This is the last post I will write during the first half of my life. Not because I’m exactly 50% through my life (or approaching any significant external milestone) but because I’ve made a decision that will divide my life into “Before” and “After” segments: I’m going to stop dancing around the periphery.

Allow me to explain…

For decades, I’ve inhabited the edges of what I consider my “true life”: the life where I pursue my passions wholeheartedly, rather than merely dabbling. The life where I wake up excited to spend my days focused on what matters most to me, rather than repeatedly pushing the snooze button on my dreams. The life where I dive headlong into the ocean of authenticity, rather than tentatively dipping my toe in the pool. The life where I step into the arena, rather than watching from the sidelines.

The life that actually feels like me.

For me, this true life is largely about dedicating myself to my writing — finishing and publishing the books that have been dancing through my mind for years, keeping me awake at night but, come daylight, go scurrying into the shadows, consigned to the edges of my consciousness and forced to subside on scraps (figuratively and literally, as I hurriedly jot down my ideas on scraps of paper rather than giving them the space and time they deserve and fully fleshing them out).

But this is also about other changes I’m implementing in 2020 — simplifying and streamlining my business, getting healthier, and consistently maintaining a daily practice of gratitude, meditation, affirmations, visualizations, and relaxation. (The last book I read, the book I’m currently reading, and the next book on my shelf are, respectively: Mini Habits, Tiny Habits, and Atomic Habits. Do you sense a trend?) 😉

More than any specific habits or practices, though, I’m committed to making this the year when I stop approaching my life as if I’m merely conducting “research” (to use Jung’s word), stop playing at living and start actually living.

So, why am I telling you this? Two main reasons:

First, because I know the power of making a public declaration — I’m now accountable to you and everyone who will ask me, “So, how’s your new ‘true life’ going?” I want to have a good answer for you! (I’ll definitely be checking in throughout the year — here, on Facebook, and elsewhere — so I’ll have many incentives to keep up the positive results.)

Second, because I hope that this sparks some latent desire in you to stop dancing around the periphery of your own life. Perhaps you, like me, have felt a nagging at your sleeve (or, as Morpheus memorably put it in The Matrix, a “splinter in your brain”) — a desire to embrace your true calling and live in a way that feels authentic and true to your fullest, highest self. Perhaps, like me, you feel like you’ve kept your true life waiting far too long.

I imagine a scenario in which my true life is sitting in my car, engine running, waiting to take me on an adventure — but I’m not quite ready (or so I claim). I scurry between the house and the driveway, loading the trunk, packing, unpacking, repacking, but never getting in the car. (In short, dancing around the periphery.)

Now and then, my true life rolls down the window and calls out to me: “Are we gonna do this, or what?” And I always say, “Yes…but not quite yet. As soon as I’m packed. After I’ve done a bit more research. Once I’m feeling a bit more confident.” And my true life grows increasingly impatient, but still it waits for me — engine running, ready to go the moment I give the word.

So, true life, consider this “the word.”

The Secret Sits

Over the past year, I’ve frequently thought of Robert Frost’s short poem “The Secret Sits” (“We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the Secret sits in the middle and knows”). While I may not know Frost’s “Secret,” I do know there’s more to life than dancing around the periphery. Yes, I know that safety, familiarity, and comfort reside on the edges of life — away from the heat (and the heart). But I also know that wisdom, truth, beauty, fulfillment, and divine mystery reside in the center.

I know it’s possible to go through your entire life without actually living your life. And that thought terrifies me because, to a large extent, I feel like I’ve been on this path for decades — a path that merely leads round and round the periphery.

But now is the moment when I officially leave that path. I’ve wasted more than enough time on it. Now it’s time to write. It’s time to commit. It’s time to dive in. It’s time to live.

So now when my true life asks me, “Are we gonna do this, or what?” I can say yes. No ifs, whens, or buts — just yes.

…

P.S. If, like me, part of your authentic life involves writing a book, I hope you’ll join me in Your Soulful Book, a heart-centered program that provides all the tools, resources, and support you need to successfully write, publish, and market your soulful book in 2020. For information and to sign up, please visit www.yoursoulfulbook.com.