Overnight success, split-second life transformation, instant love… these ideas are beautiful, and get grounded on nothing solid. Would you move into a house that had a shaky foundation? What about a house with no foundation?
If you wouldn’t want to live in a house erected without a foundation, why would you expect that, overnight, it would be a most desirable to reach the stratospheres in your career, your personal growth or your love life?
Massive quickie life changes: It is quite the same as erecting a house in a week without solid ground beneath your feet. Is that a good investment? Would you sink your life savings into that house without a foundation? While you might not be thrilled about the many months it takes to build a solid home and outfit it with a stable structure and proper finishes, most of you would want that house instead of the house of cards that got hammered together overnight. Right?
I recently met a brilliant Venture Capitalist who told me that he is most troubled by tech start-ups that view the process of raising seed money and getting rounds of financing as the “work” in putting together a company. With a flood of cash, the newly-minted company overnight goes from “zero to a million” in exposure and prowess. Without a grounded plan of action and specific targets and goals that generate actual sales or traction that is meaningful, most of these companies are shuttered if they aren’t lucky enough to be stripped down and re-focused with long term goals to build something viable and real. Most of the companies he has worked with are more interested in the big, splashy picture than the day-to-day, getting-your-hands-dirty business of making something happen that is lasting.
In the last few years I have worked hard to scour my own vocabulary free of words like “massive” and “instant” as they relate to anything important. These are the types of instantaneous words that would elicit ambient worry questions in my mind like: ” What is wrong with me that I am not at a higher level yet? How can I find a faster way?” The faster way, the shortcut, inevitably led to nothing good; now I am all about building foundations.
Foundations create big things that last. Ambition is amazing. Setting a high bar for your life is motivating. Focus is thrilling. Foundations, though, take time to build. If you want something stable, are you willing to put in the time to create a solid foundation?
In your home, check how solid your space seems. Do you feel secure where you are, even if you aren’t in your dream-home yet? Do you feel sure-footed in your home? Are there big repairs that have been neglected? Do you take good care of your environment?
In your life, are you looking for shortcuts? Are you coming down on yourself for not having achieved the illusion of overnight success? Crash dieting- even in the guise of multiple “cleanses” and juice fasts- will not help you get to your own fitness and weight loss goals. Are you hoping to fast-track things you want, rather than investing time and care into them?
If things are worthwhile- your secure home, your solid friendships, your career ventures- they are worth being patient to cultivate. What happens if you decide to cultivate things that matter to you in a deeper-diving fashion, rather than rushing them? In my own life, the real things – real friends, real passions, real projects, real love- rise out from the pack when I am willing to take deep breaths and really engage in life in a mindful way. My interest and surface fascination with homeopathy led me into hours of research, experimentation and sparked this idea that I should become a homeopath to mix that into my life in a big way. I could probably find someone to train me in a few months, right? Well, the overnight homeopathic sensation became far less interesting when I realized that it required years of intense study and I just knew that I wasn’t willing to put in the work. That made it pretty clear to me that it is not part of my future. Are you interested in really cultivating a foundation with your newest friends, your career, your love life… or is it all just scratching the surface as you race through life hoping that the right people, places and things fall in place magically and instantly?
Want some feng shui to help you get a bit more grounded and patient? HERE is some feng shui to get grounded. Also, if you want to feel greater stability, HERE is an introduction to famed psychologist Abraham Maslow’s concept of stability and how to build more of that in your home!
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And, if you want to dive in to your own personalized feng shui in a modern, practical way, Say hello to Feng Shui 101. Its the guide I made for you to create your own personalized feng shui at home, in the office, wherever you may be… in 8 weeks. It’s not filled with strict rules or what you “must” do. Its filled with information, questions, exercises and even videos and classes to help you confidently create amazing spaces with killer feng shui and live with more flow. Learn more about the 8-week feng shui adventure & grab your copy to get started right HERE… And, as always, please let me know what happens! xoxo Dana
It doesn’t work.