By now you know how important it is to have a purpose. It’s much easier to focus on where you are going and why you are doing something when you do, and to overcome the inevitable obstacles that you encounter along the way. They will always be there. The universe has a remarkable way of making you dig deeper.

There is another component to getting there. Quite often whatever you are doing becomes much more difficult than you originally thought. If you keep where you are going in mind, the inevitable detour in the way, in the form of a “No,” won’t derail you.

You’re closer to where you are going even if your progress seems insignificant. Small steps are powerful——much greater than what is obvious. We discover that these small actions collectively have a positive impact on our life. Appreciate these steps for they are the building blocks of the future.

Of course to keep going, we must have a clear intention and the persistence to rise above the momentary disappointments that get in our way. Before we know it we are where we want to be.

Sometimes it might take years to get there, but when you do it’s fulfilling and quite often momentous.
With each temporary setback, we ask ourselves how can we be better. We ask ourselves what we learned. We ask ourselves, how did what happen make me a better person.

JOURNEY ON

MARK

Mark Susnow, is an executive & life coach and speaker who inspires others to believe in themselves. He is passionate about life being an exciting journey of discovery. His enthusiastic and inspiring keynotes on change, leadership and connection thoroughly convey this message to his audiences. A former trial attorney for 30 years, he integrates what it takes to be successful in the world with the inner wisdom unfolded to him through years of yoga and meditation. He is the author of Dancing on the River…Navigating Life’s Changes. Give yourself the gift of coaching and make an investment in your future.

Carl, like many of my life coaching clients, is standing on the edge. He is ready to jump into the next thing, into the land of uncertainty and the unknown, but he hesitates. He doesn’t take the leap. He watches thinking about what it would be like if he took that leap of faith. He’ll never know. IF he is honest with himself, he has to admit that there is something missing in his life.

Like many other people his life has plateaued. There is no excitement, no passion. He is just going through the motions waiting for something to happen, although he is not sure what that is.

He hasn’t found a real purpose for his life and for what he is currently doing. Until he does it will be difficult for him to get that passion back. You can’t pretend, although that’s what many of us are doing until we totally commit.

Many of us are close to achieving good things, but still have a ways to go before accomplishing great things.

You have the means and the resources, but it’s up to you to apply it to something bigger than what you are doing now. Keep where you want to go in mind and then let it go.

The good news is that it doesn’t take any longer. What it does take is deeper focus; the ability to be totally present with what you are doing.

When you are focused and in the moment, it’s attractive to others for you are in your power. It’s also when you are committed and passionate about living.

Declare to others and the world what you stand for. The world is waiting for you to be you.

JOURNEY ON

MARK

Mark Susnow, is an executive & life coach and speaker who inspires others to believe in themselves. He is passionate about life being an exciting journey of discovery. His enthusiastic and inspiring keynotes on change, leadership and connection thoroughly convey this message to his audiences. A former trial attorney for 30 years, he integrates what it takes to be successful in the world with the inner wisdom unfolded to him through years of yoga and meditation. He is the author of Dancing on the River…Navigating Life’s Changes. Give yourself the gift of coaching and make an investment in your future.

You worked hard. It’s ready to go but then you get feedback that there is one more thing that you need to do to make it better. You’re somewhat disappointed and frustrated. More work. In your mind you are done with the project. Does this scenario sound familiar? It can apply to so many aspects of our life. We thought we were done and ready to move on. But we’re not.

I’ve been there myself many times. Dig deeper——another opportunity to be better and to gain a deeper grasp of whatever we are doing. Yes, it’s more challenging than we thought and at times we are not sure where we are going or whether it’s worth it. But we keep going forward and learn to be present with the task at hand.

We keep learning. Perhaps the greatest learning is to enjoy the process of going deeper. It could be preparing a report for school, for your job or for the government. There are many layers and many considerations. In the process you develop a greater understanding of whatever it is you are working on. In the process you learn how to be more effective.

Perhaps you come to a different conclusion than the one you originally thought. In the process you become a more effective and evolved human being. It makes life more rewarding and fulfilling. Nothing is a mistake, but feedback for our journey. It serves as information for our internal GPS system that let’s us know that we are off course. So we make the adjustment integrating the new information to right our course. We get there and are more empowered by what we learned on our journey.

