The Process of Noticing

Know that whatever you're about to do at work today isn't your true calling, but not sure where to start to figure out what is?

Have you found yourself thinking at least one of these thoughts at some point in the last month?

You feel like your current job is fine but not what you were put on earth to do. 

You make a good salary  and have great benefits but it makes you feel slightly dead inside.

You know with complete certainty that it's not what you really truly want to do, but you're scared you won't find anything better (read: as much money, as good of benefits, as many vacation days).

You really, really want to quit - but that doesn't seem like the responsible thing to do. Plus, what will people think?

You're not alone. 

One of the most common challenges I hear from friends and clients is that they know that their current job is not their true calling - but they don't know where to start to figure out what is.

If you can relate, here are some tips for getting started.

1. Start to Notice when You Feel Alive.
At home, at work, out running errands, at yoga class - wherever it might be, start to pay attention to when you feel completely alive. Get familiar with what it feels like. Get out a journal and write it down. Take note of what you're doing, where you are, who is around you, what you see. Be explicit. Capture the feeling of aliveness and what it's like.

2. Also Start to Notice when You Don't, Without Judging.
Often when we start to feel like crap, we ignore it/tune it out/shut off a part of ourselves, because it's easier than being with and dealing with the crappiness. The big problem with doing this? It becomes harder and harder to turn those parts of ourselves back on.

The thing is, the crappy feelings are the emotional version of that really honest friend we each have - the one who tells us when we're doing something dumb, or that she's worried about us.

Start to take note of when these feelings arise and once again what you're doing, where you are, who is around you, and what they feel like. Allow yourself to be with them and really feel and experience them.

3. Do This For a Month.
Yes - every single day, for a month. Grab a little notebook, or use your calendar, or even just the notepad in your phone. 

Practice noticing and truly being with your feelings for one whole month.

Why? First, to get in touch with experiencing them - both the good ones and the incredibly crappy ones. To fully feel them and listen to what they might be telling us before we reach for our third glass of wine on Friday evening after a particularly dreadful week.

And second, to begin to look at the emotional pattern of our everyday lives to see what themes might emerge. 

The first step in 'finding our passion' or 'finding our true calling' is getting in touch with what real aliveness feels like. We can't begin to create something if we don't know the feeling we're after, or the root of what we are looking for.

Starting to feel our feelings and experience our everyday levels of aliveness is the first step.

I'd love to hear from you how this process goes.

To Noticing,
Sarah