Which way from here?
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This is the Swim Jump Fly Advent calendar — 12 bite-sized pieces of advice from my new book Swim Jump Fly: A guide to changing your life. I’ve already introduced focusing on your why [LINK HERE]. This time we’ll look at your where.
Lewis Carroll writes about where in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You may remember the story includes the Cheshire Cat and a conversation takes place between Alice and the cat. It goes like this:
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where — “ said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
Knowing where you want to go means you’re more likely to head off the right way. Focusing on your direction can ground you when everything else is shifting around. But if you don’t think about it enough, you’ll go round and round in circles, and that’ll make you feel sick. Where could be how you feel, think, or behave once you’ve made a change and sometimes that is less of a destination, more a general direction of travel.
Here is an exercise from the book to help you focus on your where:
1) Visualise your where, your destination, by playing a show-reel in your head. Where are you, what is going on? What can you see or hear? How are you feeling? What is different or better? Create an image of your new self in the future.
Athletes use visualisations and imagery, running through a future race, imagining where they will end up. Research shows that imagining our actions means we’re more likely to complete them. However, if we imagine failure and obstacles, we will doubt ourselves and then give up.
2) You can use metaphors and stories to visualise your future life. I use Liminal Muse Conversation Cardswhich I created from my photographs. These help people identify their destination and bring their desires to life.
Or use the Miracle Question: Imagine that as you sleep, a miracle happens. The things you are trying to change…
