Want to be happy? Break the Rules
If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun~ Katherine Hepburn
What kind of rules do you have swimming in your head right now? Rules like:
~I have to have my house clean all the time (or for sure before I have any fun!)
~I have to get my work done before I play (and by the way the work is never done)
~I made this decision, so I can’t change my mind now
~I have to wait until my kids are older until I take that trip that I have been dreaming about
~I can’t think of quitting my job when I have responsibility to my family to bring in my current income
-I can’t let my true desires out because they will turn my life upside down
~I can’t change the direction of my business when I have announced I was going in one direction, what will people think of me?
~I can’t move this year, I have to wait until next year
All the rules that put your life on hold. The rules that say to your Authentic Self “Not now honey, you have to wait” OR “You can NEVER do that, EVER!” The rules that hold you back rather than move you powerfully forward into your aliveness and vitality.
You, my dear friend, are meant to be living a life where you are creating your own rules and breaking the ones that don’t serve you. Creating your own rules that expand and free your life into the wide open spaces of your own highest vision, rather than keep it held back in dullness and mediocrity.
3 Ways to Break the Rules so you can Create the Life of Your Dreams
#1. Begin to bring the rules you have been living by to your conscious awareness. What rules do you hold yourself to? Rules that you might not even know you are living by. One way to uncover the unconscious rules that are holding you back the most is to look at where in your life are you the most stuck.
Where you are the most stuck in your life is where you can find your most limiting, rigid rules.
I remember when I graduated from college I moved to Dallas, TX and looked for a job in my field. No matter what I tried I could not find a job and I felt like I was running really fast into a brick wall. I held to my rule “You must find a job in the field you went to school for” for a long time and it caused me so much pain. I finally gave myself permission to “break the rules” and go back to graduate school in a totally different field that was aligned with my true passion. That is when things really expanded for me in my life.
So what are the most rigid rules you are holding to, that need to be broken?
#2. Let your life look different. Your life is meant to look dramatically different than anyone else’s.
I say to my Clients “If your life looks like everyone else’s, then you are off track. Your life it meant to be hand-crafted and as unique as you are”.
What rules can you break that would give you more permission to live differently than you have been living? To live in a way that is more authentic and true to who you really are.
I have a Client who is very inspirational to everyone around her because she has done this in every area of her life. Her most recent example is that she had a desire to be married but to not live with her partner. So her partner lives in another state and they go back and forth to visit each other and she is extremely happy. She broke the rule that you are to live full-time with the person you are married to.
#3. Adjust your time frame to accelerate going for what you want….NOW! The rules in your mind want you to delay the big changes that would bring you to your dreams faster. How are you putting off what you want until later? It often sounds like this:
-When the kids graduate from High School we will take that trip around the world
-When I have time I will take that business-building program to create the business of my dreams
-When the stress that is happening in my family calms down, then I will take action on my dreams
-When I am done with the big project at work, I will talk to my boss about going part-time, so I can pursue my passion
-I am so tired and overwhelmed in my life right now, I will wait until I feel more rested and energized
There will ALWAYS be a reason to delay taking action on your dreams. ALWAYS. Begin to practice taking action despite your “rules” of the perfect time and know that the way will open up as you take action.
I remember one the first Therapists I coached to start her private practice years ago. She had been dreaming about this for 5 years and kept putting it off because it just “wasn’t the right time”. When we worked together she finally opened her practice and it quickly took off. Her comment to me was “WOW if I wished I would have done this sooner, I could have been living this for the last 5 years instead of working at a job that was so out of alignment with my Spirit!”
What have you been saying “No” to over and over again that instead you need to say YES to and start pursuing?
Look closely at all of the rules that have been holding you back in creating the life of your dreams. Give yourself permission to the break the rules so you can finally life the hand-crafted, soul inspiring life that your Spirit intended to live when it came to the Planet!