Defy Gravity . . . Follow the Call of Your Wild Soul
THE FREEDOM AXIS
The 4 Forces of Flight represent a compass for soaring in life.
You can train yourself to fly by imagining yourself at the center of the compass and asking 4 simple questions each day:
“What lifts me up today?”
“What weighs me down?"
"What’s holding me back?"
"What could move me forward?"
To defy gravity, you must first be dissatisfied and desire change. Second, you have to imagine a better reality.
Now, it’s crucial to understand before we go any further that knowing HOW to get what you want is not in any way relevant to choosing WHAT you want.
Here's what I mean:
To begin, you need to envision the picture of what you desire, and to do this, you need to give yourself permission to travel in your imagination. Ask yourself:
Where would I like to go in life if it were possible?
What part of my life might I like to transform or take to the
next level?
What would I like more of or less of in my life?
What part of life would I like to
take from black and white to
full color?
As Steven Covey famously said,
"Begin with the end in mind."
Think about this: When you decide on a vacation spot, for example, you see yourself in this locale, imagining the sights, sounds, and tastes of being there. Perhaps you have no idea how you’re going to find the money to travel there, or who will take care of the kids while you’re away, but once you decide on what you want, you hold it in your mind. You're not necessarily committing to it formally yet, but you're being specific. See it or write it out—or both—with as much detail as you can; cut out pictures or create a vision board with the images to make them real. By holding that vision in your mind, by looking at photos of the location and imagining yourself there at least once a day, magic begins to happen in the universe.
For one thing, you become more resourceful with a definite goal in mind. For another, you notice synchronicities aligned with your goal that would have been invisible prior. And finally, doors open for you in ways you didn't imagine were possible, once you make a definite commitment.
More on that soon . . . but first, let's address what to do if you don’t know what you want, because for some people, that's the first obstacle of living with more freedom and joy.
Each of the three axes—Freedom, Destiny, and Power—has two opposite poles (think left and right), which can be used to create clarity. For example, the Visionary axis consists of a focus on what you do want, and the opposite pole is about what you don’t want.
Some people spend their whole lives on the left side of this axis focused on what they don’t want: complaining, envisioning worst-case scenarios, and talking about what they wish to avoid because it’s less painful than holding an ideal that seems out of reach.
For those who’ve experienced a lot of trauma, crisis, or negativity in their environments, focusing on what you don’t want is often an ingrained survival habit. Yes, it was likely a brilliant strategy at one time, but maintaining that mindset sabotages moving out of surviving and into thriving.
For instance, if you've always had unsatisfying partners, it’s easier to believe that you must settle than to imagine what else might be possible. Pain avoidance pulls everything into its dark orbit.
If you sometimes find that it’s easier to picture what you don’t want than what you do want, here’s a way out of that pattern.
Get really clear about what you DON’T want.
Use your imagination; be detailed.
Write it all down—paint a picture of the nitty gritty detail of the awful crap you hope won’t happen but are afraid is your destiny in life.
Once you’ve exhausted your imagination, take what you’ve written and read it. Then, logically write out what is 180 degrees opposite of this with the same level of detail. Forget about whether it’s possible for you or not; simply be accurate in describing the other extreme. What would it look like? What would it feel like? What would it make possible?
Now, read this new vision. You’ll see that you've just described what you do want. And remember, you don’t have to believe that it’s possible, you just have to give yourself permission to want it.
Now, here’s where the magic begins to arrive . . .
Move in the direction of your new vision by taking small steps. Trust me, you’ll move much quicker this way toward your dream than trying to go big or go home. Tiny is terrific because what happens is this: you begin to change your patterns of thinking—about what you want, about what is possible for you, about how it might be possible. You begin to act on small things that are possible for you, and that builds a growing confidence in attaning bigger and bolder results. Small steps allow you to grow into a new and bigger YOU at a pace that you can digest, because change (even good change) can be intimidating.
Believe it or not, we are all born Visionaries, and we get to choose where we focus our attention—on what we want or what we don’t want. Patterns happen because you play a part in them, but when you shift your vision, you begin to shift longstanding patterns. That’s practical magic!
Every endeavor in life from your career, to parenting, to getting out of debt, to relationships, to following your calling, to healing is a vehicle for your personal transformation.
And it all begins with the freedom to imagine a different future.
