Navigating Life: Following the Arrow Wherever it Points.

In a world overflowing with countless paths and possibilities, the art of navigating one's journey can feel like a daunting task. Yet, amidst the noise of voices clamoring for attention and the myriad of expectations placed upon us, a quiet but powerful mantra exists: "Follow your path."

This simple yet profound guidance encourages us to tune into our inner compass, trust our instincts, and chart a course that resonates with our authentic selves. It's a call to embrace our uniqueness, honor our dreams and aspirations, and carve out a life that is true to who we are at our core.

As I navigate through my journey to follow where my arrow points, I am learning more about how much awareness plays a role in the path we take in life. How strong is the voice within? How often do we trust what it is telling us? Let's unpack this for a minute. Think about when you were deciding something, say what M&Ms to choose. All you know about M&M flavors and what you want immediately comes into the equation. Your past experiences with flavors or inexperience with other flavors play a role in choosing peanut versus plain M&M flavors. Also, your preferences and desires at that moment influence the decision. Now, if cost were a factor, would it make a difference if one was more expensive? Maybe, so how does this play out in our everyday lives?

Building Awareness of What You Want

Often, awareness is a crucial factor, but not from the standpoint you would anticipate. Awareness of your options and your desires are very different circumstances. Awareness of our options requires us to research and investigate our decision opportunities.

Awareness of our desires requires us to know what is true to our needs in real-time. How will this decision get us closer to the version of ourselves we desire now? How will it lead us further away from who we see ourselves as? First, we must know who that person is. What do we need to become that version of ourselves? Our options and desires are two viewpoints of awareness that are crucial in determining who we become. Understanding the difference between the two allows us to actively approach them with a valid understanding of how desire and options impact our path.

Courage to Choose

Once we establish an awareness of the path we want to take, we then need the courage to pursue it. Why is this important? Let's think back to those M&M's for a second. If you make an unpopular or riskier decision, what happens? First, you need to make that decision where others see it. Immediately, your pride and other's opinions of you are revealed. Especially if you make a choice, other people may not understand. Courage allows you to choose the cherry M&M flavor. Yes, it's a real thing! Out of curiosity, most people would ask for an explanation, hoping to learn something new they didn't already know about this fantastic cherry M&M flavor.

So, how does courage play a role? It allows you to provide an explanation or refuse to do so and say, "I like them, so what." and move on. If you don't have the courage now, you might be influenced to retract your original decision and go with a much safer, more common option, say the original M&M flavor. And you'll be somewhat satisfied, but will you be fulfilled in your decision? Only courage can help you answer that question. So what about our connections when we make a decision that impacts our courage to go on our path? We are social beings and want to be a part of the whole to survive.

Impact of Habits

As we develop the courage to move forward with our path, our habits will either reinforce our decision or make it more impossible to achieve. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, defines habits as "the small decisions you make and actions you perform every day."

How can we make small shifts in our day to align our arrow? How does the small decision to choose those cherry M&Ms take us one step closer to that bullseye? Realizing what those steps and habits are for you will help you make 1% shifts closer to the person you see yourself as. James Clear states in his book

the 1% shift is more impactful daily and will lead to more considerable overtime shifts.

An example of this could be that you even grab a bag of M&Ms. The joy you feel eating those cherry-flavored little chocolate candies is more significant than the scrutiny your friends and family give when selecting them.

Trust your gut

How will you know when your path is the right one for you? The answer is easy: you won't. All hindsight is 20-20. That is why it is hindsight; we see things in clarity after they have happened. All we can do is trust our knowledge, the awareness we have, and the value we hold on that bullseye we are pursuing.

Let's look at the M&M scenario. Would you have had a better experience if you knew how unique those chocolate candies were before you chose them? Or would tasting them been greater knowing the journey to experience them was really what mattered? Trusting our gut is not just about trusting our decision. It is about also trusting the process that will get us to our destination. The awareness discovered, habits developed, and intuition revealed who you are and who you want to be moving forward.

The people along the way matter

The people we connect with on our journeys matter because they impact who we will become. When your arrow is released, it takes trust to know it will hit the target. However, it isn't blind trust. It is a trust that you will find your way to the bullseye and develop as a person as you get to where you are going. At that moment, to choose the M&Ms, you became the person you wanted to be by selecting the cherry flavor that made you who you are.

Think of a mentor, teacher, coach, or someone who helps you align with who you want to be. They supported you in habits you were trying to for or decisions you wanted to make—a boss who saw a vision for you that you couldn't yet envision for yourself. The parents always pushed you slightly more than you liked because they knew what you could achieve. These people also serve a role to help us get to the bullseye we are aiming for.

On the other hand, those people who scrutinized your decisions to choose those cherry M&Ms played a role in challenging who you want to be. How much value do you place on that person who enjoys the cherry M&Ms. How do those limitations drive what you want for yourself and where your arrow is pointed? The answer will tell you more than you think.

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