How many of us want to be clear?
Clear on our next steps… clear on how to live healthy… clear on how to have more passion in our relationships… clear on how to make more money… clear on what to do next… heck, clear on our life’s purpose.
We all want clarity…
And yet, why are the majority of people UNCLEAR?
Well, we could easily blame it on circumstances. Heck, Corona Virus came from out of nowhere and continues to keep us all guessing. What about that? How is anyone supposed to be clear in one of the most uncertain times we’ve ever had as a world?
Good news is: I’m not asking you to get clear for the whole world. I am asking you to get clear for you. Right here, right now.
But first, before we get clear, I think it’s important to understand why we stay unclear.
Believe it or not, we are unclear for very specific reasons, very unconscious, specific reasons. 3 of which we are going to cover today!!!
We stay unclear because it is giving us something… what is your lack of clarity giving you?? It’s giving you something, it’s benefitting you in some way, even if for very weird, odd, habitual ways…
So if you are unclear right now, about any or all areas of life, the question you want to consider asking yourself is WHAT IS MY LACK OF CLARITY GIVING ME?
Do you know what that reason is???
NUMBER ONE REASON WE STAY UNCLEAR: TO BE RIGHT.
“To be right? Nice Julia. What the hell does that mean?” Look, we all want to be right. Nobody wants to be wrong.
And because we are THAT powerful, we create unclear certainties around us that confirm ANY suspicion we have.
Hence why I asked at the beginning of all of this a very important question: Do you want to be CLEAR or RIGHT?
Ask: Do I want to be CLEAR or RIGHT?
We are self fulfilling prophecies. If I want to be right about something bad enough, I will find a way, people, circumstances, a career, anything to prove me right.
For me, most of my life has just been in fear of being wrong. Being wrong meant I would be judged, shamed, abandoned by those I love most. So heaven forbid I’m wrong because my deepest fear was/is judgment, shame and abandonment. So if I get clear, and then I’m wrong, I’ll be abandoned.
This has and still does keep me from being unclear in my life.
What about you?? What are you trying to be “right” about?? And would you prefer to be “right” or to be clear?
NUMBER TWO REASON WE STAY UNCLEAR: TO NOT OWN RESPONSIBLITY.
The minute we are clear, we are responsible and lets face it “I don’t know” is a brilliant tap out strategy.
As long as “I don’t know”, I’m not responsible.
I’m not responsible for what I have to do next. It means I don’t have to put myself out there… I don’t have to ask for help… I don’t have to start over… I don’t have to quit… I don’t have to admit failure… and on and on and on.
Let’s face it, the truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off!!
Being responsible IS hard. No doubt about it. But so is not being clear. May I remind you, #pickyourhard. Both are going to be hard so you might as well pick the hard that is going to serve where you really want to go.
Should you decide to pick the hard that requires responsibility, here’s my MO… one step at a time. One bite at a time. The most brilliant thing my dad ever told me as a kid/teenager growing up was, “How do you eat an elephant Julia??”
“One bite at a time,” I’d say.
The way that you wade the waters of new responsibility is one bite at a time. One day at a time. One step at a time. Do NOT overthink it. Do not consider too far down the path. Just do what you know how to do ‘til you know how to do it better.
What’s one thing you can be doing right now to take responsibility for your own life and what’s just ONE step you can take towards that one thing??
NUMBER THREE:
TO STAY COMFORTABLE.
The 3rd reason we often live unclear is to remain comfortable. Learning something new pushes us into the world of the unknown… we don’t know it, we don’t get it, we can’t compartmentalize it, and ultimately, it blows our mind!!!
Becoming clear will blow your mind!
It’s supposed to.
Bill Johnson says, “God will offend your mind to reveal your heart.”
I’ve said time and time again that I believe we are moving into a time in life, a season if you will, where logic will no longer stand. We can’t control it, we can’t compartmentalize it, and the mind will go freaking crazy trying to even understand it but that’s par for the course when you’re starting or in a revolution yall. Anytime in history when we’ve evolved, upgraded, demystified or had a revival, it required a complete state change. And bottom line, it will BLOW YOUR MIND.
