This post was written in response to Rachel Payne’s
Creativity Tribe and the “One Sensational Life” series. Through this series you
may explore not only the typical senses but so much more. Join the fun!
This week we were to write on “Sense of direction.”
This photo was taken when my daughter was touring Smith College. She is now in the middle of her junior year there.
One of my favorite quotes from the movie The Patriot was “Stay the course.”
I can hear it as clear in my head as I can hear the famous Patrick Henry quote, “Give me liberty or give me death!” Stay the course… to liberty… to what your heart desires… to your next big thing.
I often hear from my coaching clients that their biggest challenge has often been that they don’t know precisely what that course is. The lament may sound something like this: “I am not perfectly clear on my heart desires and I can’t go into the direction of my next big thing because I have no idea what that means for me in THIS moment.”
This is where I find life to be especially exhilarating.
The key to staying the course, for going in the “right” direction, is to take action in the land of passionate detachment. You don’t have to know whether it is right or wrong, but when you make a conscious choice from a space of, “This feels so right in this moment, I am going to pick my foot up and walk towards it whether or not I can see exactly where it is taking me!”
One of my favorite rides at Disneyland is Space Mountain. Half of the fun is you can’t see where the rollercoaster is taking you, you simply get in, hold on and enjoy.
When I went on it with my daughter for the first time she said, “Can we do that again?” Yes. She meant immediately. So we did. We were having a passionately good time, but we were detached from the dips and the bends in the roller coaster rode.
This is just like I got into theater because I took an acting class not because I wanted an acting class, I wanted to take a voice class. I had been taking voice for two sessions in a row but wasn’t offered so I took acting, figuring at least I was doing something that used my voice. At that time I had a radio show as well as doing my telephone life coaching, so my most used “instrument” was my voice.
Three weeks into class I had an incredible spiritual and performance breakthrough.
I knew then I needed to be on stage, that this was exactly what I wanted to do. When people asked me, “How are you going to fit that into your schedule?” I responded, “I have no idea!” and I didn’t, but I kept landing roles, so I kept acting.
To go deeper, I stopped acting when I was eleven years old. I loved it when I was eight, nine, ten and eleven but then I had a very discouraging event that had nothing to do with my abilities and I decided to give it all up.
I was just so terrified to pursue that dream, I buried it underneath singing, mommying, publishing a book, life coaching, creativity coaching, serving on educational committees.
Right now, I am not acting. I am recuperating from melanoma surgery AND I am going to do a benefit show to end violence against women and girls. I have taken the stage to perform poetry and do storytelling.
I can’t imagine never acting again.
When I took that class nearly a decade ago, did I suspect this would happen?
Not at all! I would have denied this was my direction. I would have vehemently denied this was my direction! I couldn’t have planned it. Spiritual a-ha’s like this that are decades in the making are not predictable.
I stayed the course of following what I loved in each present moment and my life was changed for the better as a result. I stepped into the direction of my calling, even when I didn’t know exactly what that calling was at the time.
What direction are you going? Pick your foot up and put it down, moving into passion and staying gloriously detached from knowing exactly where it will take you yet loving every moment of the mysterious ride.
= = =
I have two open spots in my creative life coaching practice. If you are interested in discovering how creative life coaching might help you in stepping into your direction and staying the course, send me an email to : [email protected] or give me a call or text at 661.444.2735
Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot
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© 2013 by Julie Jordan Scott
This is also my twenty-fifth post (of 31!) for the January Ultimate Blog Challenge. Watch here for challenge posts which will include Writing Prompts, Writing Tips and General Life Tips and Essays.
Thank you for reading!
