I’m not one to spend ages talking about the challenges of life. In fact, I find that particularly difficult to do. Now, that may be because I am privileged – which I am. Or it may be because I am resourced – which I am. It could even be because I am educated – which I am. It doesn’t really matter in the end. It’s a choice I made after many experiences of feeling overwhelmed and stuck not knowing what to do next. After having life events knock me down and having to pull myself back up again. After I decided to be brave and take the next step.
I laughingly call myself the Queen of the Reframe and I’ve had to examine why I felt the need to protect my vulnerability around that recently. Because I’ve been re-framing A LOT and I got really curious about why that is.
I’ve been thinking about what I’m protecting in my re-frame, what’s its purpose? These questions led me to exploring the state of flow. The magical place we go to when we are in our most focused and purpose driven mindset.
Do you remember the last time you lost track of time because you were so focused on what you were doing?
The feeling of being completely disconnected from reality like you are floating on a cloud and the enduring sense of serenity where there are no boundaries, no worries, no limitations. When you know that, no matter what, you can find the courage to navigate to the next step.
It’s not a restful state, no staring off into the distance and dreaming, that’s something else entirely. Flow is being fully present in the moment when delivering the presentation that you rocked. It’s the hours of focused work resulting in a client you made so happy they came back asking for more. It’s leading your team through a complex project, knowing you can pivot at any time. Flow brings the satisfaction you feel from having your To-Do List seemingly tick itself and the peaceful smile as you slide into bed with the contentment of a productive day. It nurtures your self-confidence and builds great leadership skills.
Even the journey to finding flow is itself a wholly satisfying endeavour. Flow is a product of your WHY and so to experience it, we need only ask ourselves that wee question:
“What is my WHY?”
It may be small, but it’s a mighty question and deserves its own journey. And as we know, we start that journey one brave step at a time. Small steps, seemingly inconsequential steps, all the while believing that the journey is taking us to where we want to be. So, flow can be found simply by reconnecting with why you are doing the things you do every day.
It’s not enough just to look for the markers along the way and nod in their direction. You actually need to do things that make you truly happy. Fall in love with your vision for your future and then take action to make it real. Doing the tiny little things that in and of themselves, seem unimportant, but your intuition tells you, will take you closer.
If you lived a life without limits, what would you be doing and why does that light you up?
If you knew the wee things you could do to get you there sooner, wouldn’t you do them?
Very often, we don’t.
We let the blows and barbs of life wound us and impede our progress. We struggle with perseverance, tenacity and self-confidence because our most enduring belief is that the bad stuff can happen again, at any time. In our toughest moments we battle with our will to be brave.
I don’t know about you, but I find that mindset exhausting. And that its why I re-frame. To protect me from losing my way, to ensure that I can find flow as often as I need or want to. Re-framing, is my way of picking myself up, dusting myself down and taking the next step.
So when you fall down or fall short, be brave and acknowledge the pain of getting up again, use tools like gratitude, growth mindset and love, and re-frame it. Learn from what went wrong, think about how the journey will be adjusted, plan a new diversion around it and get right back on the path. One. Tiny. Step. At. A.Time.
What tiny but brave step can you take today to keep you on your path towards your vision?
