Maybe you’ve had a time in your life when there were no particular goals you were working toward and nothing in particular you were dreaming about.
When, if someone walked up to you on the street and granted you a wish, you’d need a few minutes to place your order?
I have clients in that place and they think a real problem. It’s no wonder, really.
The self-help culture tells us that we need a vision. A goal. A direction, if we want to end up somewhere. Without a direction or vision, how will we possibly know where to go? They tell us we’ll end up nowhere, fast.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Life is constantly unfolding. Things are always happening. Life moves you whether you think about it and plan for it or not, as you may have noticed.
Life is always occurring on your behalf, with absolutely no strategy or forethought needed.
It is perfectly okay to be in the flow of it rather than trying to control the flow of it.
It is a wonderful feeling to want nothing but what you already have.
You will not stay stuck where you are (as if that’s a bad thing). You will get pushed along with the current of life as you always have—plans and goals or not.
If you truly want something, you know it. That thing becomes your dream, wish, or goal on its own, naturally. You don’t ever have to brainstorm “Hmm, what would make me happy?” and then set that as a goal.
It shouldn’t be an exercise to decide what you want. If it is, I highly doubt you truly want those things.
Since I started doing the inside-out experiment a couple years ago, there’s been almost nothing I crave aside from what I already have. Having no goals and no burning desires might actually mean you’re content and enjoying the life you have.
What could be wrong with that?
This article was originally published in February, 2014.
