Love Letter #36: Winding Road of Decision
The power of decision often takes us on a winding road.
Ain’t that the truth!
This was in my inspirational reading this morning.
Whether it’s deciding to pursue a new career, start a business, or embark on a new adventure, the journey is seldom smooth. When things don’t go as we planned, it’s easy to give up, turn back, and think we made the “wrong” decision.
Are you with me on this?
Imagine for a moment, you’ve decided to write a book. Cool. You have a brilliant idea, and you plan a regular writing time. You sit to write and you find yourself staring at a blank page. All those ideas seem to have evaporated into thin air. Or you’ve written brilliantly for three days and on day four, nothing. Or someone you care about wants you to do something for them at the exact time you planned to write…and you’re conflicted about what to do. You’re tempted to call the whole thing off. You’re doubting your ability. Questioning your ideas.Or struggling to set boundaries and stay focused on the goal.
We’ve all been there…
In her book, The Last Word on Power, Tracy Goss writes about the Universal Human Paradigm, or the UHP. Here’s how I understand it.
We all have our beliefs, perspectives, and ideas about life. The way life “should” be and the way life “shouldn’t” be. It’s human nature to want life to be comfortable and predictable. Think about all the times you’ve said, “That shouldn’t have happened that way”, or “This should be different, or better, or fill in the blank.”
Lots of times, right? Yeah. Me too.
The UHP goes like this…
When life turns out the way we think it should, everything is good.
When life turns out the way we think it shouldn’t, we have a natural tendency to make the situation, another person, ourselves, or the world wrong.
But, life doesn’t happen the way it should or shouldn’t.
It happens the way it does. Period.
So when staring at the blank page, or someone has asked for your precious writing time, nothing is wrong – this is simply life unfolding as it does.
You get to choose to see these as twists or turns in a road towards your dream – instead of reasons to give up on yourself.
The UHP is life changing. First, because it allows me to let myself and everyone else off the hook for things going “off script” to what I planned. Secondly, when I let go of the idea that something is wrong, I open myself to new, different, even greater possibilities than could originally imagine.
I also truly believe that when we make a decision that is aligned with who we are, Life rises up to meet and support us. That doesn’t mean everything will go smoothly. In fact, it’s in the twists and turns that we grow, expand, and become the version of ourselves we envision.
The winding road is why we’re here. To experience life. To experiment with shifting our perceptions. To expand our capacity for trust, compassion, and love – and those things have to start with ourselves.
Today, I invite you to stop doubting yourself. Make the decision and trust that you know the way. Embrace the winding road with all its ups and downs and let life support you. You’ll be surprised at what you can achieve as you keep moving forward.
With love,
Before you give up on your dreams…give me a call.