Reaching a Fork in the Road

Reaching a fork in the road is an invitation to reflect on where we have been as well as on where we are headed.  It is about recognizing we have the power to make different choices.  Making more conscious choices enriches and strengthens us from the inside out due to acting from a state of deeper awareness about ourselves. Feel the urge to change focus and/or priorities?

Now is the moment to recognize and act more based on things that really matter: the power of vulnerability, courage, innate worthiness.  Part of the journey involves bravely exploring our shadows, the characteristics and behaviours we adopt that echo we are less than we actually are.  More specifically, this is about making the unconscious,  conscious, growing aware of self-defeating and self-sabotaging choices that point to patterns. Our overt and covert behaviours are linked to our sense of belonging and fear of rejection. 

As we reflect on how we are taught to live, what we are taught to achieve and the persona/ role we project, underneath words like "success" and "fulfillment" is that compass that gauges our sense of belonging.  This points to our unspoken desire to be seen, heard and validated. Beyond that is a yearning to “be part of something bigger than ourselves, to experience genuine connection with others. Beig true to ourselves is what makes us aware of the nature of authenticity, true freedom and innate power.

10 Reasons your current role may appeal

Just for fun today, brainstorm reasons why you currently do the work or offer the services you do. This exercise invites you to draw attention to things you are not yet seeing in yourself.  Career transition coaching explores values and core motivations.  Consider  9 reasons people tell themselves their role appeals:

1) Desire: it fulfills various desires that you may not yet put your finger on

2) Trust: something about the envirnoment or colleagues stimulates trust

3) Belonging: feeling part of a select group with peer acceptance or recognition

4) Gratification: the nature of your work offers quick solutions

5) Leadership:  being a pioneer or boss appeals, all that triggers leadership-related emotions

6) Love: The need for love is common and people seldom find long-term solutions to fulfill this need. Does your product, service, work setting evoke love, nurture self-worth and appreciation from co-workers?

7) Greed: Good money may appeal to the ego and be a pivotal reason you do what you do.

8) Hope: Hope is what drives the human spirit to look for solutions and push forward even when things look bleak. When you offer solutions that enrich lives, health, relationships or careers, this can have staying power

9) Fun: when what you do keeps you feeling light-hearted and at peace wth yourself, you feel stimulated

10) Soulful: something about the way you do the things you do touches or expresses your soul and enables you to touch or comfort the soul of others