Committing to your Soul is all about saying yes to the opportunities She brings your way. You say yes when your Soul nudges you to take those little and big steps in the direction of the next evolution of your career and your life.
In a recent blog, I shared the importance of taking those consistent, little golden steps, in order to make progress on your Soul’s path (read here).
Equally important is knowing when to say NO to opportunities and requests (sometimes demands) on your time. You must learn to say NO, and sometimes say it many times, so that when the YESES show up in your life, you are aware enough to notice them.
I’ve been helping women through this journey of evolution for nine years now. In that time, I’ve noticed certain patterns, milestones you might say, of how their Soul guides them on the journey. There is often, in the beginning, a stage of stillness and quiet, where there is a lot of inner work happening but there aren’t a lot of external opportunities showing up. This makes sense, because your Soul knows you need the time to heal old beliefs, burdens, and wounds that no longer serve you.
At some point, after the initial stillness, there is a surge of external activity. Opportunities that weren’t there often show up at this time. Many of these opportunities seem like the right fit. And my clients, understandably so, are eager to say yes. And even if they are not exactly ready to say yes, they feel the internal (and sometimes external) pressure to say yes. My clients often, at this point, feel like they’ve taken enough time doing inner work, and feel guilty saying NO to these career possibilities.
But this is precisely what they need to do. When the opportunities start showing up, it’s a sign from the Universe that you are on the right track. These opportunities are often indicators that the perfect one is on its way if you have patience, and trust enough to wait.
So for example, one client had been working on clearing old beliefs that were keeping her from stepping out of her comfort zone. She was in the wellness field and her Soul was nudging her to take her work into different communities. This was something that excited my client but also scared her. She worried that she wasn’t ready to “take the show on the road” so to speak. And she worried that no one would want the unique gifts she had to offer.
Initially, as we focused on her internal healing there weren’t a lot of opportunities coming her way. This was fine because she wasn’t in the energetic space to begin that work. At some point, however, she was feeling more confident and ready, and then the opportunities started coming. And, understandably so, she felt she needed to say yes even though these opportunities weren’t quite right for her.
Fortunately, as we talked and she shared the pressure she was feeling to say yes, she remembered that her Soul didn’t speak to her by adding a sense of urgency. That feeling of urgency came from fear not from her Soul. As she continued to check within, she recognized that these opportunities were actually NO’s. Some were too far, some where asking her to do work she didn’t really enjoy, others were in situations were students really weren’t ready for her type of work. So instead of settling, and giving in, she graciously said NO. She still was nervous about saying NO but she chose to trust her Soul. She remembered that her Soul had not steered her wrong before.
Now, I want to be clear that evolving your career is, well, an evolution. It happens in steps and stages. And there will be many times when you say yes to an opportunity, that although not perfect, is clearly a stepping stone to where you want to go. However, in those cases you will feel right about doing it. There will be a sense of knowing and trust that by saying yes you are getting closer to where you want to go.
In the above situation with my client, she was feeling pressure to say yes out of guilt, and worry that nothing else would come her way. Once she checked within her inner guidance showed her that saying yes to these opportunities would be taking her AWAY from where she wanted to go, or at least creating quite a lengthy detour. So it was clearly a NO.
After my client said no a few times, the yeses finally started to showing up. And little step, by little step, her career evolved to a place that gives her and her students much joy and fulfillment. But she wouldn’t have been able to get there if she had said yes to everything that came before then. She would’ve been so busy, or overwhelmed or distracted, that she might have missed the yeses.
So my dears, where in your life is your Soul guiding you to say NO so you can say YES to what is meant for you?
Blessings,
Lisa
Listen to audio version of blog below
Listen to follow-Up Meditation: Knowing When to Say NO