E188 Daring to Look Back with Mary Rogers
I dare you. Look back.
Why look back when I’m not going there?
My darling listener, there is simply no better way to move forward than to tidy up first. Like when going on a trip, don’t leave a sink full of dirty dishes behind. If the future is going to be a decent adventure, let’s take some time to look around before we set off.
This episode is a workshop of sorts, teaching you how to properly look back. Not too far back, just at the last year. Recent guests on the podcast have shared the benefits of looking back as they sketched out their future lives.
If you are new to actively reflecting on your life, I don’t want to overwhelm you with going back to 1974 like a cold case detective. We are just looking and the last year in order to tidy up and move forward.
Grab a free download of one of my favorite worksheets that I send to my mentoring clients before we connect. I ask clients to do a brain dump within each life category, noting the events and changes in circumstances over the last 12 months.
After listening to this episode (which includes instructions), get your DOWNLOAD and then print the worksheets. Set aside 30 minutes or more in a quiet spot with your coffee or wine or whatever, and GO! Don’t worry about grammar or spelling, you don’t even have to write in complete sentences, Nobody will ever see this, it is just for you.
Work through the life categories one at a time or jump around. List significant events, changes, successes, almost-successes, how you spent your energy and time in each of the life categories. No judgment! Just the facts as they relate to what happened to you and by you. Not what you were thinking or feeling. What were you doing? What was actually happening?
Then what?
With mentoring clients who don’t come to me for help with a specific topic, those men and women who simply feel stuck or bored with life, I ask them to complete the worksheet and then, when we have our call, I ask them to summarize the worksheet as if they were telling me a story.
Together we work on how that “story” could be told in wildly different ways based on the same facts. I ask my own questions about where the story could lead. From there, no two sessions have ever been remotely similar! I’ve learned that each and every client has the answers to their questions about the near future within them. They just need to be guided with the right questions and a curious outsider’s perspective.
You can do the pretty much the same thing on your own, by writing it out in no more than a page, and I promise that you will be enlighted when you see how you’ve summarized your very own one year story. Question the way you’ve chosen to tell the story then rewrite it with a different perspective or attitude or focus.
Now you are ready to consider your near future story.
Just going through the process of the brain dump and looking at it will give you some clarity. Writing the back story will give you more. The real fun, the serious fun, begins when you move the story forward with intention and attention to the life categories. I suggest that you initially only look to the year ahead. I hate big projects too, so start small: one year.
Have fun with this!
Want some help?
Of course, I would LOVE nothing more than to connect with you one-on-one to help you with your story in a mentoring session. You can book your session HERE.
“I’m so glad I booked a one-on-one session with Mary. I really, really needed someone to talk to, a good listener and someone who could look at my mid-life changes and challenges with new perspective. Mary was so easy to talk to, like a dear friend who was listening with her heart. Her words of wisdom have really hit home with me and I have renewed confidence that all is going to be ok, and if not perfect, it’s ok because I’ve got this. I highly recommend her mentoring sessions. You will not be disappointed.” Diane
Quick reads on reflection:
Life Hack: How Self-Reflection Gives You a Happier and More Successful Life
Tiny Buddha: The Art of Reflection: Feel Your Way to a Happier Life
This episode is sponsored by ThePsychicNextDoor.com
Camille Procassini, the featured guest in Episode 172, is generously supporting the Experience 50 Podcast because frankly, my listeners have flocked to her for readings and this is her way of thanking me for introducing my audience to her. I’ve heard from more than a dozen of my podcast listeners who connected with Camille for a reading and the feedback includes “life-changing” and “profound experience”, which was my experience as well. To arrange a reading with Camille, The Psychic Next Door, visit: www.thepsychicnextdoor.com
