Have completed the book and am excited about "Wally's World". I haven't worked in over a year, but I know that this will soon change. On reflection, what I truly wanted, I got. I was working "In a Certain Way", but I just didn't know it, up 'til now. Once I know what I want to do next, I'm sure I'll be on my way. How does one go about really knowing what they REALLY want to do? Can someone whose been where I am now, shed some light?

You asked: "How does one go about really knowing what they REALLY want to do?"

Knowing What You REALLY Want To Do

I’ll share a few ‘techniques’ I’ve used, and go back to (to help me regain or gain greater clarity).

One: Write your epitaph, as you would like it to read. What would you ‘like’ your epitaph to be? Write beyond what currently seems possible. Write as if you could do anything humanly possible. Mine includes, “He mastered life. He embodied peace, love and joy. He also positively impacted countless lives.”

Then try to imagine how you might achieve this epitaph, in ways that are fulfilling or meaningful to you, ways that might allow you to experience the most well being, happiness, joy, love and/or peace of mind.

Another technique is to answer the question: What would you do if you knew you couldn’t possibly fail? What would you do, if failure was IMPOSSIBLE? What would you attempt, if success were a CERTAINTY?

Another question I ask myself is: What FEELING do I currently (right in this very moment) want to experience more of?

As has been said, the only POINT OF POWER any of us has is THE PRESENT MOMENT. All change is the result of how we are living THIS PRESENT MOMENT.

Ultimately, whatever we are after in life, we want it because we hope to experience some feeling, or more of some feeling, be it peace of mind, love, well being, happiness, joy, etc.

By becoming more conscious of how we feel – MOMENT-TO-MOMENT – we can come to realize EXACTLY what we want to feel more of. This, then, can help us to see various ways we can come to realize those feelings.

For example, if you find you want to experience more peace of mind you could then ask yourself, “What might I do or plan to do **right now** that will allow me to experience more peace of mind? The answer might include, meditate, forgive someone, go look for a job, work to raise your self image or fully accept yourself, go exercise, etc.

And, as you do what you can – to feel more of some feeling that you want to experience more of – you are in essence aligning yourself more to all that is a part of your greater good, or the greater life experience you want to ultimately have.

And another technique I use is to answer the question: What would you do with your life, if you only had ONE YEAR TO LIVE?

Imagine that you somehow found out that you had only one year to live. Imagine that your health would be fine, up to the last day, but then, one year from today you would die.

Would your routine change? Especially ask yourself, would your PRIORITIES change? Very often, life failure is due to the fact that people simply do not live their priorities.


If you KNEW your time and life were short, would you do things differently? Would you treat others differently? Would you spend your time differently? Answering these kinds of questions helps me get more ‘on purpose’. And being ‘on purpose’ seems to reveal whatever it is you really want to do with your life.

So, go somewhere you can be by yourself, with a little notebook, and write these questions and your answers. You're likely to get at least a little clearer on what you really want to do.

Phil

Thanks Phil - great suggestions!

Phil, you certainly have impacted my life positively. Every time you write it's insightful and a pleasure to read.
Thank you
All the best
Mike

The suggestion that Phil gave about what would you do if you were certain that you would succeed has really changed the way that I look at things. I had only heard that for the first time within the last year or so and it is amazing. It is so freeing and powerful that I am in awe of that question. Little by little I bring myself to answer it and now I have. Part of it is my CMI. I haven't put it all in my CMI yet for some reason, but I know that as I grow my CMI will. I am very happy with my CMI as it is now and can imagine it, feel it, taste it, see it and smell it with ease and delight. I can't wait!!!! I'm so excited and I see the little steps that are falling into place to make it happen!

I am allowing my CMI to shift and grow as I do and I feel comfortable with that. Maybe you can start with something that feels ok for now knowing that you can shift that CMI when it's right for you? I had been out of work as well and am now on the path to finding my real joy. I have had a couple of consecutive jobs in the last year and am now about to get my dream job. I took the jobs because they were fun and I was comfortable in them. They didn't pay off the way that I would have liked but led me to where I am now ~ ready to accept one of 3 jobs that I am interviewing with. Once I reach this space and get comfortable with increasing my income significantly I will shift my CMI up! It is very doable!

Thank you Dawn. I am "OK" with what you said. I have found that working on my CMI is uplifting and exciting - visualizing myself as I am (currently under construction), or better!

Richman--

Welcome! I know I'm on to what I REALLY want when I feel this little bubble of excitement in my chest every time I think about it. For many years now, my focus has been on writing. But lately this idea for putting together a weekend workshop for writers (or maybe all creative types) has been nagging at me. I tried to put it out of my mind but I just kept thinking about it, and I felt that bubble in my chest. So now, every day, I work just a little bit on the content of that workshop.

As for Phil's what-if-you-knew-you-were-going-to-die-in-a-year technique ... all due respect to you, Phil, because clearly you struck a cord with many people. But, honestly, if I knew for sure I would die in a year, I would stop writing (because what I'm writing now will take more than a year to be published) and it's hard work!

No, I would sell my house, empty my bank accounts, run up my credit cards, and travel until the day I drop dead. LOL, not very useful behavior if I plan to live to a hundred!

Kara

Kara
like you if I knew I was going to die in a year I would go travelling and spending. I would be without worry anymore as there would be no come-back on any debt or anything.

But there is always the problem of others saying things like "you can't accept it, see somebody, etc."