The more clear we become, the more we will have to change and most people admit one of their biggest fears is change…!
My question is, would you prefer to be comfortable or would you prefer to be clear??
That brain of yours that wants you to survive, stay where you are, protect yourself, or logically understand who, what, how, where, when, why cannot and will not “lead the troops” in times like this. You can’t survive your way through this. Or, I guess you can, a better way to say that is I wouldn’t suggest it.
So again I ask you, what is your lack of clarity giving you??
And are you ready to #liveclear. If so, here are some key thoughts to support you in better understanding clarity as well as sustaining it:
1. Clarity is an art! And it’s designed to get you in alignment with YOU.
I am NOT going to teach you how to “get clear” because that is your journey. Believe it or not, that’s part of the fun.
If I taught you how to get clear than you are indebted to my way of doing things which defeats the whole purpose. Sure, I am going to give you a few tools to consider that can help you on your way but I am in no way going to give you an A-Z roadmap (and whoever might try to sell you a 10 step program I’d steer clear of because then you’re in their agenda, not yours).
Remember, clarity is about getting closer to YOU, not doing it someone else’s way. Clarity by definition is transparency and purity.
When you start to really study what clarity is, you’ll find that clarity is SO IMPORTANT because “clarity allows you the freedom to design better possibilities for your future, helping you get where you want to go.” Therefore, every effort at moving forward must start with clarity OR you’re just going to keep getting what you’ve always got.
Before Corona Virus hit, 70-80% of people were disengaged with their life and their career (at varying levels of disengagement but disengagement nonetheless) and if that % of people aren’t careful, when the dust begins to settle, they’ll all go back to their “familiar hell” IF they don’t have clarity… So if before CV you had a job you didn’t like, were in a relationship that was sub par, lived in an environment that was unhealthy for your soul, you made unhealthy food choices, yea… you’ll go back to doing that all over again. UNLESS YOU GET CLEAR.
Clarity is priceless because it is your path back to you. So remember, that IS the goal!!! It’s not to be “right” for someone else, it’s to be in alignment with yourself!!!
What can you do today to get CLEARER with YOU?
2. Clarity requires SPACE!
Avoidance, busy and comparison will drain your ability to get clear. As long as you avoid, you will no get clear. As long as you are busy, you will not get clear. As long as you compare, you will not get clear. Clarity requires space. Space in mind, body, energy, time, influence.
Meditate, going deeper, prayer, journaling… all things that are BRILLIANT for us to do to get clear and here’s why: when you meditate, go deep, pray, you are actually changing the brain because your prefrontal cortex shuts off… this is why it lowers anxiety, stress and pure angst. Because this is the part of our brain that is the chatter and chatter and clarity can’t stand together…
Clarity is kind enough to wait.
Clarity is kind enough to not resist or fight or war with the chatter. It won’t.
3. Clarity REQUIRES heart.
Once you create space, you will find that it begins to share with you answers… You’ll see images, pictures, get a download, here a voice, tap into deep curiosities, have a vision, you’ll begin to even create dreams… capture these! Journal. Write them down. You will need these captured reminders as you begin your climb.
With heart, no ego is allowed. You do not have to be nor will you care to be “right” or “wrong”. Clarity is about the nudge, the gut, the intuition, the being led. It’s about the “can’t not’s”. Clarity becomes conviction because oftentimes what we find in our moments of clarity is hard… it is bigger than us… it is in uncharted territories and it does require ALL of you so in fact, your “honey to do list” will get shorter as your clarity gets clearer.
4. Clarity REQUIRES courage.
The space and pings of the heart then requires you to look at the things you normally wouldn’t look at.
It requires you to stop doing the things you’ve started doing to protect yourself. It requires you to start doing things you’ve never imagined yourself doing.
Clarity gets you seeing at a much different level…. This is not just seeing with your physical eyes, this is about you seeing a much deeper level. This is about Vision. And all of this takes courage.
