Divine Timing and Goals with Soul

As we enter into this last Full Moon of 2020 a lot of us have been taking time to reflect on what we’ve learned in 2020.  If you haven’t done so, I highly recommend it.  

I love the year-end practices of harvesting the gifts of the year almost gone and then dreaming and setting intentions for the new year to come.  I do this process several times a year because I love the energy of new beginnings.  I draw it out for months!  I start before the Solstice and usually go through to Chinese New Year!  Then I kind of do the same thing every month with the lunar cycles (new moon intention setting, full moon harvesting and releasing)  It feels aligned with the cycles of nature and I love honoring this process.  I LIVE for it!  I have honestly been obsessed with this kind of process for as long as I can remember, even in elementary school, but my methodology has changed dramatically over the years.  

I used to set hard goals and then beat myself up for not being able to follow through.  It was a vicious cycle and nothing ever worked, no matter how hard I tried.  I never lost weight, never wrote my book, never launched my latest biz idea.  It was really frustrating.  I found that even when I did achieve a goal I’d set it didn’t really result in happiness, but more a feeling of let down.

The last several years I’ve been doing it WAY differently.  In this blog I want to very briefly share the process that I go through every year around this time, but also talk about what I’ve learned about divine timing in 2020.

First the Process:

I gave up on Vision Boards a long time ago.  They never really worked for me that well. I think they don’t work because paradoxically, having the images in front of you every day of things that you want but don’t have causes you to actually feel more longing and dissatisfaction, not less!  They increase the perception of difference between where you are and where you want to be.  In order to really get what we want, we have to kind of already believe we have it.  If we want abundance we have to focus on the abundance we already have.  If we want love, focus on the love we have.  You get the picture.

The process I’ve come up with allows me a shortcut way to get into that feeling state that I already HAVE everything I want, so that what I really want just flows right to me (at least when I can get into that mental state).  It comes from my unconscious mind and therefore communicates directly with my unconscious mind.  It completely subverts my intellect and conscious thought. Let me explain.

Step 1: First I set aside time to daydream and get really specific about what I really want my life to look like.  I imagine my perfect day and then where I want to be in 6 months and then in 5 years.  Then I imagine that all of those things have already become a part of my experience and I imagine HOW I would feel if I “had it all!”  I feel the joy, the accomplishment, the courage, the financial security, the contribution, the connection, the fun...ALL of it!  

Step 2: And then, instead of cutting out pictures from a magazine, I make this wacky art piece.  I wouldn’t call it a drawing really.  It’s more like an intuitive rendering of my feeling state that I will have when all my dreams come true this year!  I get out some oil pastels and let my hand pick a color and draw some lines or shadings and then do it with another color until it feels done.  Sometimes I notice a particular shape or word emerging that communicates something to me.  It’s usually not the prettiest thing on the planet, but the process is very fulfilling!  

Step 3: I hang this art somewhere in my room so I can see it when I wake up and often throughout the day.  When I see it I say “Thanks Universe!” And go about my business.

It’s a really fun process, but the coolest thing is that I also learn a lot from doing the actual intuitive drawing.  

The biggest example of this was last year.  I was fired up about all these business goals I had that I was going to do:  launching this, speaking at that, writing this etc. Plus, I envisioned all these fun trips like going to Mexico to see the Grateful Dead, wine tasting in Guadalupe, thru hiking on Catalina...all the things.  

As I was drawing all these exciting, joy-filled feelings, a word came through the drawing that made me do a double take.  That word was “Sattvic.”  Now for those of you who don’t speak Sanskrit (wink, wink) the word Sattvic basically means simple, quiet, mindful, natural.  It’s like a meditation retreat where you only eat vegetarian foods and spend your time in mindfulness practices.  It is the exact polar opposite of going to Mexico for a 5 day Dead Show!! 

