“What’s the best path for me? How do I even know?”
My client and I were talking about how to make sense of all the different types of personal development out there. Should she follow Buddhism or Yoga or Martha Beck or Oprah?
For some of us, we find a particular teacher or course of study that seems to fit. Then we know the next step because it’s prescribed. There’s a structure to follow and usually a community of people who are also walking that way.
For others, there’s no ONE THING that feels right to follow. It feels more intuitive to follow the breadcrumbs and assemble your own map. Especially if you’re a bit of a rebel.
But when you’re building your own path, it can feel lonely and confusing to walk that path alone.
You start asking yourself, “What will people think of me if I do this?” and “How do I know it’s the ‘right way’ to go?”
I know from personal experience the critical inner voices that pop up when you forge your own path. After 17 years of running my own business, defining and redefining myself and what I do, I’ve wrangled with my share of fear and uncertainty.
It’s okay to build your own map of understanding.
That’s why I share this quote when I teach my group program, Soul School. It’s one of my own personal breadcrumbs I found on my trail to understanding myself and my place in the world.
You don’t have to rigidly follow any prescribed path in your life.
In fact, it’s better if you don’t rigidly follow anything, but rather cultivate the ability to craft your own way of knowing.
That’s actually why I created Soul School in the first place. NOT to create a single path that my students have to follow. But rather to offer them multiple useful tools and experiences so they can assemble their own insights and remodel their life to suit their own soul’s satisfaction.
I am feeling the energy building for the next Soul School cohort — seekers and the deeply curious who want the best of psychological and spiritual tools, plus accountability, community and practice time to try methods out and see what works for them.
My last Soul School alumni group still meets monthly with me because they’ve created such mutual support and understanding. There’s a sisterhood there that’s hard to find in outside “normal” life.
If support for finding your own path is speaking to what you’ve been hungry for, I want to chat with you about Soul School.
You can find your own way. But you don’t have to do it alone.