Permission to Dream
Soul Sabbatical, a book by Yolanda Harper is out now, get your copy here!
For most of us, the waters we swim in choke out our capacity to dream. While we do fine with identifying big life goals – where to go to school, our desired profession, how to climb the ladder
of success, even goals to partner and have children (or not) are not hard to put on our to-do list. We often just take the next step that’s expected of us. But along the way, we lose our capacity to check in with our heart’s desires and ask the question, “What do you want,
Darling?” and to reach deeply with the response of “what if...?”
When we’re caught up in hustle culture, we start to believe that we have little agency over how we spend our time and energy. That our lives are dictated by clock-punching and billable hours. We forget that we can choose to be the author of our lives and choose what we do, when, how, and with whom.
Perfect Day Exercise – a journaling prompt to write out, in as much detail as possible, what an ideal day of work, play, connection, and rest would look like. This has been a game changer for me, and I spend some time doing it at least quarterly or whenever I’m feeling stuck.
Reclaim Your Time, Energy, and Joy
The Perfect Day Exercise is great to start to identify ways that you can go from half-living to reviving your heart and reclaiming your time, energy, and joy.
It might be as simple as turning your phone off at the end of the day, taking lunch away from your computer, or starting your day with journaling and a cup of coffee instead of rushing into your day.
It might lead to more significant changes, such as exploring ways to shorten your commute by moving to a different part of town, negotiating to work remotely, or changing jobs completely.
How Do You Want to Feel?
The Perfect Day Exercise can also help you explore how you want to feel through your days. If burn out is a chronic feeling of exhaustion and resentment, what would you like, instead.
When I was planning my sabbatical, I focused more on how I wanted to feel at the end of my sabbatical time, then got clear on the things that helped me to feel those ways. My “job description” during my sabbatical was to do the things on that list.
Since then, I’ve integrated my sabbatical into my days and do those activities much more regularly.
Exquisite Kindness
A byproduct of my sabbatical is the incredible connection I’ve gained with myself. I can better protect my time and energy for the things that are truly important to me. I’ve simplified my calendar and my friends list. I’m much nicer to myself and better able to connect with the people who matter most to me.
Deeper Still
Even so, I know that this is just the beginning of my soul sabbatical process. This is a lifelong journey. I’ll always be growing around this. Even from the time I took my sabbatical to the writing of my book about it, I’ve learned and have grown. Even through the writing of the book, I’ve learned and grown more.
I like to think of a soul sabbatical as a counter-cultural movement. One that can change our hearts and the world. I invite your heart to join.
Find out more in the recently released Soul Sabbatical. You can find it on Amazon or at www.yolandaharper.com
