If your life was a blank canvas, imagine the colors and shapes you would want to use to create the life you want. How would it look? What images symbolize the life you want?
If you are musically inclined, you can think about this in terms of notes on a piano. How would you like the notes to be arranged to represent the life you want to live?
Imagine an empty vase and a table full of cut flowers. Each flower represents an important part of your life. What would each flower stand for and how would you arrange them?
Each of us has a unique set of needs and desires in terms of creating an ideal life. My vase would be full of big, colorful flowers to represent family, friends, time in nature, one on one time with clients, speaking, teaching, writing, collaborating, doing yoga, walking with my dog, swimming in the ocean, nurturing my body with good food, and learning new things. There would be small sprays of greenery and baby’s breath to represent mindfulness, gratitude, and self-compassion. There would be daisies sprinkled throughout because they remind me of my Mom who gave me the gift of life. I see rosebuds and thorns because I want to embrace pain and suffering as part of the journey.
I often ask my clients to journal about their Ideal Day. It is a wonderful way for them to begin to visualize how they want their lives to look and feel. I encourage them to get really granular and down to the nitty gritty. Here is the prompt they receive:
Find a quiet spot and set aside a time when you will not be interrupted for about an hour or so. Give yourself this gift of time and space to really think about and imagine the ways you want your life to look and feel. You may light a candle or brew a cup of tea to create a sacred space.
Begin to journal about a day that involves work. Imagine what time you will wake up. Include your morning routine, the foods you eat, the clothes you wear. Think about the people you want to work with and the impact you want to have in the world. What skills do you want to use and what is the role you dream of having at work? Imagine how you spend your lunch hour and how you interact with the community if this is important to you. You can continue your ideal day all the way until bedtime. Think about your evening meal, how you spend the evening hours. Imagine the routines or rituals you want in your ideal day.
Next, journal about a day of play. Follow the same process from the moment you arise until the time your head hits the pillow.
Give it a try. Journal about your Ideal Day. See what comes up for you. Chances are that there are already many things working perfectly in your life. Notice what is already IDEAL. Notice too, the few things you might like to add to your life in order to make it more rich and satisfying.
Here is what clients are saying…
“I enjoyed working with Carrie. I felt comfortable with her from the very beginning; she’s very warm, supportive, and easy to talk to. She helped me retool my resume and linkedin profile after taking care to learn about my experience, skills and desires. I highly recommend working with her if you have the chance.”
Going in for meetings with Carrie was the best thing I could have possibly done for my education and career. With her tremendous help I was able to figure out what I wanted to do and how I needed to go about my career. I can’t possibly thank her enough for her crucial role in jumpstarting my career and getting me headed in the right direction.
Carrie was an informative, supportive and thoughtful guide during a time of career refinement. She served as a sounding board in assessing benefits and challenges of positions, reviewed application materials, prepared me for interviews and debriefed and supported decision-making. The mock interview coaching sessions were incredibly valuable to me.
As a recent graduate with my master's degree in biomedical sciences, Carrie and Pink Sky Career Counseling were immensely helpful in the process of landing my first "real" job. I was at a loss for how to apply for a position to start my career in such a specialized field. With little to no work experience, Carrie was able to help formulate my resume, cover letter and references, and manage my LinkedIn page as well as provide general career counseling. Thanks to Carrie's help and guidance I recently accepted an intraoperative neurophysiologist position for NuVasive in Minneapolis, MN. I could not have done it without Carrie's help. Long story short - I highly recommend Pink Sky Career Counseling for any career counseling you may need.
Not a day goes by that I don't thank Carrie in my mind on the way to my new job. Calling her was one of the best things I ever did for myself. Carrie is very intuitive, connected in the community, genuinely caring, and a master of her craft. Of course if you sign on for this, you have to dig deep and do things that are outside your comfort zone to get to where you want to be in life. But she held my hand all the way till the end and beyond. I cannot thank or recommend her enough.
I highly recommend Carrie. She did an amazing job helping me with my resume and providing valuable guidance in my job search process. I ended up being offered a great new job and wouldn't have gotten there without Carrie's assistance and support.
Carrie is amazing, I had a position open that I didn't know about until 4 days before it closed, just before the weekend. She went above and beyond to get it accomplished for me. I highly recommend working with her.
Carrie was fantastic to work with. She listened to what I was wanting and she produced a excellent product, responses to my resume increased and just recently landed a great job!