Week 5: Your 12-Month Vision
What is the essence of this week's focus?
This week is about laser focus and spiraling towards the center of your life - the core of what is true and real for you, right now.
You have journeyed to each end of your life spectrum - the distant past & future. You have returned to your memories of birth, childhood, adolescence, and the journey of growing into adulthood. Then, you traveled into the Landscape of Your Future:
You have journeyed to each end of your life spectrum - the distant past & future. You have returned to your memories of birth, childhood, adolescence, and the journey of growing into adulthood. Then, you traveled into the Landscape of Your Future:
- VIEW FROM AFTER DEATH: You looked back at the whole of your life, as if you had already died, to see what you have left behind.
- EULOGY: You listened and transcribed the eulogy that a loved one gave at your funeral to honor your life
- LETTER TO THE FUTURE: You wrote a letter to the 7 Generations - that is your Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandchildren - to tell them what you are doing NOW in your life to support them.
- FUTURE SELF: You met your Future Self in 20 years and you got a visceral sense of the person that you are becoming - the person who was able to create all that you are longing to create.
- PRACTICAL VISION: You honed in on the next 3 to 5 years, and distilled your life-long vision into seven core foundational pillars that you will focus your life energy on for the next five years
Take a minute to catch up with yourself...
- How am I feeling?
- What have I found through this visioning process thus far?
- How am I feeling after the first month of this Sacred Business Program?
- Do I feel more connected to my heart's purpose, desire, and intentions?
- Do I feel more deeply connected to what my heart's yearning looks and feels like?
- Do I feel more clear about what I truly want and need in my life and work?
- Take 2 minutes to write in your journal and/or post your reflections to our Facebook Group.
Click HERE to do so.
The 12-Month Vision
I invite you to see this next year as one-big-first-step.
Now is the time to take all that you have imagined and envisioned about your long-term future,
and take a powerful first step.
I invite you to see the next twelve months as one-big-intentional-step;
...a first-big-intentional-step towards the vision for your meaningful work;
a first-big-intentional-step towards the life that emanates from the core of your being through your whole body.
Now is the time to take all that you have imagined and envisioned about your long-term future,
and take a powerful first step.
I invite you to see the next twelve months as one-big-intentional-step;
...a first-big-intentional-step towards the vision for your meaningful work;
a first-big-intentional-step towards the life that emanates from the core of your being through your whole body.
We Are the Ones We've Been Waiting For (a message from the elders)
You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour.
And there are things to be considered:
- Where are you living?
- What are you doing?
- What are your relationships?
- Are you in right relation?
- Where is your water?
Know your garden. It is time to speak your Truth.
Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader.This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. See who is in there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. We are the ones we've been waiting for.
—The Elders Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation
Spiritual Principle of the Week: There are no limits
What does this mean?
There are no limits. Hmmm...
"limit" - "a point or level beyond which something does not or may not extend or pass."
- So what does this mean? There are no limits?
- Why is this relevant to you? Now?
- Particularly, why is it relevant to you this week, when you are focusing on your 12-Month Vision?
- What do we need to be aware of to understand this principle?
At first glance this seems absurd because we experience limitations all around us. Our bodies can only grow so much, we can only see so far, we can only hear within a certain range, we can only live so long without breathing, the earth is only so big, and we have only so much money in the bank. No limits?
Yes, no limits. The universe is infinite, as it would have to be if the world is what we thint it is and it's all a dream. How, then, to explain the limitations we experience? One way is to recognize two kinds of limitations: creative and filtered.
...An inifinite universe implies infinite experience, which is the same as no experience because there wouldn't be any differentiation, contrast, or sensation of change. The concept of creative limitation assumes the purposeful establishment of limits within an infinite universe in order to create particular experiences. Our realm of physical experience, for instance, is arbitrarily limited by our natural perceptual range of the frequencies of sight, sound, touch, gravity, distance, and time...without these apparent limitations...we couldn't even experience this dimension.
...life is like a game of checkers...the rules say that you can move forward and take your partner's pieces when you jump them...the rules of the game are limitations created so you can play the game...only the shaman's game is more like using the same board but changing the rules and the pieces so you can play chess, thereby expanding the possibilities of experience within the same dimensions.
