so.
There are bills to pay, children to be raise, parents to take care of.
Coming face to face with my true work means I’m an egotist. I’d rather be selfless, living where I don’t want to live and bored at my job, convinced that taking care of everyone else is a worthwhile cause (this is my personal favorite since it makes being stuck in the comfort zone seem so noble).
If I do what I really want to do, I’ll have to change too many other things – my lifestyle, my relationship, my friends. It’s not worth it.
The fact is, if you know what you should be doing and you don’t do it out of fear, you’re shortchanging everyone, and underestimating everyone else’s love for you and ability to adapt to whatever changes you manifest. Because one thing’s for sure: when you embrace your work, you automatically open channels of knowledge and energy that were impossible to see before. And those around you benefit. It’s like breaking open the windows on the first day of spring after a long, dark winter.
No one’s telling you to give up your day job and change your life overnight, least of all me. But if you entertain the thought of doing the work you were meant to do,if you listen to your inner guide, trust your intuition and what it’s telling you about your favorite things, you’ll receive new clarity – I’m sure of it.
A few days ago, while I was meditating out in the beautiful morning sun on my terrace, I asked out loud for guidance. I said something like, “Guide, Spirit, give me a sign. Let me know the things I’m doing are setting my path in the right direction.”
The reason I did this is because I’ve been hitting obstacles. We’ve closed the B&B for a couple of weeks of vacation, but that didn’t slow me down a notch. My ebook, Your Truth, which should have been published by three days ago, is hung up in formatting. Buying an ISBN number in Italy for the book, required by Amazon, is more cumbersome than I thought (which should not surprise me). I’ve been struggling with my main website’s design, and while it’s almost there, it’s taking me much more time and effort to get it where I want it than I had calculated. I’m training to do change coaching work with clients in 2013, my novel is coming out in October and our B&B is going to be so booked this fall that I’ll barely have a chance to shower. I want to get everything on my list done NOW.
I know this. This is me running myself ragged. And not in a good way, if there is a good way. And I know enough to know that my work and running myself ragged are completely incompatible.
So I asked for a sign. “Guide, Spirit, give me a sign.”
It might not surprise you that Spirit, with her great sense of comedic timing, let me know under no uncertain terms that it was time to shut off the computer, because as soon as I asked for guidance, my DSL went out for an hour.
I heeded. The message was clear. Hit the pool, or go and make pots. But get away from the things that are making you contract. Sure, they are part of your work, but right now your work is getting clear. And to get clear you need to get away. That’s why you’ve taken this break from the B&B. To stop and get clear.
The Ebook will come out of formatting and go up on Amazon when the moment’s right.
My website will be stunning.
My ideas coaching business for creative mentoring and life change will grown and form and develop as it should.
My novel, True Vines, will be published in October by what is the most awesomely cool indie press ever, Gemelli Press, and I will release it to the world with a smile and a prayer.
My B&B will be full of beautiful people eating healthy food and drinking amazing wine in August, September and October. And they will be eating that healthy food on plates that were made by my hands in these precious summer weeks during which my intuition is telling me that throwing pots is about the best thing I can do to get clarity.
I am doing my work. I am so doing my work. It’s leading me down the path I have always known I wanted to take.d
Let your intuition hold your hand. Ask for guidance.
Embrace your work.
