I was recently chatting with a favorite client of mine about the things we do instead of living our Life Purpose.
It’s truly amazing the kinds of distractions we’ll come up with! As I write this article, I’m all too aware of the ways I use these addictions to avoid stepping up in an even bigger way.
As my client and I talked, we joked about the pitfalls of what I call “mind candy.” Mind candy is the stuff we feed our brains instead of doing our Work.
Mind candy is what we substitute for taking action — it keeps our intellects occupied with “thinking lite.” We do this instead of carving out the space for we need for inner deep sea diving to find the answers we really need or actually doing the work it takes to implement our purpose in our lives.
Usually when we do these things, we justify them with clever rationalizations.
My particular brand of mind candy is email, information, and technology. Before I do my Work, I often allow myself to:
- Answer and frequently check email: “I have to, right? It’s part of my business!”
- Search for more information: “I have to learn more about x before I can do y,” or “I need to know what so-and-so is doing.”
- Fiddle with my websites: “I’ve got to get that done first, right, before I can get it out to the world, right?”
Here’s what I need and want to be doing instead: The writing and creating that leads to the speaking, leading, and mentoring I’m here to do.
Here are some other examples of intellectual junk food you may be stuffing your head with:
- Facebook: Farmville seems like a particularly huge time suck for many people
- Twitter: “What’s everyone else doing so I can figure out what to do?”
- Internet surfing: Looking for answers, being restless seekers
- Watching television: “I deserve/I just need/I just want to take a break”
- Reading: Yes, even reading can be a check out.
- Tuning into the news: “I have a responsibility to stay current with what’s happening in the world.”
- Worrying: If we’re worrying it’s hard to be creative and is in many ways a justification for not taking action
- Getting caught up in fear and doubt: “I’m not good enough,” and “I don’t know how.”
- Telling ourselves we have other things we have to do first: Get a website up, learn more, get more training, clean the house, organize the sock drawer, etc.
- Perfecting: Endlessly editing, tweaking, and adjusting rather than going for it and learning as you go.
Here’s the thing: While there’s nothing wrong with many of these activities, IMHO, the sticking point is when we substitute them for taking action on living our Life Purpose.
Of course some of these can be ways to take breaks (though deep down I think we all know there are better ways to take restful breaks — see below).
As the great Morpheus said to Neo in The Matrix, “Clear your mind.”
Frankly, we’re so programmed around “staying busy” that it’s a wonder we ever move forward with what we love. We simply have to have quiet space and down time to be productive in a useful way that keeps us on our path.
The paradox is that because we don’t know how to “do” quiet space and down time, we stuff ourselves with mind candy.
Here’s What You Can Do Instead To Get Yourself Back On Track
Here’s my two cents about what’s worth doing instead, especially if you feel like you don’t know what to do:
- Find out who you REALLY are and what you were put here to do (my 5 Steps class can help with this).
- Daydream, brainstorm, journal, collage, and diagram about what you LOVE, what you WOULD love, what’s next for you, and what inspires you.
- Meditate.
- Light candles, burn incense, and pray.
- Work with your coach or mentor to uncover, discover, and take action on your Life’s Purpose.
- Exercise, walk, dance, take yoga, or run, (get your sluggish energy moving).
- Lie on your back and look up at the sky to open your mind and shift your perspective (you’ll never find your dreams sitting at your desk).
The common denominator here is that these “inspiring actions” all help you tap into your deepest intuitive and spiritual guidance about your life, instead of trying to run the show with your mind.
Remember Albert Einstein’s wisdom, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
Related Posts: “How to Get Around To Doing What Really Matters To You.”
What’s Jenna doing?
~> February 11th. Jenna will be leading a Virtual Workshop called “5 Steps to Get You Back On Track With What You Were Put Here To Do.” Meet your Essential Self and discover your Life Purpose. Registration is still open.
~> Early Spring 2010. Exciting new changes for the Sensitive Professionals Network. Watch this space for details.
~> Spring 2010. Voice Your Vision Mastermind Retreat (in-person). Dates to be announced.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Jenna,
I don’t feel ready to take any kind of action right now because I don’t really have any direction. I don’t know where I am going or would like to go. So far the things I have tried to do haven’t worked out because according to my employment agent, ‘I wasn’t eligible”. I even tried seeking career counselling and can you believe that I wasn’t eligible for rhat either because I have mental health issues. I suffer from depression and anxiety. I don’t need to feel pressure from anybody right now about my life purpose. That also includes you and the message you send out in youir e-mails. My purpose right now is to live this already difficult life one day at a time and take care of myself. I pray, use affirmations, try to exercise whenever I can. I also go for walks and try to eat healthy and take my medication and omega 3 capsules multi vitamins and vitamin D everyday. I seek counselling whenever I feel the need and sometimes I have also been part of a support group. Right now, I have enough challenges of my own, I don’t want to hear about other people’s problems. I am also going through peri menopause so that isn’t pleasant either. All I can say is that I have always given my best to anything I have ever tried. I don’t feel like putting in anymore effort because it just isn’t worth it for me. At 47 years old, I don’t have a meaningful job nor am I in a meaningful relationship. I am lucky to still have my mother and we help each other out. She has been a widow for 10 years almost. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that not everyone is at the point of knowing or even living their life purpose. It is a luxury that only a few of us have. Warm regards, G.P.
Dear Giovanna,
Firstly I’ve gone through what you are coping with (except the fact that I’m in late twenty and in addition to depression I may have to deal with quarter-life crisis too). My only recommendation is reading the book ” Get it done when you’re depressed” of Julie A.Fast & John D. Preston. I hope it could help!
Secondly, Jenna is right at the point we need to know directions before we start our adventure. If we see the lighthouse in advance, it has more possibilities that we could go to the correct destinations we chose.
All the best,
Elsie
My advice – allow yourself to do all those distracting things without judging yourself!
At some point you will get bored or tired doing that and will start to want to do something “more appropriate”. And guess what? That will be in absolutely Divine timing! Without pushing and fighting yourself.
You actually just can’t miss really important things of you Life Purpose if you LOVE and ACCEPT EVERYTHING you do and are!
Blessings!
An addition – but don’t lie to yourself!
This article is so TRUE! I am printing it so that I read it every morning before my day begins. I am in a winter slump and fritter away my time exactly as your article describes. I tell myself I am still thinking & planning as I wallow in non-productive activities but it’s now time to get out there and DO things…Thank you!
Giovanna. I can relate so much to your message. I have been receiving Jenna’s e-mails for about 3 years, and I always read all of her suggestions. But….I have been unable to take part in her sessions because every time I consider this, I get anxious. I retired early because of depression and anxiety. As you probably do, I invested too much of myself. Three years after retiring, I am still struggling with depression and anxiety. I can’t afford therapy, so I must do it on my own. I slowly reduced my medication to zero because I was tired of being “grey”. I now have the occasional good day. Hopefully this will become “many” good days. I try and avoid any situation that may produce anxiety…..loud noise, too many people, what I think are other people’s expectations of me…. Three things appear to be helping me reduce both the depression and anxiety. Journalling, walking in nature, and exercise that makes you sweat. For me, the latter is a must. Hope this helps, and I wish you the best!
I resonate with what you write about mind candy.
The mind easily gets distracted…
Nice post Jenna!
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