by Randi Levin

“Reinvention is a constant for each of us. So what’s next? Clients tell me they don’t know. I tell them to look inside. Make that connection. Get to know YOU! Where to begin? With a pause.” ~Randi Levin Coaching

Searching for something? We all are on some level. Actively or passively, everyone is seeking the next great adventure, the meaning of life, that goal attained, security, love, peace, or fulfillment. For many of us, the most meaningful search is the one that brings us right back to ourselves. Perhaps, what we are looking for the most is actually located right inside us. If we are listening, we can hear it. If we can envision it, we can attain it.

That internal dialogue that we all have with ourselves can, from time to time, get really loud. So can our powered up lives. Here is how you can use this summer to reposition and expand upon the concept of finding whatever you are “looking for” We each have 93 days, 15 hours and 47 official minutes of summer. Positioning a pivot starts with a few small steps. It begins with pressing the pause button.

Pause: Stop. Literally. What better time than summer to amend your regular daily programming with some personal time, an altered environment, and a non-traditional schedule? Pausing helps you to reflect upon your truest self because it creates the space and the time to reach inward. This is your time to reevaluate what works. What do you love to do? What have you wanted to do and have not? Maybe, it is just taking in the quiet. Remember daydreaming? Bring it back.

What was your favorite thing to do as a child? What was your happiest “pretend” moment when playing? Are there elements of any of those memories that are workable within your life NOW? Really think about it. Some of our best inspiration often comes from the most unlikely of places. A glimpse back can often empower a move forward.

Pausing Pointers:

The pause is one of the most effective tools we all have available to us. I myself am using it this summer in a significant way. For me, it is the ideal time to slow down, to reconnect to my inner circle of people as well as my inner self. I believe that whatever is next is rooted in my ability to slow my life down so that I can listen to it and just be present! We can only do that when we stop the noise in our everyday long enough to hear our own personal echoes.

1. Spend Time Alone

 Sometimes, taking alone time may seem impossible. Are you more comfortable amongst the chatter of your family, and amid the company of others? The benefit of getting to know YOU is empowering and actually a necessary ingredient in being able to pivot successfully in your own life. Time alone is introspective. It is in these alone moments that you can actually hear what our heart and your mind are whispering. Time alone promotes creativity, relaxation, plans and solutions that come not because you looked for them, but because you permitted the space to acknowledge that they actually existed in the first place. Time alone can be a walk, a run, a nap or a novel read. It may involve people watching, journaling, taking pictures or taking a class on line. Time alone builds self-esteem, the ability to feel secure in your own decisions, and overall clarity. Actions begin as thoughts; thoughts that often emerge most readily when you are focusing more on the art of being than in the habit of doing.

 2. Learn From a Book (not the way you think!)

There are a variety of ways to learn. What I am referring to is not the knowledge we get from reading a book, but from emulating the format. Most books do not ramble on endlessly from page 1 to page 300 with no breaks. Books are formatted using chapters. First a story, then a break, then a story, and then a break which allows the reader to pause and reflect on the characters, the plot, the elements of the total tale. Chapters allow the reader and the author to take logical pauses to refresh, think, or switch gears completely. If you “make like a book” and acknowledge the many chapters of your life, then logically you need to stop and regroup at the end of each chapter and just prior to starting the next. Recognizing the varied chapters in your life allows for creative license, interpretation, and thought. Just like a book your chapter thirty may not read the same as someone else’s. It is not supposed to. Nor are you required to compare our own chapter 1 to someone’s chapter 10. The legacy that you most want to create starts not when you are gone, but TODAY. Write that story. What chapter are you in now and what is next?

3. Say “Yes”

Say “YES” to one thing every day that you would normally not say yes to. What is one thing you have wanted to do—big or small—which you previously have not had the time, energy or commitment to do?  Do it now. Then savor how that makes you feel. What are the wow and aha moments that resulted from pausing and shifting perspective towards this one thing and perhaps towards you? This may sound like it would make you busier and less focused. Quite the opposite is true. The yes that you are welcoming into your life is all about fearing forward by stepping ahead into that which may make you uncomfortable. This yes will redefine what you are looking for because in order to say yes and create the space and time in your life for something new and something YOU, you need to say no to something that no longer is working for you. Allowing for a daily new yes keeps exploration alive and the potential to shift and refresh available to you.

Randi Levin CPC, founder & CEO, Randi Levin Coaching—is a transitional life strategist, author, speaker, and reinvention expert. Her core belief is that as women, we have the choice and the power to carve out and curate our own legacy based on embracing our ongoing evolution. Women in their 20’s make sweeping life-long decisions that no longer align with a 40, 50, 65 or 80-year-old version of themselves. Utilizing a “what’s next mindset,” Randi applies her Signature GPS Coaching System incorporating growth, purpose, and success steps to support her clients in pivoting and refreshing their lives empowering them to be the best reflection of who they are today. She is a contributor and featured expert for Huffington Post, Thrive Global, DivorceForce, and a variety of national publications and podcasts. Her workshops have been featured in The Wall Street Journal and she is a contributing author in the anthology series Get RESULTS!   www.RandiLevinCoaching.com |Randi@RandiLevinCoaching.com |Cell: 201-803-1333