When do you feel most like you? The vibrant, alive, expansive version of you!
Go ahead and close your eyes for a minute and see if you can remember a time you felt—in every cell of your body—that you were right where you were supposed to be.
That in this moment you’ve come alive. That THIS is what you are about.
Where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with? Why are you there?
No judgments…just being mindful, as you’ve practiced on your meditation cushion or your yoga mat. Let go of “shoulds” and just notice what IS. Let yourself time travel back to that place, that time when you felt so in sync with who you are and your reason for being on the Earth.
What sensations are you feeling? Are any thoughts present? Is there an emotional tone to the experience?
This doesn’t need to be a grandiose event. It could be the simplest of moments: picking up a stone on the lakeshore, toweling your baby off after a bath, giving a speech, hosting a party, making a collage.
When you have a sense of this moment of “you-ness” open your eyes.
If you found a memory of expansiveness, of aliveness, great. (More about that in a minute). If you didn’t, no worries…Just start noticing, as the days and weeks unfold, those moments when you feel present, inspired and in the flow. A quickening inside during a meeting. A peaceful feeling as you paint. A sense of joy when you’re cooking a meal.
Pay particular attention to those moments when you feel at ease. There’s no strain for you in what you’re doing (even though for others it might be a feat).
Once you have a particular time (or two) where you’ve felt yourself coming alive, get out your journal, your sketchbook or your meditation cushion and spend some time exploring the feeling.
Then begin to look at how you could string more of those moments together.
Sure, the monkey mind will come up: I’m too busy. Doing that won’t help me make a living. People who are __________ [fill in the blank: smarter, savvier, freer, richer] could choose to live that way, but not me.
Just keep coming back to the moment, like you do during your mindfulness practice. In this case it’s a memory that you feel in your body. A memory of ease, of joy, of inner fulfillment.
Go ahead and seek out and create more moments of being your Self. You GET to feel this good in your life.
When I live like this, amazing things open up in my life. Suddenly, people appear and opportunities present themselves. I feel like the Universe is supporting me in living my life’s purpose 100% when I notice where I come alive, and take action to live that way. [This is important: you can't just wait around for the day your life magically becomes the way you want it to. You need to start choosing what you want and put your time and attention there.]
When the monkey mind takes over the flow stops. And, I’ve noticed that monkey mind is most persistent during times of transition. It tells me to play it safe, to stay small. That’s when I really need to look for what feels expansive, easy and in flow with the fullest expression of who I am, if I want to move into living the life I’ve always wanted.
If I start living by the “shoulds” (which I’ve been taught by family, religion and culture, and which my chattering monkey mind keeps in front of me) I actually stop attracting the conditions I need to thrive. So, I like to acknowledge the monkey mind, then come back to moving into more feelings of ease, gratitude and abundance every day.
That’s too selfish, your monkey mind might say. Well, here’s a quote that blows that one right out of the water for me.
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
—Howard Thurman
When do you feel most alive? I’d love to hear your comments, questions and “aha’s!”
