It’s a simple question…what’s important to you? This week, I’ve been exploring asking that question from three different perspectives. The first is what’s important to you in the big, overarching theme of your life? What provides the oomph to move you forward and continues to keep you pointed toward your personal North Star? For many people, it’s family, career, purpose, creativity, freedom, optimal health, and feeling secure in life. For me, one of my guiding lights is peacefulness. Does this decision lead me toward or away from finding ease and peacefulness in my life?
The second perspective is, what’s important to me in the immediate future, such as in the next couple of weeks? As I contemplate this aspect of the question, I can’t help but be drawn to my to-do list, particularly as I’ll be undertaking a large amount of travel in the very near future. I’m leaving in a week to run a yoga retreat in Iceland and, in late July, heading Down Under for a good whack of time. So as you might imagine, I have a list of reminders of what would make my life more peaceful if I were to have them off the list by the time I leave.
And the third aspect is perhaps one that gets a bit less attention than the first two and that’s, what is important to me now…in this very moment? If I think about the first question of the big picture, I sense the entirety of who I am…my body, my mind, emotions, and my spiritual essence. As I think about the second question of the near future connected to what needs to be crossed off the to-do list, I sense it’s more of an intellectual practice, centered in my mind. When I ask the question of “What’s important right now?” I drop into the space of my heart and allow intuition to be the guide. It’s as though the to-do list doesn’t even exist in this moment.
As you reflect on those three questions, notice if they seem to be in alignment with one another and if not, where does the shift need to occur?
My suggestion for practice this week is to spend a bit more energy focusing on what’s important right now. Allow yourself to make firm footing in the present moment as all future moments arise from this space. And if we can tap into the deeper inner calling and move forward from that perspective, perhaps no matter what eventuates in the future, it will have an underlying essence of what truly matters to us.
If we connect to what’s important right now, we set the stage for what lies ahead. Trust your inner space and choose from that knowing. Perhaps you’ll set yourself up for a more gentle ride no matter how near or far in the future!
