Here’s the assignment my coach gave me that I have been avoiding for many days now.
You’d think I’d be jumping to do it; it’s so positive.
ASSIGNMENT: Make a list of all the results you’ve produced in your life that didn’t come from where you thought they’d come from.
It’s not that I have been ignoring the assignment entirely. I thought about it at least three times. I came up with my “gut” answer: there aren’t any. At least that is what my silly mind told me, at first.
What did yours tell you?
I guess I’ve been thinking really linearly lately. Not cool when your goal is total and ongoing transformation for yourself, others, and the planet!
I sat myself down yesterday for a deeper look.
WOW! Turns out I do have a list, and it’s some pretty phenomenal stuff.
1. When I first met my husband, he seemed to me a bit of a “dumb jock.” Not really my type. Nineteen years later, I marvel every day at the magic of having found him, of having known (and him knowing) there was a thread to follow with him, and of finding my way to his amazing heart, genius mind (though different from mine), and, well, stud-ly body (I didn’t say I didn’t like jocks at all!).
2. Not only was I not looking for the job I have now (my dream job as President of Handel Group® Life Coaching), but I didn’t even know anything like it existed. How do you like that for non-linear? I thought being a life coach was for quacks until I went through the Handel Method® with Lauren Zander (she taught parts to me during my career coaching with her). I was actually looking for some other future career when I found this one quite accidentally and synchronistically.
3. I now live in a lovely five-floor townhouse in Manhattan. Unheard of. Well, I didn’t hear of it, but I imagined it and believed in its existence. I don’t know what we said to the realtor who was showing us stuff, but we certainly didn’t expect to see this place (it was four floors of pre-construction apartments at the time and a flooded basement), and my husband definitely didn’t expect me to suggest that we renovate and see what happens.
4. I always dreamed of being able to teach and impact lots of people, but I never thought I’d make a TV show and that the first one would have aired on MTV (the network I watched videos on as a pre-teen). I thought it was just for music! And they found me with an already green-lit pilot after I had attempted with several other production companies and networks to get a TV show made.
My point is that most of the best results are non-linear. And I am saying it because I need to remember it. I really think I can predict what’s going to happen next, and if I can just do enough of the “right” things, the right results will happen. But that is a limiting superstition and not at all what history has actually shown me. My intelligence and hard work may be useful, but they are not what make my dreams come true.
The body and mind aren’t enough for our biggest dreams. The heart has got to lead the way.
What do all the above examples have in common? I believed something was possible that I didn’t know HOW to have or get. And, yes, though there were twists, turns, fears, doubts, and mistakes along the way, I was open, I trusted, and I followed my nose (and my heart). Believing is the magic ingredient, and it’s what we teach at Handel. It’s not as simple as it seems. It requires attention to both integrity and imagination, and it’s something I wish we would all consider as our duty to cultivate.
What’s on your list of non-linear results? Can you see you’ve made magic, too, when you’ve believed in magic? Where do you want to see more of what you want? When your heart, mind, and body are all in alignment, you positively positively will.
Love,
Laurie
As President of Handel Group® Life Coaching and a Senior Coach, Laurie Gerber’s personal and professional mission is to better the world by teaching people to tell the truth and pursue their dreams. Her ability to strip away psychological and emotional burdens has been showcased on radio, TV, the blogosphere, and in a wide variety of live events. Laurie leads events at Kripalu, Esalen, Menla, Equinox, and more. Her growing TV career includes MTV’s True Life Special: I’m Getting A Second Chance and an upcoming pilot for A&E. Follow Laurie on Facebook and Twitter.
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*Featured image by gordontarpley.