Needless to say, I was very confused by this at the time.  To me I had already spent years embodying the Sattvic side of life.  I’ve been kind of on retreat for years going inward and inward, and still further inward, focused on being present and not going out and achieving a bunch of goals etc.  And this word came into my drawing and I was like “That can’t be right!  I’m coming OUT Of my Sattvic phase!). But now you know what was coming...right?  

When I did that drawing and Sattvic emerged, I had no idea a pandemic was about to hit to change the course of humanity.  I had no idea that the world would shut down and that we would all be focused on what is really most important and vital in our lives. Ultimately, the pandemic brought us ALL into a Sattvic time, right??

I did get to go enjoy the marathon 5 Day Grateful Dead show extravaganza in Mexico last January, I even spoke at a big event days before the pandemic hit (Thanks, Fusion Academy) and 2 weeks before the pandemic, I did a 4 Day backpacking trip on Catalina where I was attacked by a Bison and confronted my own death (all kind of the opposite of Sattvic).

But then the pandemic hit and I had an entire 6 months of the most Sattvic time of my entire life.  I got down to basics. I spent time in retreat.  I started gardening and learned to grow my own food (perhaps the most Sattvic activity you can do is to grow and eat your own food) I raised chickens (who STILL haven’t laid a frickin egg!) and I didn’t even think about my business goals at all for 6 months!  

I still saw the clients that wanted to do on-line sessions, but I did no marketing or outreach whatsoever.  My income tanked. This caused a lot of internal confusion for me for sure, but I just kept trusting where I was at the moment. I became obsessed with gardening, so I gardened....even though it made NO sense from a business perspective.

Fast forward to today...the last full moon of 2020.  Believe it or not, most of my goals and intentions I had set last year (even the business ones, even though my income tanked for a while!) came to fruition!  Although I literally took 6 months off of trying to “make my goals happen.”  My intentions happened all on their own timeline and I am even more thankful and grateful for what I have received this year than perhaps any of those other years where I stressed out about “getting things done” or “making things happen.”

It’s kind of miraculous when I think about it.  Our society always tells us that if we want something we have to “work hard” and “put it on the calendar” and “make it happen.”  I’m here as evidence that this is simply not true.  In fact, I hardly ever plan a a day in my life, certainly not hour by hour.  I let inspiration move me in whatever way it wants to come.  On my calendar I only have appointments that are with other people.  I rarely even write down a to do list.  And guess what? My house is not a complete disaster, my kids and my animals all get fed, my laundry is mostly done, my finances are mostly in order and I haven’t been late for an appointment in years!  My life is way more fulfilling and satisfying than it used to be when I tried to plan and failed constantly. AND honestly, the craziest thing is, I get WAY more done!!  

I plan by the lunar cycle and things just get done almost of their own accord.  I love living this way.  It feels less stressful, less overwhelming and more soothing to my soul.  

I’m not saying it will work for you.  I’m just saying that the common thinking  about success that pervades our culture, just isn’t always true...at least not for everyone.

It’s also very likely that my definition of success is different than society, but so should yours be!!  We all need to dive deep and decide what our own personal definition of success is and live by that.  Not some outside definition based on what we see other people doing. Where are your goals really coming from?  Are they what your soul really wants or your ego?  Ego goals never lead to lasting fulfillment. Soul goals do. Ego goals come from outside expectations.  Soul goals come from within and they often rub up against societal definitions of success.  In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if your goal doesn’t in some way conflict with the outside world or what you thing other people thing,  it’s probably not a true soul goal.   I’m not saying it can’t be, but if your goal is something that everyone else in your life would totally approve of, I’d be curious to dive deeper to see if it’s really a soul goal or is it actually an ego goal posing?

Moral of the story:  Trust YOUR process.  Trust YOUR way of doing things. Your timing is just perfect. You are EXACTLY where you need to be RIGHT now.

For this final Full Moon of 2020 I encourage you to release all the ways you criticize and torture yourself about how you’re not getting enough done and release all ways of planning and doing things that really aren’t working for you anymore anyway. 

Need more help with this?  You know where to find me!

Blessings for a fulfilling and soul-aligned New Year!

Nancy