Are You Creating Your Life?

Are you creating your life, or is it just happening? Are you actively taking part in planning and creating the things that make up your life? Are you in charge of your life, or is your life in charge? Creating your life is the way to have the life you want, filled with purpose, meaning, and satisfaction.

How do you know if you're creating your life?

One way to know if you're creating your life, rather than the other way around, is to take a look at your life as it is, right now. Do you know how you got to this point, can you see the series of steps that took you from point A to B to C, and were they steps you planned or gave thought to? Does the progression of your life seem orderly and make sense?

Are you doing what you imagined or dreamed about doing; are you where you hoped or knew you'd be at this point of your life?

Or have you wondered "how did I get here? This isn't what I thought I'd be doing with my life, or how my life would turn out." Do the events that led to your present situation seem to be simply that, a bunch of mostly unrelated events that happened to you, and over which you had no control?

If you're not creating you life, if you're not feeling like the life you're living is one you created-or wanted-and you're not totally satisfied with the circumstances of it, it's not too late to change it, to take control, and begin creating exactly what you want in your life.

How to create your life.

The first step in creating your life is acknowledging the fact that you are in charge, and can create your life. Unless and until you believe that you can direct the course of your life, it will always be out of your hands.

The second step in creating your life is to know where you want your life to go, what you want it to look like. This is a road map, if you will, showing your starting point and destination. Take time with this step, and make sure it's really where you want to go. Don't head off in a new direction simply because it's different from the one you're heading in now, or in a few years you'll be wondering how you got where you are all over again.

The third step in creating your life is plot out the route you'll use to get to your destination. Simply looking at your destination on a road map doesn't get you there; you have to find the roads that will take you. The same with your life. What 'roads' will get you where you want to go? Remember that there's more than one way to get to a given spot.

The fourth step in creating your life is to check with your map often. Are you going in the right direction, and are you on the path you wanted to be, or have you taken a detour? There's nothing wrong with detours...some of the best sights are off the main road. But unless you've changed your destination, eventually you have to get back on the road that leads to your goal.

Changing your destination along the way isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as it's a conscious decision to change, rather than staying on a side road because it's easier. Sometimes the detours that we encounter show us a better destination, one that is more suited to us, or more desirable. If you don't like the direction you're heading, or find a better one, then by all means pick a new destination.

The last step in creating your life is the same as the first: acknowledge that you're in charge, and have the power to create the life you want. Only you can decide your destination, only you chart the course, and only you are making the journey.