In this place, you will feel triggered. Your brain will start to take over. Your thoughts will start to trump your dreams. Your emotions will start to cloud your imagination. My greatest suggestion is to literally breathe. Recognize it all and just breathe.
Don’t move. Don’t tap out. Simply stay with it. Grab that journal and reread everything you saw, heard, and felt to ensure what you documented in the deep seeded visions you received are brought to the forefront.
Heart isn’t lead with the head or logic… it’s about courage and learning how to shut off the brain when necessary.
5. Clarity requires RESPONSIBILITY!
Once you’ve written down the visions of your heart (ie: dreams), it’s time to create action.
This is what makes a DREAMER out of you.
Dreaming is not just about thinking about your dreams, it’s a sheer activation play. And action always requires responsibility and oftentimes, the hardest kind. As mentioned, it will require you to stretch yourself, ask for help, try something new, put yourself out there, fail many, many times, and do what you’ve never done before.
Don’t be moved by emotions, rather be led by Conviction. Though emotions are involved, emotions are just information. So sure, some days you are going to feel sad, depressed, sad or angry but that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to still move towards your dreams and action plans. It means you are going to feel whatever you need to feel and go anyway.
6. Clarity requires you to ACCLIMATE!
As you begin to move, you’re going to need to adopt a very important tool, acclimation!
To acclimate, by definition means “to become accustomed to a new climate or condition.”
As you grow, evolve and gain greater awareness’s in any and all areas of life, you have to realize that there is an acclimation process that needs to happen. You are entering a new “climate”. It’s a new territory. It is a new condition. So in theory, what got you to where you are won’t get you to where you’re going so you have to do, be, have, give something totally different and in order to do that, you’ve got to grow accustom to new climates and conditions. You have to acclimate.
Mt. Everest is just over 29,000 feet tall and only half who attempt to summit actually do.
The ascent up is around a 6000 meter altitude change and on average takes 40-60 days to fully summit.
Climbers can access the summit from multiple routes.
There are 4 camps on the way to the summit where climbers stop for a few days to fully acclimate.
Most climbers, once fully summited can only withstand standing at the peak for 15 minutes or until their oxygen levels and body strength run out and they are forced to begin their descent.
For me, the most interesting piece about learning about Mt. Everest and the journey to the summit has been the acclimation process. When climbing Mt. Everest, climbers, though maybe obvious, don’t go straight to the summit. As mentioned, they have to stop at 4 basecamps along the way, with the goal of acclimating at each basecamp. What’s interesting is that they actually will go past each basecamp before coming back down to settle in. Why? Because they have to acclimate to a new norm and there is a process in which to do that so basically, you don’t die. To keep it super simple, climbers climb past each base camp to push their limits and to prepare their lungs and body for where they’re going next. That extra push is a struggle, it can also be a bit euphoric, out of body and/or can even create mental black outs for people, but more than anything it is designed to begin working those muscles within them in preparation for what’s to come. Climbers then come back down to each basecamp for recovery purposes. This is their time for “active rest”. It’s obviously very important to have these recovery times, but it’s actually really important that it’s active so that the body doesn’t slow down too much. You want to keep it engaged.
An active rest for climbers includes:
- Body movement
- Absorption of nutrition
- Dropping gear that they no longer need
- Sleep
Acclimating helps you rest based upon the work you have just done while also helping you build strength for what’s to come.
Remember, your life is a by-product of the questions you are asking yourself. If you are asking fear based, survival based questions, you are going to find those answers.
“But Julia, the times we’re in, how are we going to survive? What do I do if I don’t find a job?
What happens if no one supports me? What will I do if I get sick?”
Fair.
AND all of those questions will get you nothing but those types of answers.
ASK BETTER QUESTIONS!!!
What is MOST important to me? What do I want MOST?
What am I curious about in these times? Where am I being led?
Where is the passion?
What is this pain, suffering, crazy time revealing to me that I didn’t know I always needed to know?
How can I go deeper? How can I love more?
How can I live with more faith? What would courage have me do?
Better questions = Better answers because our questions and answers will always find alignment.
This is clarity at it’s finest!
I encourage you to #liveclear
