Everyone gets an “I’ve had it” moment and proclaims a different path and suddenly chooses a new road, one less traveled by them. Maybe it’s a terrible boss, habit or a relationship that you want to shift. Whatever it is, this part of you has finally suffered enough and is now willing to do something about it. You are choosing to transform whatever the current situation is, into a new more powerful one.
This is actually an important moment that most people don’t stop to look at. They just transform it without acknowledging where that strength to change came from. The “willingness” to transform is the road less traveled. More often than not, people want to avoid true transformation. They stay in their status quo and choose to remain in their circumstance or pain because it’s familiar. The truth is, when you make a proclamation it doesn’t actually come from your mind.
Your mind likes to think, and the mind isn’t “willing!” Its job is to think… this is an important key to success because oftentimes we hear that you have to “decide.” It’s true, to change anything you do have to make a strong and powerful decision, but that decision doesn’t come from your mind or your heart. When true change happens, it happens in your soul. The decision process, where you proclaim that you are going to do something new or be somebody better, comes from your soul, not from your mind.
When you’ve had an “I’ve had it” moment or an “I’m not taking this anymore” proclamation, it’s not your mind that’s had it. It’s your soul that’s had it. It’s your soul that doesn’t want to take it anymore. When we make these kinds of decisions we have a lot of determination and drive, usually triggered by a defensive reaction occurring in the moment. We get a feeling of frustration and say, “I can’t take this anymore.” Suddenly, we are ready to stick up for ourselves, evaluate new options, or simply walk out on the situation.
Steven Covey said, “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” Meaning, if we want a better life, we simply need to make better decisions. However, let’s ask ourselves where the best decisions come from. When we truly “DECIDE,” it comes from more than one place.
Meaning, the levels of decisions can be placed into three categories:
Worldly logical decisions: These are decisions that can be forced upon you. Circumstances happen that are out of your control and you must make a logical-based decision. Logical decisions are based on thinking about location, offers, season, current life situations, price etc… things like, “Can I afford to buy that new car or dress?” Logical decisions can be answered and actioned by your logical, thinking mind. Worldly decisions can often help us define personal decisions.
Personal decisions: Are a lot of your taste and pleasure decisions. What music, TV or Netflix shows do you like? These are the everyday decisions that we make for ourselves. These are the, “Do I want this or that?” “What should I wear?” conversations. “Do I like these or those?” “Where do I want to have lunch?” “What should I have?”
Personal decisions can go in a myriad of different personal tastes and pleasures. These are the decisions that we make every day, all the time, usually from our mind, and in the moment desires or feelings. They don’t require a deep level of decision making. They’re just simple, every day, in the moment choices. These simple, personal decisions shape and transform our lives over time without us noticing it. They determine our health, wealth, and relationships in our lives.
Unfortunately, personal decisions are where we love to place blame or make excuses. We can often ignore our little personal decision and can sabotage our efforts by pretending that we cannot help our circumstance or decision process. However, when we take responsibility of our personal decisions, we open the path to transformational and soulful decisions. Which create success for us.
Transformational soulful decisions: Come from the deepest place within us. They’re the questions we ask such as “Why am I here?” “What is my passion and purpose?” They are intuitive decisions that you don’t think of, but you reflect inwardly and your soul informs you. You may call it a “gut check” because there is no thinking mind involved, it is the intuitive mind, which is in the soul. It says things to you like, “Get away from this situation!” or “Go for it!” This is the part of you that is connected to the divine and has direct knowing. It’s the inner part of you that quietly tracks your life and offers suggestions from direct knowing, and measures what’s happening by how it adds or detracts from your quality of life. It’s like an inner GPS tracking system guiding you.
It’s that part of you that “just knows” that it’s time to move on from where you currently are. It’s the part of you that knows it’s time for something to be different. Maybe it’s that inner knowing of having outgrown something and simply needing more.
What’s important to know about this is that if you’re going to make a proclamation and travel down a road you’ve never been down before, take some time to evaluate your decision process and ask yourself where this decision is coming from. What aspect of you is asking?
A soulful decision requires soulful answers and you will benefit most by seeking some time alone with your inner self and listening inward to that quiet place inside you. Allow it to talk to your mind, instead of your mind trying to talk to it.
What if you listened inward and found out what it had to say? This is “The Road Less Traveled.” We love to listen to our mind and its constant chattering, more than we want to listen to that quiet inner part of ourselves. Yet, the power of intention, the power of inner knowing, all come from this place. This is the place where “Willingness” lives and it has the core determination and drive needed to transform any aspect of your life. This is the power of proclamation and the road less traveled.