Happy post New Moon zone dear Reader. Phew was I glad to pass through that last end of the cycle. The astro guides note that the planet Venus went retrograde; I know there was some Pluto moves going on. Not long before that, the equinox, that suspended-see-saw-time of day-night balance, graced us. Guess what THAT invited.
Yep, time for inventory. An invitation for some to ask, how about that b word? How is the balance faring? How are those projects, that quality of life, your true progress, and all of that going? Of course, let’s not forget the heart space, the creative time, the loved ones exchange rate, the stress management, the growth and healing requirements – the whole she bang so to speak. How are things working out?
Not to say this happens for all, or only at this time of equinox – just to say it might have some relevance (see the Power Path updates for Sept and Oct which also name this theme.) and yes, all hell was breaking loose, heaven too I guess, before I read their updates… bless synchronicity, lightworker resources and being in it together, eh?
Why might you do a life inventory now and then? Well it can be a reality check – and give your course a bit of tweaking if needed. If I’m neglecting something, or perhaps needing to clarify priorities amidst the craziness, this can be a huge help. Sometimes I need to retire my inner couch potato for a while. Sometimes and probably more often, I’ve done a helluva lot but mind is somehow not agreeing with that. All in all, it helps us strengthen our surefootedness on the trail of meaning and dream creation. You know, that stuff we’re really here for.
THREE ESSENTIAL SKILLS for healer artist life inventories
Maybe it’s the curse of those ancient birthing techniques of the late boomer wave, including complete anesthesia for mom and lack of a catcher position for the all-important entry, but I find new beginnings can be rough. So you DON’T want to approach things like I might in one of THOSE moods – bleary-eyed, doom-filled, convinced it all is just awful and in short, so am I. I should have mastered more by now! What are those empty zones floating about in that quality of life physical! You follow me…
(Quick, write that “you rock” reminder letter for moments like that, before the amnesia hits again…)
You may have your own harsh pattern when re-vision or assessment calls, or when disruption causes you to question – what was the plan? Am I still on track? What seems to be missing? Etc. So first let’s name a few essential skills for how to conduct this reassessment or QOL physical.
SKILL ONE: Kindness, positive self-regard. Birth and life and restarting/revisioning are often challenging enough without adding the Eeyore overlay. (“Eeyore (Wikipedia) is characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie-the-Pooh”.) Assume this new phase has you standing on the shoulders of your awesome past progress. What a warrior, friend, that you are still standing! AND you want to learn and experiment some more? DAMN! Hats off to me, you say…. You get the idea. So yes, open heart and mind, open stance versus arms crossed and fingers wagging. Curious you are. Inviting perspective and insight from all angles. Often you totally forget how much you HAVE done lately, as I noted. Easy to do with the compressed time signatures, triple eclipses, and provocative perambulations that are felt to be just business as usual these days.
Here’s a good reality check – do a quick list of some of your recent accomplishments in the last 3/6/9 months. Then you can safety tuck Eeyore to bed, while you Winnie out with yourself for the truer notes to reflect on, so as to better hone that road ahead.
SKILL TWO: BIG VIEW
David Allen, of Getting Things Done fame, speaks of the importance of getting the view from 10,000 feet – i.e., looking down at the landscape from the window of an airplane. How could you do that? For our tribe, that may mean using the heart, the soul, your eyes of light, them there prisms of real meaning – to glance at life’s priorities and revisit soul’s purpose and mission. I might even dig up some of those past napkins – no really, 8 1/2 x elevens, that attempted to do the life goals list a few months back…
Speaking for myself, these inventories now require considering age. I have maybe 2-3 decades more -not an endless infinitude of time. Seems a lot less vague now than it did when I had 4 or 5 decades ahead. A colleague my age conceives of having 25 more years. And of course, you never know…
I also think of Tom Rath (see recent blog) who was a master of all the good behaviors for health and well-being, including stress mgmt., but had to admit to himself that his quality of life was suffering when he was not getting a book he needed to write done. The dream gong kept bleeping. He had to make all kinds of changes for that to happen. We can guess he had to do this kind of assessment of things to shift gears.
What would give you that big view? A weekend retreat, or a talk with a good friend? Rating yourself on the life coaching wheel? (Hit reply, if you need this). Listing what’s going well, what’s not getting going that needs to, etc.? Looking at where you are wasting time, and using it well? Asking yourself, “If I died tomorrow, what would I most regret? Not light questions some of these, so proper rewards will be needed after facing this music …
SKILL THREE: INTUITIVE VIEW
Don’t let this revisioning or current life inventory only be made with the voice of the logical mind. The rest of our brain, the deeper mind outside of conscious awareness, runs most of the show anyway. You can ask the inner self, the gut felt sense – how do I feel about this old goal, that new goal? Does it bring excitement or does it feel stale? Am I still warm and fuzzy about it? How would I intuitively rate the priorities in this list of what’s next? What would be important to complete now? Which feel like the most meaningful goals, in terms of my life mission and purpose and true expression?
This can be an enlightening way to end the inventory process. I often find my logical mind, though yes a very smart one, will place things in assbackwards order, as far as the intuitive intelligence views things. It wants me to have all my ducks in a row, and THEN go for the dream. But following dream steps first or at LEAST along with life, tends to get those ducks quacking happily into place, without as much whistle blowing and ordering around…
AND ON WE GO
No need to belabor this revisioning. You just need to do enough to honor and clear the path behind you, and realign your next steps to what’s most alive and relevant. You may need to quiet the deeper mind that is sending inaccurate or critical SOS’s your way. Kind of like that unease if you haven’t checked your spending plan/finances in a while.
You’ve heard how airplane pilots need to keep tweaking their steering wheels as they go, a constant slight adjustment to stay true to the flight plan. Same for the light flyers. Just a bit of an equinox tweak here, if you feel the need, and vroom vroom, blue skies welcome your next steps. Oh my, look at that portal of possibilities ahead! And those ducks, what are they doing up here? Oops watch out!
Many blessings on your fall season start up, let us know how it goes.
Love,
Denise
RESOURCE:
Charley Gilkey has a good thing going on for planning support – both free and low cost tools. Check him out at https://www.productiveflourishing.com/