There is a Bridge to Be Built!
What is the chasm that separates you from where you are now and where you want and desire to be? It’s a metaphor; but one that is all too real for many people.
Don’t accept the rationale that this is “just the way it is right now”; “right now” has a way of becoming forever.
The rapid change occurring in the world today leaves many with a heightened sense of uncertainty, anxiety, and fear. Such emotions can leave you feeling stuck, isolated, or trapped. This is akin to feeling like you’re standing at the edge of a chasm looking across from a place in life that has become undesirable, if not downright uninhabitable, toward a place of your dreams and desires. But how to you get across that chasm? What are the steps to get across to the other side? Build a bridge and cross it!
You will build a bridge with 5 planks: a strong center plank and four adjacent planks to make passage across the chasm swift, certain, safe, and fulfilling. The steps to constructing your bridge will be discussed here and in a short series of articles to follow.
There are a few steps you must take before you can construct your bridge across the chasm.
Step 1: Come to the realization that where you are now is not where you want or desire to be. Understand why. Go deep. What is it about where you are right now that shouts: “I don’t want to be here!”
Don’t accept the compromising and complacent rationale that this is “just the way it is right now”; “right now” has a way of becoming forever. Unless you’ve been living under a rock in the middle of nowhere, the paradigms of life that existed a mere two years ago have all but disappeared. It’s a new game and the rules are changing at an incomprehensible rate. What can you rely upon to be constant and stable?
You are the one constant you can rely upon. You have control over your thoughts and actions, and it is in your thoughts where you can formulate the options and ideas of what you want and desire to be. It is by your actions that you set the wheels in motion to take you across the frontier to the life you desire.
If you don’t feel what you desire, you won’t pursue it.
Step 2: Engage the heart. Figure out where you want to be that engages you emotionally. At this step in the process it is important for you to “feel” what it is you want. Feel why it is important and meaningful to create this new life. Caution: Do Not Get Into or Worry About The HOW! The how will come when the what and why are emotionally significant and rooted in the ground of desire and possibility.
Emotional engagement with your imagination and dreams points you in the direction of desire. Desire reveals purpose: this is something you must find and live. If you don’t feel what you desire, you won’t pursue it.
Break through the shell of indifference, anxiety, fear, and uncertainty. Overwrite them with desire of that which you feel with emotional intensity. Find it!
Making a decision to change your life and fulfill your desires is about creating options that didn’t exist before you made the decision. It is not about cutting off options!
Step 3: Make a decision that you are going to create the life you desire, and make an impact on the world such as you define that “world”. Feel what it will be like to have fulfilled your fondest desires. See how becoming the person capable, worthy, and deserving of bringing your purpose to the world makes a difference in the lives of others. Feel that!
Your decision to pursue your desires doesn’t have to be backed with absolute clarity and certainty of every step along the way. Enough clarity and certainty to take one step is all it takes: desire, purpose, and a few other helpers along the way will bring greater clarity and certainty. Make the decision because it’s what you feel is right, then figure out the first step and take that step. The next step will be easier.
Your life is a journey of experiences that shape who you become and how you get where you are going. Refrain from the all too common idea that making a decision is a single-minded exclusionary act whereby you cut off all other options other than the one.
Making a decision to change your life and fulfill your desires is about creating options that didn’t exist before you made the decision. It is not about cutting off options! Think about that!
At this stage of the process you don’t allow the “how” to be a criteria for anything at all. The “how” will come as the options and choices unfold. The “how” will be part of the plan that comes naturally from the processes to be described in forthcoming articles.
This is your life journey, and there will be options, choices, and changes along the way. It’s where the fun and growth are found. It’s where the experiences of the journey turn into the stories and memories of a lifetime.
A good decision is the one you arrive at knowing you will have peace of mind regardless of the outcome. You control the outcome.
