When the Door to Discover Yourself Opens
The door to discovering and walking your path opens at certain parts of life. These often occur during major transitions or setbacks in life when you are “forced” to slow down and introspect, such as when you are:
- Choosing your course of study
- Going to graduate
- Considering a career transition
- Starting a new life project
- Starting or ending a relationship
- Losing motivation
- Facing physical, emotional or mental health challenges
How it feels when the door opens
When the door to discover yourself opens, you may naturally reflect deeper, question the status quo, try to find more information and feel like exploring something new.
You feel that you can no longer stay as you are, doing the same things each day and living the same way.
You feel that something needs to change.
You might even be looking for something more fulfilling, or for a new purpose in life.
This period often feels scary and exciting. If you have commitments, it feels risky to leave your current comfortable and predictable life, and to step into an uncertain future.
You may find yourself pondering about life questions:
- I have been working in this job and career. I am good at it, but it is not what I want in the future. What do I want?
- Maybe I want to go into “xxx” instead. But.. is “xxx” what I really want?
- I have spent so much effort and time to build my life. Is it wise or silly to let go and let it all crumble down?
- Should I continue or end things?
- If I take a different path, will I regret it? How do I know if it is for better or for worse?
- Is it too late to start again? (e.g. new career, industry, country, sense of identity, relationship).
An open door offers opportunities and invitations from life to explore, learn and reflect.
Not everyone gets a second chance in life…so.. Treasure it.
It could be a second chance for you, such as:
- Rediscovering your life directions: e.g. in career, relationship, life purpose
- Redefining your lifestyle: e.g. sleeping, eating, environment, country, culture
- Re-examining your inner motivations
- Mending and building relationships and interactions with others
- Healing the physical body and health
- Transforming fixed mindsets, thought and emotional patterns
- Deepening and widening your perspectives
When you are faced with an open door, you can choose to walk through the door and explore what is ahead, or turn away and live in the same way.
If you choose to dive deeper and explore the unbeaten track, new choices and opportunities are likely to open up for you.
To be realistic, do not expect a smooth and rosy journey. More often than not, there are challenges, with learning value. Many who have taken the journey have transformed and found deeper and expanded fulfilment and meaning in their lives.
If you are reading this post and looking to embark on a journey of exploring and living your path, here are the common stages of the exploration:
Stages of Exploring Your Path
1) Awakening
This is a persistent feeling that something is not right and needs to change. You may question or be questioned on your perspectives, your default lifestyle and automatic attitudes. You may feel like you want to explore and experience something new.
2) Exploring
You may find yourself researching, reading or looking up topics that call to you. You may be signing up for courses different from your usual path. You may find yourself travelling to different countries, meeting new people and taking up new activities. Nothing is really committed yet, it is simply exploring, experiencing and learning.
3) Deepening
Eventually, some of these new explorations intrigue and interest you more. You may find yourself deepening in that domain, such as spending more time and efforts with the people and communities in that area, take up further courses, move to a new environment and immerse deeper in that something that you find interest in.
4) Application and Creation
As you deepen your understanding, knowledge and experience in that area, you may come to a stage where you want to apply and create something. This could be finding a new career or job, starting a new business or practice, organising activities, performing or basically doing something where you take action and create an impact on others.
5) Plateau
This is an optional stage. After a while of working on the new area, deepening and applying, you may feel like you are at a plateau. While being relatively competent, you may feel bored, repetitive or hit certain obstacles and ceilings when you try to push to a next level or deepen your current expertise. What helps is to be mindful that you are in a plateau and experience it fully. Follow what feels right, to keep going, take a pause or change direction.
6) Re-evaluation
After a period of being at a plateau, what tends to happen is a period of re-examining and re-evaluating yourself, your priorities and where you have come to. This is similar to the stage 1) Awakening, but different as you now bring the experience(s) of the previous stages.
7) Deepening / Creation / Exploring
After re-evaluation, you may choose to deepen further in the domain you have been in (stage 3: Deepening), or find your own stye to create something new in this domain (stage 4: Application and Creation), or even re-enter a stage of exploring what interests you (stage 2: Exploring).
At each stage, new doors may open for you to further learn, explore and reflect.
The beauty is in living and experiencing mindfully each step of the process, with graceful acceptance of the outcomes. You may find yourself growing into a wiser being. What used to agitate or upset you may no longer bother you. Your understanding and grace towards yourself, others and occurrences around you may also widen and deepen.
If such a door has opened for you, how is your experience?
Welcome to comment below.
Also, if you are considering or already following a spiritual Guru, teacher, or organisation, read on for Your Path or the Guru’s Path.
