Walking into 2023 with One Question
We all know what this time of year can bring. I don’t have to reiterate it. Intentions and goals to do more, be more and essentially accomplish more. We begin from a place of “shoulds” that lead us eventually into places of disappointment and discontentment. And then the places we want to be just simply don’t seem possible and so maybe we stop and change directions, shift the focus and try something new.
Self Discipline is hard. Staying focused and clear on what we truly desire even when it is not happening is the most challenging practice and the highest form of self discipline.
It requires trust within the self and it requires getting comfortable with not knowing, without having answers or solutions to every question. It requires an open and authentic relationship with my heart. A heart that is willing to be vulnerable and fully seen.
I have been sitting with this thought as I walk into 2023.
What If I offered myself more space for questions rather than answers.
Would it be possible to live in that space?
As I reflect on this for myself what I know to be true is that answers give me control. They allow me to check the box to validate myself to know that I got it right or wrong. They allow a direct path to move forward.
And too many questions give me uncertainty. They give me space to contemplate and to shift. They can cause me to get stuck or stagnant and to feel as though I am not making progress or moving forward.
So I have decided to let myself move forward with one question and to honestly stay committed to following the answer.
What is my heart asking of me?
What I am requiring of myself with this question is to trust the answer and to draw myself back into the present moment and the trust that exists within myself. It is not a thought that comes from my mind.
And it cannot be tied to outward approval, outcomes, validation, money, experience or ego.
Instead of being drawn into the doing, the achievement, the experience, the success, the progress, I am drawn into love.
What is my heart asking of me?
And what if there is no answer. Nothing. Stillness. Silence. Emptiness.
Is that really no answer or just not that answer I desire?
I feel as though I have spent so much time searching for answers that were never my own. Finding the right way to do it by looking outside my own heart. And when I have found the answers or received confirmation it feels like I have accomplished something until the next thing arrives and there I am again in a race to get it done. To move ahead. To feel complete.
I have become distracted with the path of others as my own. As I witness the accomplishments and the achievements of others moving forward I find myself leaping into the wheel of competition whether I am ready or not.
Wanting the answer they have seemed to achieve.
And yet when I ask what my heart desires it will never lead me into the path of another. My precious heart will always lead me home if I am listening.
The path of my heart is one of truth.
And so I am choosing in 2023 to quietly step off the wheel. To stay the course of my own beautiful and unique path by staying in the place of my heart and allowing myself to walk gracefully into the right next step.
Full trust in my heart, the deepest form of self discipline I know.
How are you walking into 2023, I would love to hear!