Is Your Life Filled with Should Dos?
Sara Wilson, CPCC |
Life can become a series of absent-mindedly putting one foot in front of the other. In work, business and at home, we go through the motions because of expectations—our own, our manager’s, our family’s. Have you experienced this?
Truth be told, I have and I didn’t even realize it until I took–cross that out–MADE time over the last eight months to reflect on what I’m doing, what I am not doing and why. I took a hard look at where I was engaged, where I was going through the motions (not engaged) and where I wanted to engage more.
Spending time where you feel most engaged is a choice. It means saying “Yes” to some things and “No” to others. Many of you may say, “it’s not up to me, it’s up to my kids, my friends, my boss…everyone but me.”
I understand how you feel. Getting clear on where, why and how you feel when authentically engaged will make it easier to say YES to what brings you fulfillment.
Here are four of my favorite questions that are helping me authentically engage and stop blindly going through the motions:
1. What is fulfilling to me?
2. Where in my life am I authentically engaged? Asked differently, where am I investing my heart and time because I want to?
3. When I am authentically engaged, what does it bring to my life? How do I feel?
4. What do I need to say YES to more? What do I need to say NO to?
If you can’t make the time to answer these questions right this moment put a date with yourself on the calendar. That’s what I’ve done for the last eight months. I kept my promise to myself and now I have new insights and focus.
One of the most exciting results of this process in my life has been a renewed commitment to spend time hiking and stargazing, beginning with Great Basin National Park and Zion National Park.
Where might these four questions take you?