After a week of hosting my friends from Ghana, I realize it is time to expand my dreams. Something more wants to happen and again I recognize I’ve been living too small. Let me share how this awareness has come, so you’ll recognize the signs for yourself.
My dream of seeing the world, not as a tourist, but through the eyes of those that live there has propelled my husband and I into new territory. It’s the basis for our non-profit bringing people from other countries to our home and community to share their cultural art and music traditions. Yet for all the joy this brings, now I see that a higher order need is calling us to do more.
As a Life Coach and Therapist, I like to pay attention to how this works. How do you recognize what wants to happen in your life and how does it lead you to expand your dreams?
FOLLOW THE CONTAGION OF PASSION
Have you noticed that when you’re passionate about something it becomes contagious? I love this – my excitement about my coaching workshops and seeing people grow prompts participants to engage and grow even more. It’s how I know I’m on the right track, meeting people’s needs.
Having our Ghanaian friends and their Afrikania drumming and dance troupe with us for a week of performances and workshops gave me further information. The more pumped they were, the more the audiences responded, making the passion grow exponentially. Their excitement and comments about what we are doing spoke of a bigger world-wide vision we hadn’t fully seen.
Pay attention to the energetic exchange – where is the excitement and what does it say to you?
ITS ALWAYS ABOUT GROWTH
Our friends were easily able to see the next level of change and growth we need to make to expand our work into the world. It was so obvious and simple, another reminder that we tend to shine our light in one small place rather than seeing the bigger picture.
Our world is constantly expanding, how are you keeping up? If you are resting on your laurels or not pushing yourself, your vitality will fade. Another way to understand this is to recognize nature abhors a vacuum and will always fill it. If you garden than you know the the spaces you just cleared will soon be growing weeds, chocking out what you planted. You have to tend your garden for it to grow in positive directions.
Notice what is wanting to grow in you and in your work.
NOTICE HOW OTHERS RESPOND
Because of the joy and passion over Afrikaans’s performances, we received many interesting responses. People want to be a part of something exciting and growth oriented. Business owners want to support and sponsor what we are doing. Entrepreneurs want to collaborate and partner. Other creative types see how they can help us expand.
What is the energetic message in the response around you? Having been stuck myself not that many years ago, I can tell you, pay attention to the direction of change and notice what is being said. Don’t keep yourself in a place that is energetically dying, as you will start to die too.
Pay attention to the energy around you, are you seeing growth or getting choked out?
HONOR YOURSELF – STAY GROUNDED
No matter how excited we are by the positive response and visions of expansion, in the end, it’s our life and our work to carry forward. We have to remind ourselves to stay true to ourselves, our individual and collective sense of mission.
People will project themselves into things they see appealing, No matter how flattering an offer may be, you have to internalize it and ask if it is correct for you at the deepest level. If it prompts a rise in excitement and an intuitive yes response, you are on the right track.
Nurturing your expansion is best when it starts internally and grows outward.
A week with our friends from Ghana gave us important perspectives and a vision of expansion for our dreams we hadn’t fully seen. We realized that we have been thinking too small. By following the contagion of passion we noticed what they loved. By understanding that people want to be associated with something that is growing, we heard how we could too. By listening to their responses we realized that there is support for our work. Yet finally, we have to stay true to ourselves and be grounded by our own vision and mission. These are some of the features that can inform your expansion.
Are you sensing its time to consider expansion in your life? This is exciting and important work. If you’d like support to explore the details, my Transformational Life Coaching and Therapy is designed to assist you on your journey. See my website www.spectrumtransformation.com and reach out to me using my free consultation link. I’d love to help you get started in the right direction.
Photo by Shaan Azeem
