Do you know what it feels like to be "in the zone"? Do you want to feel like that again, when everything you do seems to work like magic, things align and you can almost feel the power?
It’s a great place to be. We all want it. I once even did a 3-month program called “Being in The Zone: How to get into it and stay in it”. They taught me how to get my integrity in my life and then everything works… that’s true, but it’s deeper than that.
I've come to realize that the experience of being in the zone has less to do with you and more about whether you are fulfilling your Leitmotif or not (see HERE if you’ve not yet read about the Leitmotif, the recurring theme of your life). Another way of putting it is your purpose, but that doesn’t really encompass the idea.
You’re born with both a Biology AND a Biography
We all have a biography (a path) that’s as given to us as our biology. It’s not that we can’t have a profound influence on our physiognomy, how we look at 70 has a great deal to do with how we lived our lives, but whether you are short or tall, brown-hared or blond generally does not.
In the same way, we are born with a set of biographical parameters we can either work with or against.
When we are working in and with those parameters, we experience being "in the zone". When we resist or try to change them, life can be hard.
It’s a bit like trying to be taller. I believe you can actually do that. They take part of your tibia and fibula out and then hold them apart for a year while they reconnect – longer.
You CAN change your biology like you can your biography, but it sounds pretty painful to me.
Taking the Easy path
Almost saying that is anathema in our culture. It’s like we get kudos if things are hard but when you are fulfilling your Leitmotif the experience is like being literally pulled forward. Doors open naturally, and the right people show up when you need them. You have to take action, but you can trust the process and the world to provide.
It is the opposite when the path is not yours. When you are trying to carve a path that is not really yours, not really authentic self-expression for you, it’s hard and you can experience being repelled.
Ever experienced being repelled from a path, a job, or a person?
Three years ago, before the pandemic, my family of six tried to move to Melbourne. It was impossible. We couldn't find a house, we couldn't find a school, and couldn't find the right car. We gave up! Then the pandemic struck. We were so grateful we were ‘stuck’ in the country!
A few weeks ago, my wife was offered an amazing work opportunity in another state. So, the whole family is moving. In a tight rental market, we got the first house we applied for. We bought the first car we were looking at and all my kids got into the school they wanted. Everything just worked! It's not easy because we're human beings and our emotions are up and down. But if look at it objectively, everything just slipped into place.
The experience has been that it’s actually easier to move than to stay! My wife is fulfilling something in her biography and the world is quite literally realigning itself to make it work.
I can’t prove this to you in a short piece like this, but I have worked with many, many people over the years in my Midlife Creation and Midcareer Creation programs to be able to vouch for it beyond my own experience and I’ve read a lot of hard evidence (if you want a reading list or to ask about the programs, request via email).
Either way, it is one of Chris Helder’s Useful Beliefs.
If you have to fight really hard
for something to work, everything seems
to be against you, maybe you shouldn’t do it!
When you're following the path you're meant to be on, it is so often just the most natural thing in the world to follow it. This is how it is MEANT TO BE! We are not meant to be fighting to carve a path through the world like an individual Don Quixote.
You are allowed to take the path of least resistance.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this interests you, there may be a number of ways I can help:
- If you want to chat, USE THIS LINK to find a time
- If you want to subscribe and get occasional pieces like this, GO HERE
- If you like this and/or think it might be useful for others, please share the love (Linkedin).
If you want my White Paper "Implementing Ambitious Strategies: from co-design to co-delivery", EMAIL ME
