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How many thoughts do we think per day? Estimates range from 12,000 to 60,000. How many millions of thoughts have passed through your mind over the years? Ideas, like musical notes, fly easily away, unless captured and anchored.

•    How many ideas have captured your attention?
•    What have you done with those ideas?
•    Which ideas recur from time to time, maybe over long periods of time?
•    Which ideas do you regret not having realized?

Inertia prevents us from pursuing ideas that require us to expand our thinking, seek and pursue possibilities or explore ways to develop the idea. Yet, we experience being most alive when we express who we are, revealing our inner self to the outer world. As we engage with the world from the depths of our essence, we realize more and more of the fullness of who we are. Herein lies the deeper meaning — contributing more of who we are rather than what we do.

What is calling you to create and contribute to the world? Listen with rapt attention. The key to happiness and meaning awaits your understanding.

How have you viewed yourself acting to bring forth your idea?
Consider changing your perspective. For example, if you feel the urge to start a business, you have probably imagined yourself talking with friends to learn what they think about your idea. You might be deterred if the first friend you talk to cannot envision you being successful in starting a business.

What other perspective could you take?
Begin this exploration by thinking about what feels comfortable to you. Maybe you would feel comfortable writing about your idea before you consider speaking about it to your friends. This would allow you to explore multiple aspects of the proposed business over a period of days or weeks. You may want to explore:

•    What attracts me to this idea?
•    What is important to me about this idea?
•    Imagine that you have brought forth this idea in its fullness and it is 5 years in the future, what do you experience as you do this?

Focusing your thoughts and ideas by providing a venue for their expression allows you to develop them, identify the ones you resonate with, discard the ones that make you feel discordant and generally comprehend varied aspects of your proposed initiative.

Now you are prepared to act from your emerging understanding.

What step, even a small step, can you take to express who you are in the world through this initiative?
The value of taking a small step cannot be overestimated. In taking this step you will stand in a different place than you do now. From that vantage point you will see what you cannot see now. Step by step you create a trajectory toward greater and greater self-expression as you unfold this initiative.

Obstacles and interfering thoughts will arise. What obstacles/interfering thoughts have arisen in the past to stop you from bringing an idea to completion?
•   Did you overcome the obstacles/interfering thoughts?
•   How?
•  If you did not overcome them, how do you feel about this now?

What obstacles/interfering thoughts may arise, now, to stop you from:
•  Beginning the process of exploring and understanding your calling?
•  Taking a step toward the realization of this initiative?

Many of us discover a new calling later in life and question its validity. I appreciate the perceived difficulties involved in making a transformative transition later in life, but the rewards can be enormous and far outweigh the difficulties encountered. I experienced that when I was the chair of a basic science department in a northeastern medical school, director of a multi-campus research center and a director of my research lab. No longer did the activities associated with these positions allow me to express the fullness of who I was. I felt fragmented rather than focused, stilted rather than dynamic, stale rather than invigorated. Taking a leave of absence, I explored other options and discovered coaching. It’s been 10 years since I founded my coaching business. I have never been happier or more creative than I am now.

Joan C. King Ph.D., MCC, is a certified Success Unlimited Network coach and coach trainer, founder and principal owner of Beyond Success LLC. 970-226-5626, joanking@beyond-success.com