Focused or Unfocused

I started my own ‘focused’ personal development journey around 2012/13. I say ‘focused‘ because we are all on a personal development journey every moment of every day, we’re just not always aware of it. Many go through life on autopilot, thinking life just happens around us, and all we can do is our best to dodge the waves. We re-act, meaning we act in ways we have done before, regardless of whether these ways worked, feeling like boats tossed around in the storm. When I made a deliberate, conscious, choice to take control of my own personal development, be pro-active and understand the power of focus things began to change.

One of the first focus exercises I did was write out a Definite Purpose, or aim for my life. Some things that I wanted to achieve, both materially and personally, and I created a ‘Dream Board’ to illustrate visually what I intended to achieve. So far so good! 🙂 Over the years I’ve studied countless books and listened to hours and hours of recordings, audio books and done my best to overcome mental, emotional and physical obstacles. This ‘Hero’s Journey’ malarkey is certainly not for the faint hearted!! 🙂 It takes persistence, courage, willingness to learn and the ability to reflect, recognise and course correct as necessary.

Something I’ve really wanted is a home of my own with a beautiful creative studio. At the beginning of my journey I found it extremely difficult to even contemplate the possibility of having a home of my own now. As a single, self-employed person the chances of being able to get any kind of mortgage is slim to none. I persisted in my vision, collecting images of things I really liked on Pinterest and did my best to imagine myself in my new home (as all the metaphysical books told me to do). As time went on, and on, and nothing was changing, naturally I began to feel a little discouraged. I was not happy living where I am because my heart was clinging to a dream of something wanted that I didn’t have.

Focus Growing Weak

Gradually my current home began to feel like a prison. It became rather untidy because I did not care for it, with paint was peeling off the walls and clutter obscuring the space. My energy was decreasing week by week and I began to feel it was hopeless. I was stupid for ever believing I could have a beautiful home. I’d looked at the beautiful images on my vision board of a wonderful, exciting creative studio, and I trusted in the process, yet where was my house?!!! How much longer will it take?!!! 🙁 My business was also stagnating and I found it hard to motivate myself. All my mind could focus on was that no one seemed to want what I could offer and despite having had such a strong urge and compulsion to create my workshops and courses, it felt no one understood the importance of them.

One day, my son called to say he wanted to help change my kitchen sink. It had become really nasty, and probably extremely germ infested. 🙁 There was black and green discolouration around the taps which I could not get off for love nor money, and the moulded plastic material constantly looked dirty and stained no matter how much bleach I used. The initial task of taking out the old sink created a HUGE chain reaction which resulted in a complete kitchen makeover. The kitchen is very often referred to as the ‘Heart of the Home’ yet I discovered it is so much more than that. As the ‘Heart’ of my home began looking beautiful, my own heart was feeling better. I felt inspired again and decided to begin the long process of decorating and decluttering. Also, with the images on my Dream Board of a beautiful white creative studio I decided to paint everything white. 🙂

Whiter than White?

After weeks of focused effort the downstairs is now done. Is it too white?!! Maybe, maybe not. It depends on your own perspective, but I LOVE IT. And the beautiful image on my Dream Board have become my reality. The lovely creative studio I have been yearning for was right there all the time. I had been looking for so long, yet I was not really seeing. I was only focused on the mess, the chaos, the desperation to get away from the turmoil. I wanted the peace, tranquility, calm, inspiration, creativity, fun, love and satisfaction that I thought I did not have. The Universe says YES to every thing we radiate energetically. My focus and energy had sunk into one of lack, need and dissatisfaction. It took the eyes of another to see the potential. Yet I had to turn the key and open the door to possibility. ‘You can’t teach what your don’t know’ is something I have always believed. This has proven itself to me over these last few weeks on a deeper level.

I am not whiter than white. Just because I teach others how to open their mind to their own possibility and potential does not mean I have it all sorted for ever more. We are all always learning and I am grateful for this experience. The energy in my home has shifted, my energy has shifted, and business is blossoming again. People who have previously done my courses are chomping at the bit for more, and new people are getting in touch. Where focus goes, energy flows. Today I have a ‘Creativity Cave, and a ‘Zen Den!’ 🙂 Nothing structurally has changed on the outside, but the inside feels very different.

The answers you seek usually are right in front of you if you take the time to change the way you look at things. We all have ‘blind spots’ and working in small groups is invaluable in helping us to see things through someone else’s eyes. We cannot see the back of our own head, yet friends can recognise us instantly from this perspective. We need each other. If you’re feeling stuck and want to explore how Creative Self Discovery can help you see new possibility then get in touch. I look forward to hearing from you. info@sandraowen.com or call 0781 361 2955. 🙂 Read just a few of the reviews here.