The Oak Is No Longer Sleeping In The Acorn… It Is Sprouting Big Time
When you decide to learn about releasing your judgements of others, the funny thing is that you can’t help but learn about releasing your judgements of yourself as well. And that’s why the last focus week (more in The Universe Played Along And Taught Me A Valuable Lesson) segued nicely into this next focus week.
This next week required that I start with releasing a pretty strong self-judgement in my “Script.” But first, let’s have a little context about why I want to choose something different in the first place…
Begin With The End In Mind
I love this quote by Jim Rohn: “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”
Anyone who knows me, has read my writings or has heard me speak, knows that I’m big into life and career planning. After all, “Planning” is the center focus of this 13×4 Wheel™ that I’ve been using for my own personal effectiveness.
It’s not that I’m uber organized (I’m not) or that I have to know and control every little thing (actually, I used to try that until I learned better!). It’s more about co-creating the future. It’s about pushing my potential to where I can go and what I can do. To me, life planning is about developing a vision for yourself and your direction. And, to me, that’s fun, that’s adventure.
According to the dictionary, vision is “the ability to think about the future with imagination or wisdom.” See? You use your imagination and wisdom to figure out what you want in your future. If you don’t imagine it, someone else will. Or maybe they won’t, and you’ll kind of drift along. Drifting is fine if that’s your plan… but, if the thought of drifting makes you antsy because you’re more of an action person like I am, then get busy developing a vision. Go for it! Get off the driftwood and climb into a boat with a rudder and sail.
So my reason for choosing this next focus brings to mind what the philosopher, James Allen, once said: “The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.”
Focus Area #12
F-ocus: Confidence in the bigness of my vision
A-ttitude: What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?
My vision is that there will be a time when I am writing bestselling self-development books and speaking internationally.
More specifically, I see that, as a result of writing, I’m being invited to speak. The content is of a spiritual nature sometimes; it is also of a very practical nature. In other words it includes nuts and bolts stuff that you can use in everyday life to raise your awareness and effectiveness on the human journey, as well as philosophical and inspirational stuff that raises your vibration in general.
Since I’m naturally an introvert who comes from a humble background, I’m prone to heeding the “Script” that says “You’re a nobody, so how dare you? Really, you are only capable of thinking and being small.” History is filled with examples of others who have come from a nobody place to make a great difference in the world. They chose to have big visions, and so can I. So, to counter fear and doubt, I am choosing to put “Confidence in the bigness of my vision” into my sausage machine.
S-tory: What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?
When I decided to ramp up my writing output in 2006 by launching my blog, it was all a big experiment… at least it was in my mind at that time. I just wanted to see how it felt to put my writing out there. And, really, all I was “seeking” in the beginning was more creative expression since I’d stifled mine for far too long. A few years earlier, I had read and done the exercises in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and had recovered a creative side of me that had been stuffed away for more than 15 years. Stifling it had even created dis-ease in my body. I knew I needed to heal emotionally and physically, and so, at that time, it was also about seeking healing. So, in addition to writing for myself, I started writing for public consumption.
After that I took bigger and bigger steps, and this writing “thing” has developed into larger possibilities. In fact, the vision of what I am doing with this ability is turning out to be much bigger than I’d first thought it was. Speaking to audiences and facilitating workshops has come into the picture too. Something my inner shy person finds amazing upon reflection.
In 2008, I dared to publish a book about job search and then another one. It was a safe step and very useful. The information I offered helped hundreds of people during the recession, and writing these books, along with giving so many public presentations about the information, has helped me build confidence in where my writing… and speaking/teaching… might go.
It’s not because I have an ego about seeing my writing out there in people’s hands – though that is a very cool idea – it’s because I have begun to realize that it’s part of my mission. I wasn’t given this deep desire – scratch that… this deep need – to write so I could keep a journal for myself. My deal with the Universe is that I use this gift for something bigger than merely satisfying myself. I often marvel at the fact that my name even means “messenger.” I have a message, and it must be written and spoken.
Now I’m writing my third book, and it’s not about job search. This one is meant for a more mainstream audience and is far more personal in nature than simply giving nuts and bolts advice to job seekers. It has the potential to reach more people, and so I must keep telling my inner shy person to have confidence in the bigness of the vision.
T-ool: What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?
As I stated above, this week was basically about “What are you putting into your sausage machine?” So I chose to put in affirming statements so my mind would remember to be confident instead of fearful.
Every day during the first week of my 13×4 cycle a message would pop up on my calendar at 9am: “Confidence in bigness of vision” and one at 5pm: “Success is assured!” During the second cycle, I added the phrase at midday, “Think big!”
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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. http://angelaloeb.com
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