...creative limitation allows us to improve our creative abilities by enforcing a focus on a certain range and interpretation of experience. Even in the limited game of chess, humans minds have still not figured out all the possibilities.
In contrast, filtered limitation is used here to mean limitations imposed by ideas and beliefes that inhibit creativity rather than enhace it, like beliefs that engender helplessness and hopelessness, or revenge and cruelty. Recently I spoke with a person who expressed helpless rage at a world full of pain and suffering. And we were discussing this in a place full of love and peace and harmony. This person's obsessions with suffering was filtering out contrary experiences and making it nearly impossible to do anything about the suffering. Filtered limitations generate focus without the potential for positive action.
Corollaries: Everything is connected. Anything is possible. Separation is a useful illusion.
-expert from Serge Khalili King's book Urban Shaman
Yes, no limits. The universe is infinite, as it would have to be if the world is what we thint it is and it's all a dream. How, then, to explain the limitations we experience? One way is to recognize two kinds of limitations: creative and filtered.
...An inifinite universe implies infinite experience, which is the same as no experience because there wouldn't be any differentiation, contrast, or sensation of change. The concept of creative limitation assumes the purposeful establishment of limits within an infinite universe in order to create particular experiences. Our realm of physical experience, for instance, is arbitrarily limited by our natural perceptual range of the frequencies of sight, sound, touch, gravity, distance, and time...without these apparent limitations...we couldn't even experience this dimension.
...life is like a game of checkers...the rules say that you can move forward and take your partner's pieces when you jump them...the rules of the game are limitations created so you can play the game...only the shaman's game is more like using the same board but changing the rules and the pieces so you can play chess, thereby expanding the possibilities of experience within the same dimensions.
...creative limitation allows us to improve our creative abilities by enforcing a focus on a certain range and interpretation of experience. Even in the limited game of chess, humans minds have still not figured out all the possibilities.
In contrast, filtered limitation is used here to mean limitations imposed by ideas and beliefes that inhibit creativity rather than enhace it, like beliefs that engender helplessness and hopelessness, or revenge and cruelty. Recently I spoke with a person who expressed helpless rage at a world full of pain and suffering. And we were discussing this in a place full of love and peace and harmony. This person's obsessions with suffering was filtering out contrary experiences and making it nearly impossible to do anything about the suffering. Filtered limitations generate focus without the potential for positive action.
Corollaries: Everything is connected. Anything is possible. Separation is a useful illusion.
-expert from Serge Khalili King's book Urban Shaman
- What healthy limits and boundaries do you have in your life and work?
- What limits and boundaries do you subscribe to that cause you to feel helpless, hopeless, angry, sad, and frustrated?
- How can you consciously re-create those limits and boundaries, and put together new possibilities for health, joy, and success in your life?
The 7 Principles of Life Purpose1. I am here for a reason 2. I have unique and essential gifts |
The 7 Shamanic Principles
1. The World is what I think it is 2. There are no limits |
The 7 Steps to Self-Activation1. Finding the Origin of Thought |
Exercise for Week 5: Creating Your 12-Month Vision
Now its time to enter into the visionary space; to engage your inspired vision for 12-months from now.
The guided visualization that I offered during the Medicine Circle this week starts at minute 52:00, and lasts for 10 minutes. You are also welcome to utilize the following guided 12-month vision sound healing recording that I created for an early version of this program. Click HERE to download it.
The guided visualization that I offered during the Medicine Circle this week starts at minute 52:00, and lasts for 10 minutes. You are also welcome to utilize the following guided 12-month vision sound healing recording that I created for an early version of this program. Click HERE to download it.
STEP ONE: Create Sacred Space
Tidy your room, light a candle and/or some incense, and invite the spiritual guidance that you already have a relationship with to be with you and support you in this exercise.
STEP TWO: Connect with Your Body and Breath
Do the breathing exercise that we have practiced on the medicine circle calls:
Take 3 minutes to hum, as you learned on our medicine circle calls.