Me too, Kara! To at least 120 years of wonderful age!
More life for all, less for none!
Jenny

Thanks to all for postings. I'm feeling really good with my CMI of where I will be living - actually its very clear. Still though, I don't know what I am doing (work) to have attained it all. I am truly grateful of what I am about to receive(or better) and must not concern myself, I guess on the How (work) I will do. I'm sure that in the not so distant future, I'll be posting what I'm doing and wondering why I didn't see it sooner. In the meantime more to all and less to none!
Rick

Hi Rick,

in the past it has been fear that has stopped me from acknowledging what I really want to do. Fear of if I will be able to make a living from it, fear of what other people will say and fear of failure. And the other thing that has tripped me up big time is the "how's"

I am slowly letting go of the fear and Phil's "what would you do if you only had a year to live" is helping with it. If I only had a year to live I would stop procrastinating so much, stop worrying about the fear and just get on with it.

I have a few other suggestions that may help with your clarity.

If you had all the money you could ever desire and you had travelled and played and bought yourself houses and boats and whatever else you could want, what is it then that you would like to do with your money? Is there some positive contribution you would like to make to the world?

What makes you feel alive, what do you love doing?

Another thing you can try is empowering questions. Your subconscious mind will come up with an answer to any question it is asked. So you could ask something like "What do I need to know or do to get the clarity I need to find out what it is I want to do?" This can be better than asking "what is it that I want to do?" As this second question can be loaded with pressure and what is needed is relaxation so you can access higher knowledge. Keep asking an empowering question and then relax and listen for the answers. You may suddenly have the urge to go to the supermarket where you might over a conversation that tiggers something in your mind.

For my own fear I have started reprogramming my mind with constant affirmations. Anything the subscious mind hears over and over again it will believe. My affiramtion of today is "It is safe for me to speak my truth and I am courageous" I will just keep saying this over and over again until I really feel it. Once the program has been rewritten it will be my natural state to feel safe and courageous. These affirmations are something that I have just started using but they are making such a difference to how I am feeling about myself and helping me keep my thoughts positive and my vibration high. Once I have re-written all the past negative programing I know without a doubt wonderful things are coming my way. But I know that it all starts with my state of mind.

Oh one final thought just came to me, there is a fun way that can teach you a lot about what you want and who you want to be. For want of a better title I call it "Visiting your future ideal self" It is a guided meditation.

To start with take a few deep breaths and totally relax your body. Then start to see your ideal house, the one you will be living in, in say 15 years in the future. Walk into your dream house, look around and enjoying being there and then meet your future ideal self, you will find him somewhere in the house enjoying life.

Your future self has already created the life of your dreams and so spend some time with him. What is he doing, what does it feel like to be in his company, what sort of feel does he give off? What is his emotional state, what does he love doing? You can ask him anything you like. When you have finished walk back out the door and slowly become aware of your body and your self now. Then find ways to be as close in nature to your future ideal self as you can right now. And you can go and visit your future self any time you like.

Good Luck and I look forward to hearing all about what you are doing really soon

hugs

Kerry

Hi Kerryann!

Your relaxation and "what do I need to know ..." line of questioning is a new one I will work with. I know what my home will look like, as I have walked through it and can picture it in full detail. I never looked for myself though and that's something else I will try. Thank you! I wish you and all others more of what you desire.

Rick

Hi Rick,

if you meet your future self and would like to share the experience I would love to hear about it. You can send me a private message if you like.

hugs

Kerry

Hi Rick,

Yes I was there last November.

I had to make the decision to get out of what I was doing as it was not what I truly wanted.

After that I was in a bit of a downer thinking I dont know what I really want.

Then I looked at what I have been doing and how I got into it. I was talked into it by others who did a hard sell and thought they knew best.

I looked at what I didnt like about all the things I tried. I same some common aspects in each that I just could not put up with or were the same old things that drove me crazy.

Armed with that, I said okay what in the way past did I want to do but felt I could not or even started and liked but gave up on.

Then I did the same thing of looking at it and seeing what I liked about each one. The common aspects poppped up.

Now that I had that I started to think of things that would fill these aspects that I liked.

For me one jumped out, but for 20 years I carreid it in my head it was impossible to get into. But I drove to a school and chatted with a teacher and the head of the program They said no not impossible but a several year wait on the wait list.

So there I am I now what I want and now I will have to take steps to make it happen.

But, I figured it out which is a far cry from where I was and how I felt in November as several members here may recall.

Good luck, it will come. Just drop all the stuff other people talked you into and then say, what would I love to do... OH, and pretend you are 10yrs old again---- it really helps to get creative and free.

Jim

To the person who responed about using affirmations I have tried this in the past but didn't work for me. I obviously was doing someting wrong maybe you could shed some light on how you started with affirmations and how you started getting results.

Hi John,

what did you try using affirmations for? I use affirmations to rewire negative thought patterns. I think the key is repetition and monitoring your other thoughts. Say you get up in the morning and say your affirmation " I love and believe in myself" or whatever, three times and then you spend the rest of the day telling yourself that you are a failure and that you will never do anything right. Then there is no way the positive affirmation can work.

For the affirmation to work you have to say it more than you say negative things. As you are trying to create a new pathway in your brain and erase the old one. So for a first step I would suggest you start to become aware of your thoughts. Until we consciously do this we have no idea just what is going through our mind and how it can be bring us down and stop us from getting what we want.

In another post Rebecca suggested that a way to be aware of your thoughts is to be aware of your feelings. If you are feeling negative emotion then negative thoughts will be causing the negative emotion.

To become aware of your thoughts is not an easy thing to do but it is vital if you want to create life the way you want it.

I hope this helped

hugs

Kerry

I agree that your positive affirmations about your desires/goals/self must outweigh any negative feelings or thoughts. What occupies your mind most of the time is what takes root.

Most people give up too early. You've got to be like a pit bull about your dreams. It's good to take a moment and just relax. Have fun. Remember all the dreams you may have had about your life when you were younger. Now, return to the present with the realization that it's yours if you still want it.

Enjoy your success!
LeTicia