Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Taking small steps towards our dreams.


I am scared of following my purpose, of finding out what I am here for.  I fear that I am not good enough, not insightful enough, not intelligent enough, not developed enough, not creative enough.  It seems that there are so many 'what if's' in my mind:
  • What if what I want to do doesn't earn me enough money ?
  • What if no one is interested in what I have to say ? 
  • What if I fail ?
I have thought about this for a while now and I have reached a place where I believe we have to step into our dreams, we have to become our full selves and make our contribution to this planet.  The world needs us to come forward.  The world needs us to stop hiding and step into the unknown where so much more is possible than from where we are encouraged to stand by our culture, families, companies and society at large.  We may have fears - but maybe they are not real, maybe it's just the culture we live in that plants these fears in our heads ?

The openings are coming thick and fast for us to follow our hearts. We simply need to open our eyes and see them.  But how do we do this, how do we find out what our purpose is, where we belong and what on earth we are supposed to be doing here ?

Right now my life feels like just that:  An exploration into what it means to be  human in this new generation of people who were born to align with the times we live in by bringing our awareness, our unique gifts, so that this world might be a better place for our children, and their children and all those children who have already been born and who have a long future on this earth ahead of them.

I remember doing some exercises from The Artists Way when I first knew about Julia Cameron and her wonderful work on artistry and one of the things that really grabbed me was how she spoke about taking 'small steps towards your dreams'.  It's clear that we all have commitments, practical obligations and many other things we are in the middle of in our lives that mean we do not drop everything and start the business we dreamed of, or go travelling round the world for a year.  Whatever our dreams are it's not that we drop everything and dramatically change direction but that we find a way of taking small steps in the direction of our hearts - ensuring that we explore the deeper calling we feel inside of us - whatever that might be.

For me it has been a combination of so many things - like learning to sing and play the guitar or starting to speak about The Enneagram in corporations, or starting to coach by qualifying as an Integral Coach with New Ventures West.  This doesn't mean that I earn my full living by playing guitar, coaching and teaching The Enneagram, but it has all given me so much stepping into these things and recently I have had the feeling that I am building the foundations for my dreams, not just letting it all pass by.  I could spend my time imagining playing the guitar and communicating about the deeper truths of life.  I could just carry on being asleep and continue to ignore the deeper pulling on my heart strings to do something meaningful to me.  And I thought that following my dreams would be dramatic, but it's not - it's definitely a bit scary, but small steps are manageable and kind - and they fill me with joy!

People who think the same and who have inspired me: The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin / Article by James Taucher: Reasons why you have to quit your job this year.