STEP THREE: Through the Heart, connect with the Thread of Guidance
Feel the center point in your heart, and feel the thread of guidance moving back through you life all the way to being in the womb, and then even before that. Ask yourself, what was the reason that I chose to be born into the world? Why did I choose to incarnate at this time? Take a moment to see what emerges, and share with your partner, or write down your reflections.
Now, begin to move forward through your life, noticing the significant experiences that far, until you arrive back at the center point in your heart.
Now, begin to move forward along the thread of guidance into the future - through each season of this coming year - spring, summer, fall, winter, and then, again, emerging into the springtime of next year.
When you are finished, retur
STEP FOUR: Come to Completion and Return to the Present Moment
When you are complete in your visioning journey, say "thank you for all that you experienced" and return to the path that you traveled on to get here until you arrive back at to this present moment - back to your heart, your breath, and your body. Rub your palms together and wipe your face as if you had a warm wash cloth. Slowly open your eyes.
STEP FIVE: Harvesting the Vision - Bringing it back to the present, writing it down, and making it practical
Take as long as you need to write down your vision. Let the pen flow. Be free with your expression. Write everything that you can remember; whatever you saw, felt, heard, smelled, tasted, touched. Write it all down.
Here are some questions to stimulate your creative thinking process:
Creating your written vision statement:
Now that you have recorded your experience, you get to distill the vision to its essence by creating a very succinct written vision statement for the next 12-months. This written vision statement is a symbol of your vision that holds the energy, power, and future memory of your vision.
This written vision statement needs to express your feeling that your vision is a 10 (on a scale of 1-10) in terms of joy, meaning, and contentment.
Take as long as you need to write down your vision. Let the pen flow. Be free with your expression. Write everything that you can remember; whatever you saw, felt, heard, smelled, tasted, touched. Write it all down.
Here are some questions to stimulate your creative thinking process:
- What did the vision look like?
- What were you doing?
- Who were you being?
- Who were you spending time with?
- What did your environment look like?
- What were you doing that brought you alive; that excited your heart?
- How much money did you have in the bank? And, how was that money flowing to you?
- What did you relationships feel and look like?
- How did you body feel?
- How connected did you feel to your sense of meaning, to your heart’s purpose, to your core mission in life, and to the universe as one whole?
Creating your written vision statement:
Now that you have recorded your experience, you get to distill the vision to its essence by creating a very succinct written vision statement for the next 12-months. This written vision statement is a symbol of your vision that holds the energy, power, and future memory of your vision.
This written vision statement needs to express your feeling that your vision is a 10 (on a scale of 1-10) in terms of joy, meaning, and contentment.
STEP SIX: Integration Process-Weaving together this 4-Week Visioning Experience into a Strong Rope
Now, go back and read through all of your information from the last 4 weeks:
- Legacy Vision
- Letter to the Seven Generations
- Meeting Your Future Self in 20 Years
- The 7 Core Pillars of Your Practical Vision for 3 to 5 Years
- And, what you wrote this week for your 12-Month Vision12-month vision.
With what you have in front of you, what do you intend to create this year?
First, what 3 aspects of your vision are most important to focus on in the next 12-months? Write them down now:
- #1
- #2
- #3
Now that you have written the 3 aspects that are most important for this coming year, write each month of the coming year down the side of a page in your journal, just like you see below. Leave space in between each month. Then, write 1 to 3 aspects of your vision that you will be focusing on in each of the 12-months.
2013
June
1
2
3
July
1
2
3
August
1
2
3
September
1
2
3
October
1
2
3
November
1
2
3
December
1
2
3
2014
January
1
2
3
February
1
2
3
March
1
2
3
April
1
2
3
May
1
2
3
STEP SEVEN: YOU'RE DONE, CELEBRATE AND ENJOY THE FEELING OF YOUR VISION GROWING IN YOUR HEART!
Walk through your moments and days this week with a sense of wonder. "Hmmm...Wow...what a blessing to be alive and to have the consciousness and awareness to experience this level of clarity in my life. I am grateful for this opportunity to see and feel what I want more clearly than ever before in my life. And, I am grateful for growing confidence that I have that the manifestation of my vision is as natural as a tree growing in a forest.