Learn to trust your own voice.
Many years ago, I had just started my business and was working hard to get it off the ground, I found myself at a dead end.
I had discovered what I loved doing and the money wasn’t following. As a matter of fact, the harder I tried, the more it went away.
I had lost my job, I was broke, and I had two kids to feed. I told myself that losing my job was probably a blessing, as now I could dedicate myself to my passion 100 percent. I was making countless cold calls every day to little or no avail and was growing more desperate.
What was the missing ingredient?
Back then I didn’t have the answer. One day I simply gave up trying and began doing nothing. Or better, I only did what I really wanted to do. My logic was this: “If I didn’t get any results working hard all day, why not at least have a good time failing?”
What followed was astonishing.
First, I slept; I slept a lot. As long as I was tired, I wouldn’t get up. I was determined to only do what was effortless. If getting up was hard, I wasn’t getting up. Next, I watched movies. I really got into it. While other people went to work, I was watching the movies I had wanted to see for years. After that, I spent a lot of time in coffee houses, enjoying myself and watching people.
I followed the flow and did what I wanted, but it wasn’t easy. It was scary and it felt wrong. There was this constant voice in my head saying, “wrong, wrong, wrong. That’s not how it works.” And then there was this other part of me that I hadn’t known before, and it wouldn’t give in, and was determined to live life differently.
After a few days or maybe weeks, several things happened. I realized that the world was not caving in on me and I relaxed. It was an amazing experience. All the fear went away, the fear of not having control, the fear of being controlled, the fear of failing, of not failing, of having money, of not having money, and all of a sudden, it seemed that the whole world was available for me to play in.
I got curious.
How did I want to live my life? What did I really want to do and how?
I knew I loved working with people, but did I really want to make countless cold calls every day? Did I want to push hard and build a big business or was it something more simple and gentle?
At that point everything was possible. I did not know it at the time, but during those days, I learned to trust myself. I found my own timing, my rhythm, and started to follow the flow.
I became the conductor of my own music.
In the beginning, it felt uncomfortable letting go of old habits and beliefs, but over time, it became easier. I realized which activities gave me energy and which ones didn’t. Perception and awareness helped me to follow my heart rather than my head. I started making sound decisions, the ones that worked for me. Life became effortless and light. Instead of making 100 calls to get two appointments, I made 20 calls and got ten. Money started to come in with more ease than ever before. I surrendered to my life and found my bliss.
I want you to do the same. Listen to life, tune into the universe, contemplate, surrender, and let it be. Get a sense of the tiny piece you are in the big scope of things and how your life wants to magically flow and fall into place. Stop pushing and start receiving. When you do get rushed, be aware of it and let it go; take a deep breath and get back to your rhythm.
Do this and you might discover, that being your true self is effortless.
As always, thank you for reading.
Karin
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Did you ever follow your own voice? What was the outcome? Please share your insight in the comments below. You can also write to me, I’d love to hear from you.
This article is an excerpt from the book “ALIVE: A Practical Guide to Get Out of Your Head and into Your Heart.” To read more, download the first chapter here. It’s FREE!
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