[Below is a slightly revised version of a post I wrote in the spring on a former site. This topic has come up in several personal conversations lately, and I decided to re-visit this post – for myself, and also in case it resonates with you too…]
Many months ago (almost a year now) on a late autumn Sunday afternoon, I got very quiet – inside and out – and asked myself about my life and how I wanted it to look.
I’d done exercises before, prompts from books or workshops, asking what I would do if I didn’t have to think about money.
But that Sunday I asked myself a slightly different version of the question.
If we somehow had sooooooo much money that I didn’t need to take money into consideration… how would I spend the hours of my days?
What would a typical day look like for me?
How would I spend my time on a “normal” day?
How would I spend the hours of my days?
Phrasing the question like this turned out to be more illuminating for me than other prompts of this kind I’ve done before.
My answers weren’t all unexpected – but there were some surprising pieces.
I immediately started making some changes in my life, things to bring me closer to the vision (and the feeling) I discovered that day.
When I make decisions now, when I try to figure out the next steps to take, I go back to that day and remember.
And I also look (and feel) for changes in how I respond. Because what we wanted a year ago might be different in some – or many – ways from what we realize we want now.
Knowing how I would want to spend my hours during a typical day, without needing to take money into consideration, helps me stay connected to my core desires and what I truly want to do.
The key thing was being honest with myself. Really plugging into that imaginary-alternate-reality space of my question… and then getting very honest with myself about what I really truly would want to do, how I really truly would want to spend my hours.
Not what others tell me to want.
Not what I think I “should” want.
Not what I hear or read other people saying what they want.
(I’ve been consciously trying hard to get away from subtle forms of peer pressure, or group-think, or going-along-with-the-crowd (even the crowd that believes it’s not “the crowd” but in reality – yeah, still “the crowd”) … and, instead, getting clear and honest about what is true for me.)
What I want. For my life. The hours of my days.
What would those hours of my days look like? And do the decisions I make – and the ways I spend my time – resonate with that? And if not, what can I do to be more in alignment?
So…
If you get very quiet inside and connect to the question and connect to your inner self.. how would you spend the hours of your days?
Knowing the honest answer to that question can be an amazing thing.
Ginger Simpson White 