ENJOY THE JOURNEY

MARK

Mark Susnow, is an executive & life coach and speaker who inspires others to believe in themselves. He is passionate about life being an exciting journey of discovery. His enthusiastic and inspiring keynotes on change, leadership and connection thoroughly convey this message to his audiences. A former trial attorney for 30 years, he integrates what it takes to be successful in the world with the inner wisdom unfolded to him through years of yoga and meditation. He is the author of Dancing on the River…Navigating Life’s Changes. Give yourself the gift of coaching and make an investment in your future.

When you are clear about your life purpose, then in essence you have found your true North. It becomes your compass and guide so that you don’t get seduced by the detours along the way and there will be many.

They are in the form of negative reactions to everyday life. Most, all of us, have been overwhelmed by resentment at times. We might be bitter about something that occurred, or about what someone did to us. Sometimes it’s hard to let go. Every time we think about that person, even if it has been years, we viscerally react. We erroneously believe that by holding on to our resentment that we are punishing the other person. A wise man once said about resentment, “It’s like drinking poison, thinking that it will kill the other person.” That’s the fallacy with hanging on to our resentments.

It becomes our life and affects all of our other relationships. We become negative and forget that we have choices.

Our disappointments also affect our moods and have the potential to poison the rest of our life. The poison seeps into all of our relationships unless we learn to let it go and stay open to the good that is around the corner.

When you are true to your purpose, when you are knocked off course, it’s not for long. You catch yourself. You are reminded of what you are here to do. You know that disappointments are part of the journey. You are more determined than ever. You know that you are continually making a choice to stay on course and to enjoy each step of the journey.

When you are in alignment with your purpose, you will meet allies who are drawn by your passion. They want the same thing. Let them in. Imagine things turning out better than you expected.

JOURNEY ON

MARK

Mark Susnow, is an executive & life coach and speaker who inspires others to believe in themselves. He is passionate about life being an exciting journey of discovery. His enthusiastic and inspiring keynotes on change, leadership and connection thoroughly convey this message to his audiences. A former trial attorney for 30 years, he integrates what it takes to be successful in the world with the inner wisdom unfolded to him through years of yoga and meditation. He is the author of Dancing on the River…Navigating Life’s Changes.

You’re out in the woods and you come to a crossroads. You’re not sure which trail to continue on. The trail might even seem to end. You assess the situation. You know if you take the wrong turn, it might be hours before you get back to your car. It might be dark by then.

In some ways that little anecdote is a microcosm of our life. At times life seems complicated and somewhat arbitrary especially when we’re in our victim mentality. All we can think about is how life is unfair. We’re immersed in a pity party. In those moments our focus is on what can go wrong, rather than the solution. We wait for a sign and when one comes along we don’t recognize it.

We seek out others for advice. There are plenty of people out there who mean well. We’re trying to figure out how what they are saying pertains to us, rather than listening to our inner voice. No one knows our situation and our capabilities better than we do. When we try to synthesize what other people are telling us and make it relevant to our life, we lose sight of our unique wisdom.

Each of us has something special to share. But when we water down what our real message is, our unique wisdom is not shared with the world. Not only do other people lose out on the benefit of our unique contribution, we are out of integrity with ourself.

Believe in yourself and let the world know what your ultimate truth is. They are waiting.

JOURNEY ON

MARK

Mark Susnow, is an executive & life coach and speaker who inspires others to believe in themselves. He is passionate about life being an exciting journey of discovery. His enthusiastic and inspiring keynotes on change, leadership and connection thoroughly convey this message to his audiences. A former trial attorney for 30 years, he integrates what it takes to be successful in the world with the inner wisdom unfolded to him through years of yoga and meditation. He is the author of Dancing on the River…Navigating Life’s Changes.

It’s that time of year. Holiday parties, checking in with friends you haven’t talked to for a while; sending out holiday greetings and messages. We’re checking in. We’re also taking inventory of our life. Was this a good year? Was it a great year? Could I have done better? It really doesn’t matter. It’s in the past. What matters is where we go from here. How can we integrate the lessons from the past into our life journey. There is a quote that I read many years ago that reminds me of this truth. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

What if from this moment on we make a vow to ourself that it’s all in our hands. With this in mind, in every moment we are setting an intention for how we want to live and what is important. We are sending a message to the universe as to what we believe in. We are sending a message as to what we stand for.

Having a clear picture of what that is enables us to develop a roadmap for our journey.
Have a reason for why it matters enables us to get past those inevitable bumps in the road.

