I had a VIP session with my coach this week. We were delving into the one thing I most want to shift in my life right now, and we starting diving into a book I didn’t know I was going to write (because editing and updating one, writing one, and making notes on another book isn’t enough for me, obviously!). In fact, not only did I not know I was going to write it, I resisted it for at least 30 minutes.
Then Creative Donna got hold of it – and she’s like a dog with a juicy bone, so I gave in grudgingly (I’d like to say graciously, but it wasn’t!). Chapter one: Follow your inspiration without judgment or expectation. This is something I know with my whole heart – that your inspiration will never lead you astray.
What leads you astray is judging what your inspiration is giving you, or having huge expectations about where it might go. There is a possibility that a book you write will be a bestseller, but that’s not why you write. You write because you’re given the inspiration to do so. You write because you’re called to it. You write because there is a compulsion to do so.
What happens as a result of you following your inspiration is out of your sphere of influence – you can’t make people buy your book or your program or support the business you were inspired to begin. But following your inspiration may bring unseen and often unsung benefits. Starting my blog was the beginning of a journey that helped me to become the writer I’d always wanted to be – I honed my craft, and in doing so, I’ve created a staggering body of work!
Those articles and blog posts are always there, ready to help whoever they’re for. (Including me!) That blog has brought me so much joy, it’s challenged me, it’s helped me to start to get over my fear of being ‘seen’ in the world, it’s helped me to get more comfortable championing my work, it’s helped me meet people I’d never have met, it’s led to some interesting collaborations, it’s helped and inspired thousands of people over the last 8 years.
If I only judged the ‘success’ of that inspired action by how much money it brought in, I would have missed the point by a fucking country mile. Inspired action works that way – you don’t know what amazing gifts it will bring you, but it will bring gifts. It’s inspired. It’s given to you by the Divine, whatever your definition of that is (God, inner self, universe, muse). Do you trust the Divine? Do you trust that what you’re inspired to create and do is given to you?
And if so, why would you hesitate? Why would you throw the gift of inspiration back in the face of the Divine? For me, I have done it out of fear, out of lack of confidence in me, I’ve done it because I didn’t understand inspiration, I didn’t trust the Divine, I’ve done it because frankly, it seemed too fucking easy!
Inspired action and creation is easy. It’s fun. It’s joyful. It’s sometimes challenging, and your brain and heart and soul feel like they’ve been wrung out. But ultimately it feels ‘right’, and you just find yourself doing it (even if your brain is arguing that you don’t want to write this book or take this action, 10 minutes later, you are!)
What derails the inspiration train is judgement – is this good or bad? (Not your business, follow your inspiration) Should I do it? (Gift from the Divine, remember…crack on!) Who will like it? (Not your business, just follow your inspiration) Someone else said/did something vaguely similar. (So? You have this Divine inspiration for a reason, just crack on!)
Expectation will also derail the Inspiration Train…and I am going to be vulnerably honest here. I wrote the Heal Your Money ebook 7 years ago. And I have not sold many copies. I have given away more than I have sold. My expectation was that it would sell, and I would be Richie Rich. It didn’t. So I stopped listening to and following my inspiration…because what was the point?
Never mind that I have this great ebook that I can send to people who need help to Heal their Money. Never mind that I have enough lessons from writing and publishing and marketing Heal Your Money that I could fill another book (and no, I am NOT writing that book!) Never mind that I continue to learn life-changing lessons from that book – just this week I learned about the expectation and intention behind it practically guaranteeing failure!
Never mind all that, it was a financial ‘failure’ and I threw inspiration under the bus for a few years…not because the inspired action didn’t do what it was supposed to, but because it didn’t meet MY expectations! Inspired action will take you somewhere. It will lead you further along your path. It will lead you to prosperity and abundance…but not if you keep judging it and weighing it down with expectations that are not your business. Your business is to follow your inspiration, that’s it. Do that, and you’ve done your job. Then you get to see where it’s led you…and let it continue to lead you.
At some point during the VIP session, my genius coach said “when in doubt, go back to chapter one” – this is it guys. When you’re not feeling great, if you’re stuck, if you’re wondering how the eff you’re going to get what you want in life, go back to chapter one. What’s your inspiration sharing with you right now? Follow it, without judgement or expectation…and just see where it leads you.
No judgement. No expectation. Just inspiration.
Love
Donna.x