The Key to Discovering What You’re Made of
The Great Questioning (2021) is here and discovering what’s possible is how we navigate the path to 2027. 2022 is not only the year of choice and discernment but an opportunity to plant the seeds to take personal accountability (2023), imagine what’s truly possible (2024), step into our power as creators (2025) and thrive like never before (2026 and beyond).
There is a growing seven percent of the eight billion people (pioneers and visionaries) on the planet who are making conscious choices and understanding that leadership is not outside ourselves. There are many people waking up to the reality that what we were promised as the way of life is no way we want to live; we are starting to realize we have a choice not to follow the universal manual of societal success. And, then, there are many who simply accept the path we were given and suffer through it; trying to make ends meet in every spectrum of our life.
Discovering Our Operating System Requires Deep Reflection
I met someone who showed up as a victim of circumstance. Kevin followed the rule book by going to school, getting an education and joining the corporate machine. He made it all the way to being a vice president at a well-known technology company. One day, he realized how manipulative his job forced him to be while selling what he called “air” to a customer.
Kevin was on what everyone imagined as a dream trip to Brazil but felt lost. He wondered how he got to this place where this reputed company he worked for did not stand behind its words. And yet, he was measured on the volume of his sales and customer satisfaction.
During an online meditation class, which his company-sponsored, Kevin tried to quieten his mind from all the thoughts and disappointment he was experiencing. But the quieter his mind became, the more he realized how insane his reality was. He was not sure what to do as everyone believed he was very successful, and yet, he was there suffering through life.
After much reflection, Kevin called his boss in New York and quit his job. His boss advised him to go on leave and think it over and also asked if he could close the deal in Brazil first. That put Kevin even more over the edge and he walked away.
When he returned to the US, he took a different path and started self-exploration. He met many people who were also questioning everything. Kevin felt that since he walked away from a job that sucked his life force, he was now owed by society to provide for him. But that is not how life works.
Not much shifts when we stay in a divided and polarized world of pointing fingers at who and what it is at fault. This behavior actually keeps us chained to the same beliefs that we keep fighting because fighting keeps us in the perpetual hamster wheel of conformity. We have been conditioned to give our power away by waiting for someone to save us or have our answers. And recently we experienced, once again, why self-proclaimed gurus like John of God, for example, are hazardous to our health.
Our Opportunity is to Choose Ourselves
Rejection is a gift. Sure, our feelings may be a bit hurt when a person or organization doesn’t accept us, but rejection creates space for something else that is more meaningful. It’s not about winning that award or getting that job. It’s about our own journey and making our way in the world in the best way possible, and moving away from seeking permission and safety, and trusting that someone else will take care of us.
We can harness the courage to experiment and learn how to pick ourselves. Choosing ourselves—which really means that we stop waiting for someone else to discover us, like the recruiter who has the perfect job for us or the client with the perfect project or the partner with the perfect life—can be one of the hardest things to do, for many reasons. This is especially difficult when the common story about rejection being a sign of failure is the story we continue to tell ourselves.
So much can shift when we change our mindset and move away from common definitions of success and failure. It took me over a decade to learn that for me, being safe is often risky, as it means that I have not explored my deepest dreams. Being courageous means stepping outside of our comfort zone and letting go of the fear of failure that we have been conditioned by.
I keep firing myself from situations, relationships, and stories that are unhealthy and no longer serve me, that are not aligned with my deeper yearning for creation. I am learning what it means to be true to myself, and it’s definitely not an easy road, but I have decided to choose myself by listening to my intuition and learning how to play like my seven-year-old self. And you can choose yourself, too.
Instead of ruminating on the worst thing that could happen in choosing yourself, allow yourself to wonder about what’s truly possible. What’s the healthiest thing that could happen for you? What opportunities are waiting for you to see them? When do you choose yourself and truly explore your own operating system?