It’s a matter of priorities. It’s a matter of values. It’s a matter of believing with our heart and soul that we matter and what we have set out to do can make a difference in the world. When you feel it and believe in what you are doing, then it’s just a matter of time until you get there.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

ENJOY THE JOURNEY

MARK

Mark Susnow, is an executive & life coach and speaker who inspires others to believe in themselves. He is passionate about life being an exciting journey of discovery. His enthusiastic and inspiring keynotes on change, leadership and connection thoroughly convey this message to his audiences. A former trial attorney for 30 years, he integrates what it takes to be successful in the world with the inner wisdom unfolded to him through years of yoga and meditation. He is the author of Dancing on the River…Navigating Life’s Changes.

Do you feel the full range of all of your emotions? Do you notice that the negative emotions tend to get most of your attention? You worry more than you would like. You worry about your future.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Shift focus and say to yourself, “it’s a beautiful day?” You just don’t say it, you feel it and saying it is just an expression of what is inside of you. You just notice and enjoy what you see and feel. It doesn’t really matter what the weather is. The feeling is inside. So let yourself enjoy the moment. Don’t analyze it.

Notice and appreciate the little things that before didn’t seem important. Take it all in and let go of your concerns, the worries and insecurities about what could go wrong.

Just for today take it all in and focus on what gives you joy.
Just for today don’t judge what is happening. Just notice and be curious. You might say to yourself “I wonder how great this day can be.”

JOURNEY ON

MARK

Mark Susnow, is an executive & life coach and speaker who inspires others to believe in themselves. He is passionate about life being an exciting journey of discovery. His enthusiastic and inspiring keynotes on change, leadership and connection thoroughly convey this message to his audiences. A former trial attorney for 30 years, he integrates what it takes to be successful in the world with the inner wisdom unfolded to him through years of yoga and meditation. He is the author of Dancing on the River…Navigating Life’s Changes.

Every once in a while you have the good fortune to be in a room when the speaker says something so profound that you have to write it down. I always take that as a sign that I should not only write it down, but explore it further.

The process of writing then becomes a journey of discovery. Quite often that exploration leads to new insights.

“I am run by the need to control and to be perfect,” is what she said.

There is some of that attitude in all of us. We all know what control means. It implies a certain rigidity and unwillingness to allow for an expansion of what might be. We want it our way, whether it’s something that we are involved in, or our interaction with another person. Even though we have heard over and over again we can’t control another person, we keep trying.

The need to be perfect and to control implies a lack of trust in what might be. When we have a preconceived notion as to the perfect outcome, we limit the natural unfolding and what’s possible. We don’t allow for the possibility that the circumstances and our notion of perfection might change. We don’t allow for the possibility that perfection is an evolving dynamic state of being.

For many years my life was structured with raising a family and having a law career. In a professional setting we can see the need to be perfect as compliance with certain rules, regulations and deadlines. When I was an attorney, if we didn’t file a document timely, we wouldn’t get the opportunity to discuss the merits of our position. Being timely and getting the project done was just the price of admission.

We also had to mindful that there was an external standard that defined excellence and perfection. But even in that environment there was a great amount of subjectivity as to what was a perfect result. We are reminded of this truth by some of the phrases that are used in everyday conversations.
“You played that perfectly.” “That worked to perfection.“

Once you have paid the price of admission and are in the arena, you get to bring the real you to the party. You can be effective in a way that feels authentic and be successful in your career. In my own way I was able to make my career a form of self-expression and a way to more fully express who I was.

For various reasons, not all of us get to play in the arena. My friend, who I will refer to Carl in this article, was like that. For him getting it done wasn’t a priority.

He is a music prodigy. He can play six or seven instruments as well as anyone plays just one. For the last ten years he has been working on a recording project. But he is reluctant to put it out there and share it with others. For Carl nothing is good enough. At some point you have to let it go.

Life, like art, is a process and journey of discovery. By the time I wrote my book, Dancing on the River, I had much practice in letting go and trusting the process of creation. By that time I had written several newsletters and shared them with many others all over the world. I kept working them before releasing them to the universe. I always wondered if they were good enough. It was only by sharing them with others and allowing room for feedback that I developed the confidence that I had something of significance to contribute.

That’s how it worked for me with Dancing on the River. With each draft I felt closer to letting it go and sharing my contribution. At some point you have to let go of control and the need to be perfect and trust the feedback from the universe and from others.

