"If you want to fly, you have to give up the things the weigh you down". Toni Morrison
Over the past few weeks I have been observing all the ways I have been distracting myself from what is most valuable and important to me at this time in my life. I have a vision I am bringing into reality, and yet I was filling my life with so many things that were taking me away from being able to fully commit and manifest this vision.
I have observed these as things in my life that make me feel heavy, unmotivated, weary or confused. These things have included romantic relationships, career paths, study and other ‘time fillers’ that in the words of my clinical supervisor amounted to procrastination by action.
It has given me pause to notice the ways I was filling my life with ‘clutter’. Emotional, physical and environmental clutter, that were very effectively keeping me from working on the things that brought life and purpose and meaning to my life.
At this point I must confess – this isn’t a new pattern for me. While I am very grateful for the achievements of my studies, I became aware some time ago that it was a brilliant way to avoid living life, engaging with community, and putting myself out of my comfort zone.
It causes me to wonder – who else is filling their life with ‘clutter’ as a means of avoiding following the path of their deepest hearts desires? Who else is just loading their life up with ‘busyness’ so that they don’t need to face the reality of their restlessness, unhappiness, heaviness or life weighing them down.
For me my passion, purpose and motivation is centred squarely around building Zanti into a means of supporting and reaching as many people as possible, so that they might live their best life possible. This is what makes my heart sing with joy, fills my soul, and inspires me to get up each day.
However, while my life was so full of ‘clutter’, I found I was unable to give Zanti the full attention it deserved. My mind was clouded, my body heavy, and my soul weary – all which kept me from giving the inspired action I desired to Zanti. My clients and workshop participants continued to get my undivided attention, but those tasks of expansion (such as writing blogs or books), were left firmly in the ’one day’ category.
So today I sit with space. Space in my mind, my heart, and in my day to create. To share my experiences with others in the hopes they might benefit from them, but also to work in flow with my passion and purpose.
This was only made possible by releasing the heaviness in my life. By releasing those things which were keeping me feeling heavy, stuck, foggy and unmotivated.
So I invite you to consider – what is not working in your life? What do you need to release to make space for the highest version of yourself? What feels out of alignment with the life you are trying to create?
Imagine for a second that this moment is a fork in the road. What are you keeping in your life that will keep you on the same road, and what could you let go of to transition to an entirely different life path?
Creating space isn’t easy – in fact having space can be very uncomfortable because there is this urge to fill it – and a need for conscious awareness of what we want to fill it with.
There is a need to be patient in allowing those things to come into reality and being firm in saying no to letting more clutter back in to our lives in the interim.
There is also this urge to run back to what was previously filling this space, because it was comfortable, we knew what it meant, and there were no unknowns. We could hide and avoid facing ourselves squarely in our ‘spaciousness’.
It takes determination, focus, intention, and clarity around what it is we are wishing to create in our lives, and what does not fit into that creation.