Smelling Your Future?

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll catch on pretty quickly that I love good food. I love to cook it, I love to eat it, I love taking pictures of it, and I love sharing good food with others. (The picture here is Filipino food - the food from the country I was born.) 

So what does good food and smelling it have to do with your future, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

I had a conversation with a client recently who wanted to be more clear about her vision for her life. Where would she live? What kind of work did she want to do? These are good questions to get you started if you're wanting to be more intentional about your future. The problem for a lot of people, though, is that this exercise is very cerebral, meaning it relies heavily on using your head. 

What brings life and "oomph" to your vision is breathing imagination and your senses to the vision.

Here's an example of what I mean. I want you to imagine your favorite food. Close your eyes and bring your favorite food to mind. (For me, it's fried chicken. Or lobster with garlic butter. Yum!)

What does your favorite food look like? Be specific about it's shape, color and arrangement. What does it taste like? Is it salty, sweet, savory, tangy? What does it smell like? Is it fragrant, pungent, sweet? What is its texture or feel? Is it hot, cold, room temperature, rough, smooth? Are there any sounds you associate it with? Does it sizzle, boil, or have a crisp to it?

If you truly imagined your favorite food in this way, I bet your mouth is salivating right now. That's because you evoked your imagination and senses, and it became "real" in your mind. A watering mouth is your body's reaction to your favorite food being right there in your mind's eye!

Just like I asked you to imagine your favorite food, you can tap into the power of imagination and your senses to bring "realness" to a life that you LOVE.

As you paint the picture of the life that you LOVE, what comes up in your mind's eye? Are your surroundings in nature, more urban, or suburban? What does your home look like, with as much detail as possible? How do you feel in this life that you love? If you could sense a smell or a taste to this life that you love, what smell or taste comes up for you? What texture can you imagine as you run your hands on this life? What and who is around you, specifically, that supports you in living the life of your dreams?

You can use this practice of visioning to help you gain a clear picture of a life that you LOVE and invite your whole body into "experiencing" this vision as if it is already happening. 

Just as your mouth watered at the "thought" of your favorite food, your body and your life respond in kind to this fuller, more expressive vision that is emerging. In this process, you're creating new neural pathways that attune you to say yes to opportunities and experiences that lead you in the direction of this vision. 

Your mind becomes more receptive and drawn to a life you love because it has experienced the vision as a real possibility.

So here’s your coaching assignment for the week:

• Bring to your mind an area of your life that you'd like to express more fully.
• Now ask yourself these questions: What would I LOVE to experience in this area of my life? What does it look like? What does it feel like? What does it smell like? What does it taste like? What does it sound like?
• Be as specific and detailed as possible as you answer the questions. As you respond, ask yourself, "Am I feeling the LOVE in this? Do I feel JOY when I envision this? Do I feel more FREE as I imagine this life?"
• As you imagine a life you love, you can express what comes up for you by writing it out, or you can draw it out on a piece of paper, or you can sculpt it, or whatever means you have to bring a fullness to the vision.

It's not often that people take the time to imagine a life they LOVE. I encourage you to take some time, even a few minutes, and do this. See what comes up for you and share with me if this exercise helped you to vision your life in a different way.

Can your life be like a beautiful garden of roses? Absolutely. Imagine yourself taking the time to stop and smell the roses. And who knows? You might open your eyes and see that the roses have been there right in front of your nose all along. Namaste.

I'd love to hear what you think about using your senses to envision your future. Please leave a comment below. And if you need some extra support, know that I am available to be a listening ear and provide some guidance if you'd like clarity on whatever challenges you may be facing in your life. Click here to contact me for a free clarity session with prayer.

p.s. I'm planning to do a Vision Board workshop this September in both Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. If you have any interest in getting notified of the early bird pricing special, simply send me an email and let me know to put you on the list.

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