This evening I was having a discussion with my son, who is 16 going on 57. I was brainstorming about the direction that I want my creative work to go and asked him for his thoughts on the matter. His answer to me…
The direction will show itself to you. You will not show yourself the direction.
His response may be surprising given his age, but he is an old soul, full of wise little nuggets like these. So I told him that he’s amazing and wise and he threw another beauty my way…
I don’t want to sound, like, rude, but I thought that was common sense, to be honest.
Perhaps it was common sense in his mind, but this gem is far from the kind of wisdom that is common, especially among 16-year-olds!
So I started to ponder what he said and I think he’s right. The direction will reveal itself. So often in our pursuits we try to to-do list things into submission, and that’s not always the way.
We still need to put in our work, but things will start to unfold as they unfold, and that will become the direction. This is not to say that we can’t shift gears if things aren’t going in a direction we like and can feel proud of – we do have free will after all.
But maybe life’s direction is not always that obvious. Who knows in advance what one thing is going to propel us to success? Which combination of words will tug at people’s heart strings, or which post will be compelling enough to go viral?
In fact, one could argue that it might take letting go of a plan to really get creative and see all of the options available to us.
So perhaps we should stop trying to force our lives and life’s pursuits into a specific direction and let them take on a life of their own.
We might be amazed by what we can accomplish with an open heart and an open mind.
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