Have you ever had one of those days when everything just seems to fall into place without effort? Like when you drive around looking for a car park on a busy street, and just as you arrive at your destination someone pulls out of the perfect spot. Or, when you arrive at a busy restaurant or bar and just as you look for a place for you and your posse to plonk yourselves down, a group gets up and leaves you with the perfect table. Things line up and fall into place with simplicity. Those roadblocks open up seamlessly to reveal moments of serendipitous ease. It feels like magic.
I had one of those days today. Actually, it’s more likely been a case of one of those weeks. Yes, the car parks have miraculously appeared out of nowhere, and bar tables have been made available as if by a stroke of luck, but those moments of ease and opportunity have been springing up in a whole host of other ways, too.
I caught up with a couple of gorgeous people this week. Friends I’ve known for ages, or friends I’ve just recently reconnected with after crossing paths in what feels like another life. This past weekend I caught up with one friend in particular, who also happens to be a reiki practitioner, a yoga instructor, a traveller, a photographer and an all-round wonderful woman, and while we chin-wagged over chai tea and breakfast, a few things she said really made me feel like a LED, energy saving, environmentally-friendly light bulb went off in my head.
The breakfast from Vue Lounge over which inspiring conversations were had.
We got chatting about how we both think the year has treated us: what difficult goals we’d accomplished, what it means to spend your time and effort working on things you love and what we’re hoping to seen happen in 2015. I got all nostalgic think over 2014. So much has happened this past year, I’m working on my first blogging workshop, I’ve been writing like a mad recluse on a variety of different projects, I’m planning a return to Colombia and a tour to boot; it’s definitely been a busy 12 months over at my place. But after we chatted about doing some projects together in the new year, I felt there has been something I haven’t thought enough about in my work and in my life, something that hasn’t been given my undivided attention. So I’ve decided to shift my focus.
What was my focus on before?
I’ve got to be honest here. Too much of the time my focus is on what I get out of my pursuits. Will I get more readers on my blog? Will I get more working opportunities? Will I feel a sense of satisfaction that I’m doing what I love and making a living while I’m at it? Will I get praise? Will I get the warm and fuzzies when someone tells me I did a good job? Will I get a pat on the back? Whatever the case may be, I spend far too much time thinking about me. What do I get out of all this stuff I’m doing?
I, I, I.
Me, me, me.
It’s positively ghastly!
So, where does the shift come in?
After chatting with my friend I realised it’s time to shift my focus from: What can I get? To: What can I give? Instead of focusing on me, me, met – what I want, what I need, what I get – I’m shifting my focus to what I have to offer others. What do I have to give? What do others need from me? I guess it’s more of a case of doing things for others rather than for the pursuit of my own progression or praise. And, hell, it feels pretty good to say type that out loud.
Where to from here?
I guess a good place to start is to realise what one has to give. Am I right? I’ve been having a bit of a think and I guess a good starting point would be through sharing knowledge and ideas, creating simply to inspire others to create and to do work that speaks to me, really speaks to me, from the pit of my stomach to the tips of my toes. Let’s stop chasing the pay cheques and praises. Let’s stop waiting for the big breaks and blockbuster moments, and begin giving more than we ever expect to receive, giving more than we even knew we were capable of giving. Who’s with me?
