What Happens When You Follow What You Want?

The motivational phrase “Follow Your Bliss” has had me rolling my eyes since grade school.

Who can afford to follow their bliss? What does that even mean?

Turns out, it’s the key to living the life of your dreams.

Let me explain.

Underneath your conditioning, what your parents want for you, what you ‘think’ you’re supposed to do, and what everyone else is doing, is a quiet voice whispering exactly what it wants.

Sometimes it sounds totally improbable.

'What do you mean, go to Italy this summer? I’m in grad school! I can’t afford that!’

And eventually, the voice recedes, but it doesn’t ever quite stop.

Did you happen to notice how, after that conversation in your mind, you started seeing Italian tchotchkes everywhere? Or that you walked past a brand new Italian restaurant? Or that you met a girl named Isabella Donna?

Synchronicities are part of a secret language that courses underneath everything all the time, speaking specifically to you.

Like that time you learned about life coaching and the next week found yourself reading this blog written by a life coach.

Or when you realized how badly you want to take a yoga class and then noticed a flyer for a free class on Mondays up the street from your house.

I choose to live in a world where the universe is conspiring to fulfill all of your wildest dreams, if only you will start saying YES to them.

And I get it! It’s not easy!

I’m sure you can come up with a million reasons for why you can’t do what you want.

In this case, please refer to this article and read about Rule #2: Arbitrary Limitations.

Then, come back here, and let’s talk about how to follow what you want to get more of what you want.

So-

How do you know when you want something? What do you feel in your body? Maybe it’s a tug around your solar plexus, or a bubbling excitement in your belly, or a tingling in your fingers. Begin to notice how your body responds when it wants something.

And please, differentiate here between when your *mind* wants something, and your body wants something. Your mind often wants what it thinks it’s supposed to want. Your body can be more honest. It can also be easier to ignore, because it speaks in sensation rather than words.

Your practice here is to learn how to listen to that sensation.

Your Week’s Play is to pause at least once a day at a choice point,

i.e.

• what to eat for breakfast

• what to do right when you get home from work

• what tv show you’d like to watch

and take a moment to drop into your body. What does it want to eat? What visuals do you see in your mind’s eye as you ask this question? Where do you feel drawn?

And then- follow it.

That’s it. That’s all you have to do.

This practice will strengthen your relationship with the part of you that is ready to guide you on the uniquely blissful journey that awaits you, if only you’ll say yes.

So try it. Try saying yes, and see what happens.