Your Life’s Vista
For Charting Overall Satisfaction and Life-Growth.
It’s possible to get so wound up in the same patterns of stuckness that we lose track of the big picture. When we micro-focus on one area of our life, it’s possible to become completely disoriented and temporarily lose our way. It’s good to feel lost every now and then, it amps up our creative problem-solving and intuition, but it’s no place to stay for extended periods of time. Have you ever seen a movie scene where the people are wandering around in the woods, totally freaked out because they have no idea where they are, only to find a beautiful vista, get their bearings, and find a landmark they recognize? Off they go, heading in that direction, we’re sure they’re going to find their way. It was right in front of them all the time, they just couldn’t see it!
Well, this is what this inquiry is designed to do for you. It’s great to spend some time with these questions every few months to chart your life from a universal perspective. Get out of the micro-focus and into the grand view.
Watch for patterns in your answers, feelings the questions evoke, as well as physiological cues (Do you get a little sweaty with any of the questions? Does your heart race? Do you feel an involuntary smile forming on your lips?). Notice any other effects the exercise has on you. There is no byproduct of working through these questions that won’t be helpful to you. They are built to make you think abstractly, creatively and exercise innovation.
Changes in your life will start to happen simply by asking yourself these questions. This exercise isn’t a precursor for taking the first step, it is the first step. Feel your way through this inquiry, don’t get stuck on too much thinking. There are no wrong answers. If you don’t fully understand a question, feel free to reach out to me, or simply decide for yourself what the question means to you and answer with as much depth as you can. They’re supposed to be difficult in order to stretch you into new ways of processing.
1.) Where does your passion exist? What gets you really excited? What never fails to bring you joy?
2.) Do you feel two (or more) sides of you battling for your attention right now? What do each of them want from you?
3.) What are the strengths/benefits that each side brings to you as a whole?
4.) What would it take for these conflicting parts of you to come to an agreement? If you asked them, what would they say to you?
5.) What do you see when you step back and view your life as a whole?
6.) What direction would you like to take your life right now?
7.) What would it take for you to achieve that?
8.) How different would your life look if you were to achieve it?
9.) What needs to change right now? What needs to happen? What is the next step?
10.) What is trying to unfold in your life, even if you don’t seem to be inviting it?
11.) What is an image or a symbol of where your life is at right now?