What if this year you went on a hot air balloon ride and saw the sunrise from above the clouds? What if you learned Spanish fluently enough to have real conversations with your great grandmother? What if in 2024 you pushed your fitness to the next level and ran a half marathon? What if you consciously unplugged from devices and took leave from work for one month to reconnect with nature?
As healers, it’s easy to get caught up in addressing others’ endless needs without checking if our own priorities align with how we spend our energy. Do you ever feel like life is just happening to you instead of you being in the driver’s seat? What if this year, you decided to take back the reins and really live your one precious life?
Time Travel Exercise
I like to do the following exercise when I teach because it inspires people to take a more active role in shaping their destiny. I call it the Time Travel Exercise because, similar to how we travel into the past through our memories, I believe we can travel into the future through what we envision. Try it now.
- What do you want to get done by the end of the day today? What’s the most important thing for tomorrow?
- What do you want to get done by the weekend?
- What do you want to get done by the end of the month?
- What do you want to get done by the end of this year?
- Now, write down the age you will be five years from now. Then write down the age of the most important people in your life—friends, partner, children, parents. Take their current ages and add five.
- Now, answer the following questions:
- Who do you want to be five years from now?
- Where do you want to be living?
- What do you want your career or income to look like?
- What do you want your primary relationship to be like?
- What do you want your other relationships to be like?
- What do you want the central elements of your life to be by that time?
- Repeat this visualization for ten and twenty years from now, if you wish.
Take Charge of Your Path
How was that exercise for you? Can you see how important it is to develop a vision for your future? Not having a plan for your life is like trying to drive from Miami to Chicago without a map. You’ll never get there. Instead, maybe you’ll end up in Kalamazoo. When you do, you might think, “Oh, this is great. I wasn’t expecting to be in Kalamazoo.” But at the end of your life, you might look back with regret.
Life is a long time. But it can go by quickly when you’re not paying attention, or when you avoid taking an active role in shaping it. Before you know it, you will be a decade older. And if you don’t create a plan for yourself, the world will create one for you.
If your plan is foggy right now, that’s okay. I hope the time exercise at least inspires you to reflect more on what’s truly important to you so you can course correct as needed in the coming months.
When you are clear, share your vision with supportive people who can help hold you accountable. We manifest our dreams faster through community. When we verbalize our goals, it helps solidify them.
Don’t settle for less than you deserve or make unconscious decisions on autopilot. I am going to release my new book in 2024. What are you going to do this year? Let me know your thoughts on Facebook and Instagram!