Are You Attracting What You Want?

Are you feeling it? The serious urge to get back to ‘it’ - put the sunny days of summer behind you, knuckle down and get down to business again. Are you feeling it? The serious urge to get back to ‘it’ - put the sunny days of summer behind you, knuckle down and get down to business again. It’s 'back to' month and a whole lot of people are getting busy with getting busy again, filling up schools, buses, streets, offices and cubicles all across the land once more. In fact, some in the news biz are even heralding September as 'the new New Year's'. But did you know there’s more to this urge than meets the eye? First, there’s the natural part. No matter where you live – or when, for that matter - autumn’s forever been the cyclical half-way point in the seasonal year, a time to check-in, sift through and evaluate whether or not the direction and efforts of our year’s first half are 'on the mark' (one down, one to go!). In other words, autumn’s a build-in prompt to see if – and how - we’re oriented and get back on course if we've veered off. All good, right? But, as any pilot or good sailor knows you have to check in with your original course before you can check out if - and how much - you’re off your bearings. It’s the only way to know how much course correction to make, and in what direction. But when you’ve got yourself a ‘black is the new pink’ fashionable move-of-many on your hands, and a natural urge most of us don’t even know is at work much less understand how to use, it often adds up to a whole lot of people operating ‘under the influence’ of both urge and fashion (and we aren’t talking clothes here). Rather than making choice moves in an intentional direction using natural forces as propulsion, millions are going with ‘the’ flow, mistaking it for their own. In short, people get back to getting serious without knowing WHY. Okay – you’ve had your fun, playtime’s over! Back to work you go.
nBut work for what? For who? And WHY?
nNow we aren’t saying influence in and of itself is bad. But being influenced is one thing: not knowing you are is another. Without knowing its very possible – in fact, probably – that instead of riding high in the right direction for you you’re just getting pushed around by the powers that be. That’s WHY all this is worth paying very close attention to, Because if you live that way long enough it can take you so far, far away from what’s yours to live – including happiness – you’re soon doing an Amelia Earheart.
Is the choice to get back to it – whatever ‘it’ is - predominantly chosen by you or are you being significantly influenced by a cultural cause not entirely of your intentional or deliberate choosing? And if you are under the influence, by how much – and in what ways? What’s more, if you’re under the influence (which is sort of like trying to navigate using the stars on a cloudy night) how can you really know for sure?
nHow much does the world influence what you choose? The way you define success, happiness, achievement? What causes you to decide something is actually worth your time – your energy, effort, attention, commitment – worth dedicating your life in the pursuit of? Do you even know? If you don’t, how do you know your choices are really all your own? Weird but true: peer pressure never really ends. We just stop seeing we’re under its influence. And we all know what happens when you get behind the wheel intoxicated: you take your life in your hands, all the while and very good-naturedly thinking everything’s just dandy when it’s not. So, as autumn plays out, pay very close attention to the urge to get serious: it’s far more than what it seems to be. It's a universal call that’s built right into life to help you check in and see if what you're getting in to or 'back to' is really what’s right for you. It’s an invitation to verify that you have your compass in hand – not someone else’s – and you’re living guided by your course, in harmony with the pace and rhythm most natural and nourishing for you. It’s a soul sign that asks you to ask yourself if you’re living propelled with the power of your purpose – your WHY – your flow, or if you’re just being pulled along by ‘the powers that be’. It’s a reminder to get serious about living in your soul’s sweet spot, to learn how to use the power’s around you and in you, wisely and well. Please; take September slow. Take your time. Use the seasonal urge to get serious – serious about living what matters most to you. Use it to propel you forward. Resist the urge to 'go with THE flow'. Dare instead to find your own. If you do, happiness and success await you – sustainable, soul satisfying happiness and success – and the ability to influence the world in the positively powerful ways in the way were meant to. Be the influence, instead of just being influenced. Oh – and if you’re finding all this ‘under the influence’ stuff a little hard to believe, we have three suggestions for you: ONE: get yourself a copy of Tim Ferriss’ book The Four Hour Work Week. Living his WHY in a big, big WAY, Time is a no-holds-barred genius at seeing the ways influence clouds judgment and perception, limiting choices and how we live. His book goes a long, long way to help clear the clouds, put the power back in your hands and make clear there’s whole lot more available to you than you might ever have imagined possible. TWO: give Success Built To Last a read. The three authors make clear that we’ve inadvertently sold ourselves a big, fat bill of goods when it comes to the definition of success we’re all striving to meet – and our ideas of financial gain as goal rather than by-product. It’s a sobering but compelling look at the value – and necessity - of steering by our own stars, propelled by our very own WHY. THREE: check out www.roadtripnation.com and check out the PBS special to see what our very bright adult children have learned to do to help themselves find their WHY and clear their WAY. It’s definitely a 60’s moment, but reinvented in a 2.0 kind of way.n