Align: Internal Compass

Musing… 
"If the path that you are on does not feel good now, it will NOT feel good later. This is when you choose -- before you go down a path you do not want to go." – Malinda Dowsett, Lani Barna, authors of Change Your Conversation, Change Your Life

Having all your ducks in a row, and putting the external pieces together does take effort – and it happens with greater ease when all those choices have generated from the clarity of purpose you hold within. If you follow what inspires you, what you love, what makes you happy – if you find the right work in which you feel blessed, which gives you energy and ability to persist, even amidst obstacles, then you are aligning with your internal compass and all choices follow naturally.

Kate’s Turn:  
It has been said that the journey from the head to the heart is the longest. I’ve been making that trip often these days. As I build my coaching practice, as well as try to find employment to stabilize income, I hear myself say “I should apply for this job” even though my heart is not in it. And I feel somewhat a sense of relief when I get the letter saying they hired another person. I know I applied out of a sense of fear (finances) and chose to not listen to my heart. So I’m relieved when I didn’t get stuck in a track that is not a good fit for me.

On the other hand, I feel delighted to be collaborating on a session for the Midwest Coaching Conference, where I get to work in creativity – I feel happy, I have energy to take the effort needed to pull off such a presentation, and I’m inspired to be immersed in the creative process. I’m clear here about my internal compass – I am saying “Yes” to the desires of my heart. But I still have this other desire to have stable income, so I must feel my way to happiness, weighing the choices that I generate and the ones that  cross my path. I believe both are possible as I align with my internal compass and see where this path takes form.

Get Fired Up:  
Allow your mind to be still, and make the journey to your heart to ponder: What am I living for? What do I love? What makes me happy? Then pay attention to how you feel with every choice you make as you create your life. Feeling good will power your path.

Align: Ducks in a Row

Musing…

“Goals and contingencies… are important. But they exist in the future and the past, beyond the pale of the sensory realm. Practice, the path of mastery, exists only in the present. You can see it, hear it, smell it, feel it. “  
-- George Leonard, Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment

Charise’s Turn:

Going about setting up a business that ties together different endeavors is painstaking. There’s no quickness about it; it’s like fitting tiny pieces into a large scale puzzle. This is the arduous side of creativity -- laborious, exacting. Not about perfection -- perfection is perfectly useless! To be laborious and exacting and arduous is what work takes; and work is what you are doing in the moment, what you practice. 

I know there needs to be truth to what my business, "Coaching Moves", is saying or it won’t hold together -- all the puzzle pieces will fall apart. There needs to be balance of services offered or it’s uneven in presentation. There needs to be the best knowledge and skill I can possibly utilize or my clients/students are not getting their needs met. Getting my ducks in a row is about being up to date on all my credentialing, knowing what is relevant and important to my clientele, making sure I can follow through in my role as coach or teacher, getting all the spelling/grammar of presentational content correct (perfect spelling is useful!).  How you present your business matters -- work it! Sweat in your decisions; exult in your results.

Get Fired Up:

Practice what it is you want to accomplish – practice makes mastery.

(Throw away the idea that “practice makes perfect”.)

Keep practicing, work it!