I am back from holidays where I spent a lot of time thinking about what it means to have an aligned life.
We have alignment in our lives when our thoughts, feelings, actions, and results are not in conflict with one another.
This whole exploration got triggered when I fell on a wooden path on the beach during my holidays. My hand was in pain but I wanted to ignore it.
I had a full day planned with my family. I did not want a bit of pain to derail my plans.
Thankfully, there was an orthopedic student on the beach who urged me to go to the hospital. It was a good thing I did, as it turned out I had broken one of the hand bones.
Had I not gone to the hospital as soon as I did, the bone would start re-attaching at the wrong place and I would need surgery to fix the problem.
Realigning the bone at the hospital was painful, but surgery would have been a lot more painful.
When we ignore our feeling that something is wrong, we often let our lack of alignment solidify. The longer we leave it, the stronger the intervention we might need later.
Breaking up a wrong relationship, as painful as it is, is easier than a divorce.
Firing someone who is not a good fit early, while unpleasant, is easier than firing them later.
Changing industries is easier the quicker you do it.
The problem is that when something feels off, most of us believe the feeling is the problem rather than simply the messenger.
We try to numb our sadness, anger, or fear by distracting ourselves. Alcohol, shopping, Netflix, or food are some of the ways.
Our feelings were never the problem. Our feelings were always the messenger.
Unpleasant feelings are a signal that something is out of alignment.
Another signal that we are out of alignment is consistent failure. Oprah Winfrey argues that failure is the universe’s way of nudging us towards the right direction.
When you consistently fail at one area in your life, something is off. Maybe you do not really want this result and you are subconsciously sabotaging yourself. Maybe your thinking has a lot of limiting assumptions.
You might try again and again to get promoted, to reach a financial milestone in your business, to have a healthy relationship…
The best way I have known to gain and maintain alignment is to be clear and honest to yourself about what you want.
An inspiring and honest vision about your professional and personal life will help you work backward the aligned actions, feelings, and thoughts.
So many of us never pause our day-to-day grind to envision the future we want to create for ourselves and our loved ones.
So many of us are disconnected from our desires, while we are burdened down by our “shoulds.”
If you would like to work on your vision, check out my VisionPath program.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it’ Steve Jobs.
Here is to a more aligned life.
