Cultivating the seed of intention means trusting your inner voice. You wake up one morning and decide to make a change. You set yourself a goal that feels true to who you are, and you feel inspired as you think about it. Thinking about change is deliciously enjoyable as you haven’t yet come up against the reality of making it happen. However, when that day comes, unless you keep that little part of “you” in your heart, it is all too easy to lose your way. If you act on your terms, in your own time, following your inspiration. You will give your life and your career the best possible chance of flourishing.

Example of two waitresses

One sees the career as a mundane stepping stone to a greater life one day. She goes through the motions with little joy as she doesn’t see the job contributing towards her future happiness. She spends eight hours a day being someone that she dislikes, but puts up with it because “no one enjoys work anyway.” She doesn’t get too many tips and moves jobs regularly as she doesn’t see the point of integrating into her teams.

The second waitress knows that the job doesn’t define who she is or who she will become. She is studying to become a vet and uses every interaction with the customers to hone her people skills. Finding a way to make her waitressing part of her future agenda rather than an irrelevant black hole. She exudes joy to all around her because she is following her heart. In her head, the step from dirty dishes to cute little bunnies is not such a big one.

The first waitress is not living in her “now.” She is waiting for a fantasy future that may never come. The second self takes is finding her way with the opportunities that are presenting themselves to her. She believes that if you are true to yourself, there are always ways of turning the present to your advantage. She is tapping into her lifeline and although her road to becoming a vet will contain thousands of dirty dishes (and ridicule from her parents and friends), she knows that it is worth it, she is leaping from her now.

It just takes one decision

However, all is not lost for the first waitress.

A decision to listen to herself, a decision to get back on track, a decision to sow her seed of intention and rediscover her self-confidence that has been buried for so long. Right now. She goes for a long walk one Saturday, gets away from everything, and connects with herself again. She looks at the cards that she is holding and realizes that she can make so much more of her life. Her internal fire starts to burn again.

If you own any little part of what you feel in your heart is yourself, you will be able to act with inspiration, but if you can’t feel any part of you that is authentically you, this will be a very hard task.

Be true-to-yourself

If you are unhappy with your life or your career, you have to ask whether you are telling yourself the truth. Maybe you have been living your life in a certain pattern for so long that you can’t find that place where you can have a heartfelt conversation. The conversation where you are at the center and where you can truly own your intentions. Where do you want to go? What do you like? What don’t you like? How can you realize your talents? What does the beat of your drum sound like? Of all the many things you’ll consider, you should keep what you like, what you resonate to, and dump what you don’t.

Without these true-to-yourself conversations, you are likely to go through life copying others who have what you want.  A mentor is great to have, but it’s more important that you get to where you are going under your terms by being true to yourself. I believe the rest of life falls into place much better with this solid foundation.

Life is a wonderful gift yet unless we are being true to ourselves and leaping from our “now” we will never truly realize this. It takes courage to be true to oneself, it takes patience and forgiveness of our old selves, to allow room for the new self to just BE. And it’s the most integrated way of living that I’d recommend to my children.   Don’t be afraid of the now that may seem too simple, too boring to give any real thought to.  It’s always in the Now that you have power.  And in acting from the now you are more likely to be true to yourself as we are never static beings.  We are ever changing, ever evolving, beautiful, fun seeking creatures. And personally, I have a lot more interesting conversations with people who are more present.

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