Rather then thinking about the need to be perfect, think about perfection in a more enlightened way. Perfection is not an absolute standard that you are striving to get to, but a dynamic evolving state that has its share of peaks and valleys. In that process the path of perfection become your greatest teacher. You learn to enjoy each step on the way even when you are not sure where it is taking you.

What we find on this journey of discovery is that life has many more complexities than we envisioned. We can’t control every possibility and there are always going to be a few loose ends. We have to learn in live in this uncertainty. Finally we get to that place when we say to ourself, “It’s ready, I’m ready.” We let go and move on to the next phase. There always will be that next phase.

For me that next phase is the work that I am doing now which is an intuitive and creative process. Along the way we discover what life has in store for us. Sometimes life knocks us to our knees, but we get up and face another day stronger for the experience.

Each day becomes an ongoing adventure. We learn to embrace the unfolding of this adventure as the perfection of the universe.

Journey On.

Mark

Mark Susnow, is an executive & life coach and speaker who inspires others to believe in themselves. He is passionate about life being an exciting journey of discovery. His enthusiastic and inspiring keynotes on change, leadership and connection thoroughly convey this message to his audiences. A former trial attorney for 30 years, he integrates what it takes to be successful in the world with the inner wisdom unfolded to him through years of yoga and meditation. He is the author of Dancing on the River…Navigating Life’s Changes.

In so many things that we do preparation is the key to success and fulfillment. Quite often we don’t see any results for some time. Think of a garden. You pull the weeds, turnover the soil and mix in compost. When you begin to harvest what you planted it’s a great feeling.

Because we understand the cyclical pattern of nature, we trust the process. We also know that we can only take one step at a time and each step prepares us for the next so that we can reap the harvest.

When we harvest the fruits of our labor we have a sense of fulfillment because of the effort that went into it. It wasn’t just given to us. Much hard work was involved.

All of life is like that. There are always going to be obstacles and challenges. They are there to challenge us to look deeper and to try harder. These difficulties serve us. Honor them rather than complain about them.

BE THE BEST YOU, YOU CAN BE

JOURNEY ON

MARK

Mark Susnow, is an executive & life coach and speaker who inspires others to believe in themselves. He is passionate about life being an exciting journey of discovery. His enthusiastic and inspiring keynotes on change, leadership and connection thoroughly convey this message to his audiences. A former trial attorney for 30 years, he integrates what it takes to be successful in the world with the inner wisdom unfolded to him through years of yoga and meditation. He is the author of Dancing on the River…Navigating Life’s Changes.

When someone asks you how are you doing, what do you usually say? What words do you normally use to describe how you are feeling. Most of us have what I would call a default point. We use certain words that we have learned to become comfortable with. As we stretch ourselves and use more empowering words to describe what’s going with us, our state of being also changes. We feel more optimistic and more excited.

Let me explain why this is so. Each word that we express requires us to use different facial muscles and to use them differently depending on the particular word. The neurons connected to each facial muscle are also connected to different centers of the brain stimulating the release of hormonal endorphins which result in different emotions.

Let’s do something a little bit different that we normally do. Let’s make this blog more interactive. The following is a process that I facilitate with some of my life coaching clients. As you read this, repeat the phrase below to yourself with focus on the last word and notice what you feel and the muscles that you use to repeat the word. Make this fun. What you learn will be invaluable.
Repeat the following statements: What do you notice when you repeat the last word of the phrase?

I”m doing OK.
I’m doing fine. What did you notice this time? Anything different?
I’m doing good. What about this phrase? Did you notice any movement in other areas of your body?
I’m doing great. Notice your tone in your voice and how use your muscles. How did that feel?
I’m doing fabulous. Could you say that without moving your body. Was the pacing of the words different?

I’m amazed. Again notice if you move your body and what you do with your hands. What about the tone of your voice?

You have the potential and the means to make ordinary experiences of your life exciting. Integrate one or two words that you ordinarily don’t use into your conversations and see what happens. Notice what happens when you say I’m excited.

BE BOLD; BE ADVENTUROUS

JOURNEY ON

MARK

Mark Susnow, is an executive & life coach and speaker who inspires others to believe in themselves. He is passionate about life being an exciting journey of discovery. His enthusiastic and inspiring keynotes on change, leadership and connection thoroughly convey this message to his audiences. A former trial attorney for 30 years, he integrates what it takes to be successful in the world with the inner wisdom unfolded to him through years of yoga and meditation. He is the author of Dancing on the River…Navigating Life’s Changes.