A guest post by Kat Loterzo
Did you know that you deserve to live an incredible life where each and every day you wake up feeling excited, motivated, energized and ready to take on the world? Don’t worry – I’m not here to sell you some sort of energy drink although I AM talking about fueling yourself in a way that you most likely aren’t yet doing as often as you’d like.
I’m talking about living a life that is ‘on purpose’, one in which you are filled with passion about what you get to be and do and have, and how you create that. A life of alignment. A life of flow. And most of all a life that MATTERS. To you, yes?
Now don’t get me wrong – I don’t believe that you have one sole purpose and that if you don’t find that your life will be a waste; pointless; empty! Not at all. Or at least I don’t believe it in the way that most people would define purpose. I believe your purpose is the same as mine, the same as Jennifer’s, the same as everybody else’s and that is this -
To live your best life.
So simple, and yet so difficult and even unattainable for many.
If you want to live that purpose it’s going to mean you need to be willing to dig deep, not only to first define what your best life would look like and entail, but also to make space to take action on creating it, to deal with an mental or emotional hurdles that would try to hold you back, and to be dedicated to living that life for the long-term, come what may.
So let’s talk about it, yes? Let’s talk about how you can find – and live – YOUR purpose, and how you can start now.
Firstly, a question or two -
What do you tell yourself about who you get to be in the world, and what you get to do?
Do you tell yourself that now is your time, that you can be, do and have it all and that there’s no need to wait? Do you jump out of bed and take action on the things that are most important to you?
Or do you believe in the possibility of all of this but yet find yourself caught up in the demands of your busy life, constantly putting off for another day the things that would truly make your heart sing; continually delaying on even first figuring out what WOULD make your heart sing?
Do you allow yourself to buy in to a life in which you get to be and do and have what you choose only when you’ve been and done and had everything that the world has chosen for you?
If right now you’re nodding your head and answering ‘yes’ – you’re not alone. And it’s not your fault either. It’s easy to become seduced by all that the world has to offer and all that you believe you need in order to be happy, successful, aligned and in flow.
What’s not so easy is to go against the grain, to define success and happiness on terms that others won’t necessarily understand nor support. The world will tell you that you’re crazy for quitting that high-paying job to start your own business, that you’re foolish not to have a mortgage and to instead want to travel and find adventure and a new way of living. The world – and worse still often your closest loved ones – will mock you for wanting to make money by doing something you love, will tell you it’s not possible and that you should be realistic. The world will convince you that your idea of writing a book or bringing your art to life is CRAZY – the stuff of fantasies and that you should get your head out of the clouds.
It’s one thing to fight against the ideas and ideals of others for what your life should look like. But let’s take it a step further. What if the one you’re fighting – even unwittingly or sub-consciously – is nobody other than the one who matters most, the one who literally has the power to make your dreams a reality or to squash them for good.
You do know I’m talking about you, don’t you beautiful?
Of course I’m also talking about me, for ultimately any lesson I can teach or share with you is one I’ve first had to learn myself. And here’s what I’ve learned about purpose and living your best life -
You have to start now.
You have to choose – right this very moment and no later – to follow your heart and your passion, to find a way of working, living, breathing, being which allows you to be in complete flow. And to end every day with the incredible gratitude and contentedness that comes from knowing you made it count; that today WAS a day in which you lived on purpose.
“But, but, but!” I hear you say. “But I don’t KNOW what my best life looks like! I don’t even really know what I want from life – not definitely. And I sure don’t know how I COULD make money doing what I love – nobody would want to pay me for that!”
I get it beautiful.
I really do. I spent years following the path I thought I needed to take in order to reach the pinnacle of happiness, success, wealth, assuming that this was what I had to do while I ‘figured out’ what I really wanted to do.
Can I tell you a secret?
You don’t have to know what your purpose – your best life – is in order to start living it. You don’t have to have clearly defined dreams or goals in order to create your dream life. And you sure as all get out don’t have to know HOW to get started when you do have an idea or a dream, no matter how far fetched its attainment seems.
Because the truth is that you don’t find your best life by sitting back and waiting for it to smack you over the head.
Your best life finds you when you open yourself up to it and make space for it.
But here’s ‘the catch’, or how you DON’T find and also live that best life -
You DON’T find it by waiting without taking action.
You DON’T find it by following a path defined by others and one which you KNOW deep down is not right for you.
You DON’T find it by assuming that in ‘paying your dues’ or ‘just getting on top of this, that and the other thing’ that you’ll then have the time, energy, knowledge, whatEVER in order to create a better life for yourself.
Instead, here is what you do. A simple and incredibly powerful and empowering plan for making your ‘one day’ dreams your everyday reality -
This is my 7-step system to finding and living YOUR dream life.
1. Desire – the first thing is you must desire more, even if you don’t know what that more is
2. Dream – secondly you need to define your dream or dreams. If right now you’re not sure what you want, that’s ok. But you do have to make space in your life to figure that out. Start with just 20 minutes a day, journaling or walking or meditating and opening yourself up to clarity around those desires.
3. Decision – once you know what you want (or even before!) you must then make a DECISION that you’re going to go for it, come what may.
4. Deal – at this point you will often need to deal with emotional and mental hurdles or sabotages which come up to fight you and tell you that you ‘can’t’. Coaching can be invaluable for this, as can tools like Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Kinesiology.
5. Do something – at some point of course you have to do something! Even the smallest step, but you MUST take action and you must do it sooner rather than later! Dreaming alone ain’t gonna get you far!
6. Direction – as you work toward living your best life, be sure to check in every now and again and make sure you are headed in the right direction. It’s very easy to be distracted when on path to living your best life, and to accidentally start living someone else’s dreams or following goals that you think should be imporant when in fact they’re really not (for you)!
7. Dedication – and finally, you must be dedicated to living your best life; a life of complete purpose, passion and flow, for the long haul. If you can’t honestly say that you’re in this for life you’re better of not beginning. When you get clear on your dreams and what YOUR best life would look like it should be easy to commit to pursuing those dreams for as long as it takes.
You deserve to live an incredible life gorgeous. You deserve to wake up every day feeling certain that ‘come what may’ your overall direction is one of purpose, and that you are living with passion and in flow. And you deserve to start NOW! So with that in mind, before you go, comment below -
What can you do today to figure out and also create YOUR dream life?