There’s this interesting moment that occurs when a coaching client has just articulated a vision for some part of their lives.
Maybe they’ve just identified what they want for their next chapter. Maybe they’ve finally said it: they want to head in a brand new career direction. Maybe they’ve just had the recognition that yes, they really do want to leave the job they are in. Or they’ve discovered that they want to live at a different pace or in a different environment. Or they’ve glimpsed a vision of a very different inner way they could live their lives — more confidently, perhaps, or with more joy. Whatever it is, they’ve uncovered a kind of treasure — a clarity, a compelling picture of a possible future.
As they’ve come upon their true desires, their speech softens and slows. The frantic, chattering thoughts, the long explanations about the current problems with this and that — all of that is gone, replaced by a calm voice that simply knows what it knows. Insight and vision flow easily from this voice. A kind of peace and magic hangs softly in the room as they speak.
The wisest thing we can do in that moment is–nothing. The wisest thing we can do is say: “Wow. Hello.” And welcome this sacred guest.
The wisest thing they can do is simply walk out of the coaching session, in a delighted daze, smiling quietly at the new vision that has arrived. To let it marinate, and unfold, and simply exist.
Conventional planning says: Step 1: Articulate Vision. Step 2: Develop a Plan to Implement the Vision. But the least wise thing we can do when a new vision is emerging is try to figure out how to make the vision happen. The worst thing we can do is to follow that voice within us that demands to see the linear steps and plan. The worst thing we can do is take on that voice’s skepticism and put the vision on trial, cross-examining it with the fundamental question of all dream trials: “Are you realistic? Are you possible? Are you likely to be?”
There is a voice in us that compels us to do that, a voice that, in the presence of a new dream, leaps anxiously like a grasshopper, popping with thoughts like these: “Is this feasible? How will it happen? How will I make it happen? Show me the PLAN!”
What you need to know is this: that voice is not the one you want to pay attention to. That voice is very afraid. Afraid of leaving the status quo. Afraid of failure. Afraid of the unknown. Afraid of you actually opening to the mystery and leaning into the dream. Afraid of giving up of tight-fisted control.
The voice that is compelled to see the plan at the outset is a saboteur. Follow it, and it will stop you from ever stepping on the road to your dreams.
The next steps, after a vision emerges is not to make plan. Not to figure out how.
The next steps are to greet your vision warmly. To welcome it into your heart. To simply let it live in you as you walk about your life for several days. To make friends with it. To let it know you’ll be on it’s side. To see what it wants to say. To see what life brings you. To marinate in it, walk with it, listen to it, receive it, welcome it, sit still with it.
Those are the next steps.
Love, Tara
This is so beautiful, Tara, and just what I needed to read today. I keep having these moments of panic (ever since I quit my job) that I don’t have enough of a plan worked out. It’s so good to be reminded that the dream needs to emerge in its own time.
Tara, Thank you for giving permission, when after an epiphany hits, to take it slow and NOT plan the next step so quickly, but instead to let the whole dream evolve.
What a lovely post, and very timely for me. Thank you!
I was running thru my work list, returned to the computer and decided to read your blog in my email. Thank you, I calmed down already. I am going to receive it and walk around with it for awhile. Wonderful advice.
I think that’s the hardest part of starting anything new: overcoming the fear of failure. I love how you’ve illustrated how our fears show up as “practical advice”, either from ourselves or others. I also love how you overcome it: by allowing a little space to welcome the new dream. Magic is done in that little space of calmness. Let go of the “how” and allow the Universe to work it’s magic. Life is beautiful when you allow it to be 🙂
Hi Tara,
We all dream..thank you for sharing the ‘next steps’ to realize those dreams.
One of my friends whom I dub the “manifesting queen” has taught me not to question how, but to envision the wow and incorporate that feeling into my movements..When I get caught up in how, an idea seems impossible; but when I open my heart *everything* truly is possible!
I’ve also learned to let my dream/vision sit and not share those first precious few moments with others. Let the beauty, wonder, awe be solely mine to savor for a bit…
Thank you for this, I completely agree. I’ve found my dreams find ways of happening in their own time, and i have had to grapple with my own impatience! Sometimes dreams have their own life cycle and we have to be open to let them do their thing, rather than force them. I’m still learning to step off the gas and let dreams unfold without worrying. Thanks for reminding me to not compulsively try and ‘manage’ my dreams, rather listen out for their wants x
Truly good – and so unconventional with respect to what we usually read by coaches. I guess each different case has its own best approach.
Thank you so much for giving this wisdom to all those who want to find it.
thanks so much for this master piece, it is so enlightening
Thank you ! I was always making plans after my vision and so tried to manage it by myself. But now i have anew vision and i will just take it in my heart and see what life brings me and i will write it to you.
Hello my loved one! I wish to say that this post is awesome, nice written and come with almost all important infos.
I would like to peer extra posts like this .
Tara, your work is amazing!
You are so right Tara. If we bombard ourselves with statements fear-driven, we won’t get anywhere. But if we, on the contrary, focus on receiving our vision with love, everything flows. Love your wisdom in my life! Sincerely, Laura
Thanks, Tara.