We tend to live in a small world of our making without realizing how cramped we’ve become until something comes along to shake us up and gets us to take a closer look. For the new to come the old must leave, but this can’t happen until we see it, name it, and choose to move in new directions.

That’s where the top ten comes in. These are the usual suspects, the same things we tend to think about all the time in one way or another. Anne Lamott talks about it as being on a hamster wheel of hoarding. However we look at it it’s about being stuck in old patterns of thinking, but there is a powerful and practical way to step outside our self-imposed cages. Once we recognize and honor what’s actually going on with us we have the opportunity to move past those things, deeper down to the pieces of ourselves that haven’t had a chance to reach the surface yet. When we tackle the top ten we begin to travel paths of previously unexplored inner territory and this is where the magic comes in.

Digging deeper gives lesser seen parts of ourselves a chance to come to life. The farther down we dig the more interesting it becomes because here we see ourselves in a new light. We start to unearth new material, new ideas, and new ways of being. This marks the beginning of consciously creating our lives. Past the top ten is where a bigger vision of our life is revealed. We’re no longer in a loop of repetition or on that hamster wheel of routine. We let the old standbys go and catch a breath of the unexpected that allows us to see what’s really been there all along asking for a little attention.

So what is it for you? Take a minute to write down your top ten. The ten things you find yourself constantly mulling over. Get specific and be detailed about what you obsess over or can’t seem to move past. Once you catch that on paper and give it an out loud voice there’s more freedom to let what’s hiding underneath come up to be seen. Ask yourself what else matters to you, what else in you wants to be lived?

When you name what that is for you a new journey begins.

This is how we break through and level up and it brings with it distinctly different energy and deeper insight. Keep going. Whenever we feel stuck or suffocated we can be sure it’s time to get out of our top ten and see what else wants our attention.

What you find in the search is yourself, authentic, essential, and fully alive.

kb