The Joy of the Journey

You are ready to play big and bold in your life. You are absolutely fired up to grow in ways that you can barely imagine from where you stand now. YOU ARE FINALLY COMMITTED TO CREATING YOUR CHERISHED VISION.

Fabulous! Now let's move down the road a bit with this story. Your days are filled with a profound sense of meaning and direction. You are being more decisive and active than ever before. The beginning layers of your dreams are truly coming to life. It seems like momentum is your new best friend.

So what comes around the next corner surprises you. You stumble upon impatience, restlessness, frustration, maybe even a bit of numbness. Instead of swimming in the sea of bliss you had imagined being associated with your dream, you are constantly thinking about everything that still lies ahead, where you want to be or "should be" by now. Suddenly the wind has gone out of your sails.

You are not alone in this struggle. It is extremely easy to get swept up in our intense desire and passion for the fullness of our big vision, eager to experience more and more of the adventure. In many ways, this energy is a gigantic gift. It certainly plays a monumental role in calling you forth into your ultimate success. At the same time, it calls for a balancing. It calls for a return to the NOW.

Big visions require big doses of patience; therefore, cultivating a steady practice of patience and mindfulness can help you stay the course while enjoying the ride.

The question then becomes…How can we deepen our capacity for fully embracing the journey? How can we savor the magic of the moment? I hope the following thoughts provide some inspiration for you.

~ Stay dearly connected to your purpose. Keep it alive. What is driving your determination to succeed, to create your vision? As much as possible, be consciously aware of the personal values you are honoring so generously. Even if you feel that you have a long way to go with fully manifesting your big vision, remember that you are firmly on the path. You are living it. This, in and of itself, is a recipe for radical fulfillment. Take a breather to really feel how gratifying it is to be living true to yourself and living on purpose. What a rich way of being!

~ Be mindful of how you are defining progress and success. Does your chosen perspective feel affirming or self-defeating? Are you overly focused on needing external "evidence" of your growth and success? Embrace the fact that each day you show up passionately committed to your vision, growth and success is happening. While you may not always be able to see the inner transformation that is occurring, it is there in all its beauty. If you are having trouble believing this on your own, you might ask your support people to share how they see you stretching into your dream. They can be a terrific tool for overcoming our blind spots. Once you are grounded in appreciating your inner growth and present day success, the speed at which you will manifest more outward signs of spectacular success will increase dramatically. Then you are enjoying the best of both worlds.

~ Create a habit of celebration. In this very moment, I promise you there is plenty to celebrate about your journey. I am asking you to release any patterns of waiting and delaying. No more postponing the celebrations until you have reached some predetermined place that you feel justified in celebrating. Stepping into this perspective may require you to silence the voice of the inner critic who says that there is nothing yet worthy of celebration. So please silence it. I cannot say the following loud enough. You deserve to be celebrated NOW. Your path is filled with progress that is coming in all shapes, sizes and colors. Some of it may look gorgeous. Some of it may look horribly messy. And it all has value. It all contributes to your blooming. So choose something to celebrate today, and keep the party going. The energy of acknowledgement can be a remarkable reminder that, indeed, the journey IS the destination.

In closing, I want to return to the idea of balancing. I want to encourage an honoring of your yearning to grow, to create big visions in your life, to be focused on expanding in all sorts of wondrous ways. And I want to encourage you to engage with this process in a way that is not at the expense of the present moment. Be available for both. Embody a genuine openness to experiencing and sharing the gift of you and your life, in this divine moment, just as you are.

As Buddha once said, "Be where you are; otherwise you miss your life."