When I talk with people about designing and creating their dream life, I get some very interesting responses. They commonly state that they don’t know where to start. Or, they have never thought about it as a process with multiple steps. There are too many choices, too many steps, too many ideas to know where to start.
Not knowing where to start is often a result of mindset, not necessarily of overwhelm. However, overwhelm and disorganization plays a role.
Before you even know where to start, you need to release the false notion that there is a right or wrong approach to take in the creation of your dream life.
Here is the reality--you design and create every single day. We all do. Every morning that we are blessed again with having another day is another blank canvas. It is a fresh opportunity to guide and direct the outcomes of the day. You do this without consciously thinking about it and you do it in your very own way. For those of us that actually do think about it, it may just be in passing with our schedule or daily tasks.
Even when you don’t have a clear vision, intention or plan for the day, you are still creating outcomes and results. By not having a particular insight on what you are doing for the day, you are still dramatically directing and creating the outcomes of the day in the end. To really embrace the creator, architect, and designer in yourself, the place to start is right here. Become conscious of the roles and choices you have in the process of creating your future.
A Blank Canvas Is Never Really Blank
The stark white surface has texture from the fibers, impurities in the weave. It has character. The weave is either plain, twill or something entirely different. These elements of the canvas help shape what is presented and created on it as art. You too have these elements. This is where to start. What already exists in your vision and life currently?
When we have a dream or a goal, typically our first instinct is to look at the entire process as a whole and not what comes first. We are in danger of becoming overwhelmed. When someone moves into a house, they move into the energy and structure that was already there. From here you start to make the home your own. Deciding on colors and the function of each space. Moving possessions, people and needs into the home. Does the home need to be remodeled? In total or in part? Creation of your ideal life has this same flow and process.
Start With What You Know
What elements, textures, stories, rules, and values do you have woven into the fabric of you and your life?
What dreams, goals, wishes, and desires do you already have that maybe you have pushed away or have ignored?
Look at the small things and the patterns.
I have rarely enjoyed working for other people, even though I was good at it and enjoyed my co-workers immensely. A typical job was never right for me. This was a pattern for me that showed up in my life, time and time again. For my joy, sanity, and health, my truth was that I had to work for myself. Start with the truth, your truth. What patterns are showing up in your life that you are overlooking?
The Creative Process Thrives On Constraint
You can start with simple constraints that you feel are limiting you.
What is your current reality?
Maybe you feel like you can’t start to travel because you don’t have enough time or money.
Can you start to save for a small weekend trip that doesn't require extensive cost or time?
How can you start to live aspects of your dreams without needing more money or time?
What do you love about your life right now and why do you love it?
There is clearly a goldmine here in what you enjoy and we want to include these into the design. These things you will want to maintain and carry with you into your future design.
What do you dislike or loathe?
This often gives us many more ideas. By knowing what we don’t like or want, it often allows us to see more clearly what it is that we do want.
We often look at our constraints, what is limiting us and holding us back as reasons why we can’t start or need to wait instead of embracing them as reasons to become creative with our solutions and start the process where we are.
We all are creators, having a direct impact on our lives and how it forms each and every day. Starting to take ownership is the best place to start. Embrace that the creation and unfolding process of our lives happen even when we are not fully aware of it, yet we still play a part.
Imagine what can happen when we step into the active role of the architect and consciously start designing our lives. Why not make it your best life, your dream life, if you are going to be creating regardless.
I have created a new tool that really helps start this process, my Vision Clarifier. If you want to start the process of starting where you are at, the Vision Clarifier will give you a structured way to start. Subscribe to my list below to gain access. If you have used the Vision Clarifier please share with us in the comments what you discovered in the process.
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