I read this great quote:

Don’t worry about what the world wants from you, worry about what makes you come more alive. Because what the world really needs are people who are more alive. Your real job is to increase the color and zest of your life.
— Lawrence LeShan quoted in The Seeker’s Guide by Elizabeth Lesser

Sometimes it’s hard to know what makes us feel more passionate and alive. It’s like it’s been beat out of us in the quest to become responsible, boring, tax-paying adults. But say you know. Often it’s scary. It’s new and it’s uncharted territory. Whether you’ve dipped your toe in the water and aren’t sure how to wade in, or you’ve dog paddled about and are now eyeing the high diving board - it’s easy to feel totally blocked about how to proceed. So here’s a brief list of questions to help with a kick-start.

1. How can I get more familiar? Often the worst enemy of getting to the next step is the unknown. The unknown looks really big and hairy in the dark. So maybe the next step is to talk to someone, take a course, read a book, lurk around others who do this stuff and look at what they’ve produced to get inspired. Get a better idea of what’s ahead, it’s probably not as big and hairy as you think.

2. What micromovement could I make? I first ran across that term in a book by Sark where she talks about taking a tiny step in the direction you want to head rather than get freaked out about a big step and not do anything. This seems to work for me, if I can boil it down to something doable, even if it’s tiny, and ignore the voice that says, “big friggin’ deal” it helps me feel like the process is more doable.

3. What *something* can I can commit to do? Sometimes being blocked is about feeling really powerless. I can’t do x because I don’t have y. But it helps to just make the commitment to travel your path. OK I don’t have every duck in a row, but what *can* I do? There’s a really fabulous quote in Julie Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way that I’m going to mangle. It was some big director like Scorcese and he said, “If I can’t shoot in 32mm, i’ll shoot in 16, if I can’t shoot in 16 mm, I’ll shoot in 8″. I love that because he’s completely *committed* even if he can’t practice his craft exactly the way he’d like to. Yeah even him.

Also if time is the issue - what can I do in 10, 3o or 60 minutes? Or when can I take a vacation day from my day job and just do my thing? What?? And not do stuff with my spouse and 12 kids?? It’s crazy I know, but it takes commitment. You’ll be happier, so your spouse will be too.

4. What’s the worst that can happen? Fear is a real biggie. But really, you need to shut off that rational/careful/need-to-be-a-serious-boring-adult-voice and say to yourself, “really now - will this *kill me*? Because it probably won’t. In fact it’ll probably make you feel more alive. And you know what? Even if you did say, die of embarassment, you won’t have to lie on your deathbed wishing you’d gotten off your ass.

So ignore the cranky voices in your head, find a next step even if it’s microscopic, and get on with increasing the color in your life.