Mind the GAP! 

One of the highlights of my ‘memory banks’ of my experience of living in London, England is the London Underground tube system. This ever-efficient public transportation of the cosmopolitan city ensures that thousands of the city’s commuters get to and fro work on a daily basis. For many years, I was one of those thousands milling about the busy underground train system; struggling to acquire a tiny amount of its real estate to put our feet on till we get to our station of choice. For a long time after I left the great city I always remembered the overhead public announcement system dishing out the warning phrase – MIND THE GAP- whenever we got to one of the stations on my daily route. Yes, there was a gap in between the underground rail track and the edge of the door of the train at that particular station. This design artifact makes it easy for a non-observing passenger trying to get in or off the train to slip their legs into the space created by this gap-a very scary mishap. Luckily the PA warnings were effective and passengers have not been known to have accidents at those scenes.

There is another type of GAP you do need to mind in your pursuit of wholesome living. This gap is the one between where you are now and where you envisage being in the future. In the previous issue of this newsletter, I encouraged you to engage your power of vision. I invited you to dream BIG and imagine a life where all aspects of your life are well interconnected. I believe you were able to envision great things for both your personal and career lives. I hope you were able to cast a vision of an ideal future in which you have great engagement in all aspects of your life.

The visioning part is only the beginning of your step towards a wholesome way of living. Having defined in some ways the type of ideal world you will like to be in, you need to have a process in place that will anchor your getting that type of life. This process is one that will help you mind the gap between the current life that you have and the ideal future you have envisioned. It includes defining what it will take to get from point A to Point B.  

A number of thought-provoking questions will help you with this stage in your journey towards wholesome living.

How will you bridge that gap?

What kind of obstacles do you anticipate might be in your way of achieving the wholesome way of living?

What barriers would you have to knock off to achieve that kind of life you desire?

Are there pieces of knowledge and information that you need to gather together to be able to make informed decisions?

Do you need to enlist the help of others to help you find answers to this line of questioning?

In upcoming issues of this newsletter, I will provide information about such resources that may help you mind that gap; tools that will help you decipher how to go about bridging that gap.

Vision, the ability to dream, the special gift of imaginations, has been given to you as a tool for exploring life in an imaginary world. That imaginary world at times could be so wild and far removed from what your current situation is.

The ability to step away from your current situation and envision an ideal world, a perfect world where everything is taking place in the way you desire them to be, is very empowering. The object of my discussion here is picturing an ideal world where your career life and your personal life and your life purpose are working together to each other’s advantage. Such vision casting is a great stepping stone for launching out your engaged life.

Since the engaged life should be revolving on your purpose in life, do take some time to determine what that life purpose is. What is your mission in life? What are you on this earth for?  With the reality of this life purpose on the background of your mind, go on and vision your personal and career lives in this perfect world.

Take time to vision your personal life. In that ideal world, where will you be living? What types of relationships would you have going on? What kind of community involvement will you be having? What type of wardrobe will you have?  The list goes on and on.

Also take time to vision your career life in that imaginary perfect world. Where will you be working? Who will be your colleagues? What kind of hours will you be working? Who will you be influencing through the output of your work? If you are in business, cast a vision of an ideal world where your business goals are met.

On the aspect of your career and personal life interconnection, in that ideal world, what kind of lifestyle does your career position allow you to have? How much leisure time will you have to pursue your personal goals?

 And in this ideal world, how is your vision of wholesome living being fulfilled? How will your career and personal life engagements be working towards fulfilling your life purpose?

Having a vision is only the beginning of your steps towards a better life. However, it is a very important step. Without a vision of that ideal world, you may find it hard to define what you really want and what it will take you to get there.

 So it’s vision casting time. Take a break. Find a great environment that is conducive for visioning. Then dream up your imaginary world! Get on to that stepping stone for making the next phase of your life a reality.

The typical individual works for two-thirds or more of their life time. During this career-pursuing period, the individual undergoes a wide range of major life events such as marriage, parenting, buying a house, moving house, relocating, ending of relationships, immigrating and more. With this underlying background, a large percentage of the population at various times in their career journeys, often experience difficulties and challenges that impact negatively on other areas of their lives.

However, with the right tools in place, individuals could be prepared to better handle the complexities of balancing their career journeys with other areas of their lives. Wholesome Career Living Inc. exists to provide such resources and services aimed towards healthy career living to both groups and individuals who are seeking a new career, pursuing it, advancing it, changing it orretiring from it.