Feel It. Now.

The Moment of Shift

I have a photographer friend (thank you for letting me name names, Michael Bonocore!) who’s apartment hunting in a REALLY tight housing area and market. He has a specific idea of what he wants, is super busy with limited time to hunt and is finding the whole search really stressful. Just today, he missed the perfect place by mere moments. “GAH!” I said… “But breathe. The perfect place will appear right when you let go and least expect it.”

That’s what this image reminds me of… that moment where you take release on the inside and suddenly everything shifts.

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I’m in the midst of changing course in my own life and have to follow my own advice quite a lot.
I’m shifting my life and career from 100% voiceover, chained to my studio every day… to a life filled with photography, speaking, travel, a show, meeting people, living my life as an artist.

Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? And it is! Of course, it’s all happening in slow motion, to my tiny little mind’s way of thinking. The biggest thing though, is it requires a very different approach to life, right down to my thinking.

I’ve had to let go of a lot… like my attachment to outcome. A lot of worries that used to give me a warped sense of control over things. A certain level of income, at least temporarily. The way I used to imagine what building a business was all about. Heck, even having a solid business model in the first place! What my definition of “success” is.

Here’s how I used to navigate a career shift in my life: assess which of my talents was most likely to make money, set some goals and go to town.
Here’s how I’m doing it now: Envision how I want to feel. FEEL how I want to feel. Take action on the opportunities that feel in alignment with how I want to feel. Simplify. Laugh a lot more.

After a lifetime of testing, guess which has begotten the more fulfilling results? (please tell me you guessed #2. heh.)

Focus on the Feeling: Don’t Believe the Lies

I’m giving you the cliff notes here; there is always so much more to a process like this than meets the eye.
But to state it simply: I focus on how I want to feel. Play the “What If” game (another way to envision what I’d like to experience, feel, etc.)… and let go of my old ideas about outcome and what (my tiny little mind thinks) is possible.

It’s an exercise in letting go and of CHOICE: choosing to focus on the results I’d like to have, choosing to turn away from fears and old thoughts/patterns of limitation and past disappointment, letting go of having to control outcomes I really have no control over anyway.

I swear, the older I get, the simpler the answers are.
My mother always said: choosing to feel good is the most important thing you can do to affect major change in your life.
My best life mentor told me: anything that makes you feel bad is a lie. Pure and simple.

What I Know For Sure

It’s taken a lifetime, but I now know for sure that they were both right on all counts.
Whether I be apartment hunting or brand new life creating… it’s all the same. How to do I want to feel? Feel that. Now. Go from there.

Ahhhhhh.