It never ceases to pique my curiosity. Like the Bat-signal, or a police chase, when searchlights pop up in the sky, my brain tries triangulating the light sources to see if I can figure out what's happening. I start to wonder...
"What's so exciting?"
"Should I know what that's about?"
"Where exactly are those lights anyway?"
"I wonder if I can figure out where they are."
Am I the only one who thinks like this?
They light up the sky and command attention. The searchlight atop the Luxor hotel in Vegas is actually twice as bright as an equal area of the sun. That's powerfully bright, and it draws your eye if you're anywhere near it. Searchlights are a common scene at Hollywood movie premieres and other gala events. Why? Because people want you to look and see what's happening.
Wouldn't it make sense then, that searchlights can also be a beacon in your heart?
I've maintained for years that you already know your very next step. It's not about knowing. It's about giving yourself permission to take it. Maybe you don't like it, or maybe you don't see how it's relevant.
None of that matters.
Lately, I've had the honor of working with clients in free Next Step sessions to help them get clarity (there's still time to schedule yours). Time and again I hear clients talk about things that "light them up" - yet they haven't taken the time to investigate what's going on for them.
When a client comes in, stuck around cash flow or trying to get growth-focused, invariably something inside them starts pointing them in a direction they hadn't considered. They feel like it's not right for them, or they don't know how to move forward in that space, and so they ignore this inner prompting.
It's a common mis-step, akin to staring at the closed door when the delivery man is ringing a bell at your open window.
Searchlighting gives you permission to investigate these seemingly un-connected ideas and suggestions - things that light you up, but don't seem to make sense. One client made mention that she'd been intrigued by an idea since childhood, but never really acted on it. She had a bunch of pre-conceived ideas about what options might exist for her. In truth, she'd done no investigating into her possibilities, so we did a little Searchlighting together.
Here's how it works:
When something lights you up, STOP and identify it. In her case, she'd been called for most of her life to be in a service-based field, but she was working in sales. The story she told herself was that she was being of service in her sales career - helping people make decisions that improved their lives. Yet here was this searchlight, beckoning to her for years that she never considered.
What lights you up? Even if it makes no sense, and especially if it seems unrelated to where you're stuck. Listen to what your Divine guidance is telling you. Look for the searchlights in your heart.
My coach tells a story of how her husband had wanted to take his dad on a fishing adventure. He wanted to spend the day on a chartered boat, catching fish, then have a sumptuously prepared fish dinner featuring their catch of the day - which he assumed would cost a pretty penny. For years, they'd talked about taking his dad out, until one year, his health was starting to fail. My coach advised her husband that if he really wanted to do it, they needed to get the ball rolling. When he actually took the time to investigate their options, they discovered that they could enjoy a trip for 4 for around $500. When they saw that, he had a "V8 moment" - realizing that he practically could have made it an annual outing with his dad, if he'd only investigated his options sooner.
Investigate the searchlights of your heart. You just might get unstuck along the way. (click to tweet)
Giving yourself permission doesn't mean you're quitting your day job or marrying yourself to a new direction. Think of it like flirting. You're just checking to see what's out there. Seeing what connections can be made, and what options even exist. You might find that the thing you've been thinking about is exactly where you need to hitch your wagon and move forward. On the other hand, that investigation may yield nothing more than a new perspective, or new connections, or maybe a fresh idea for the project you're stuck on. In any case, I've yet to see someone investigate and come up empty-handed for their stuck-ness.
I went to a conference a few years ago that, if it weren't for the people I knew who would also be there, felt like a tremendous waste of time and money. I had divine guidance that I MUST attend, so I figured out a way, and I got myself there. The conference was meh, but the people were fantastic. Still, I kicked myself all the way back to the airport for "wasting" the money to go to that conference. Then, on the airplane, I met Stevie (whom I lovingly refer to as "the crazy lady on the airplane"), who gave me the idea for "The Secret Watch." It is now, as she predicted, a best-seller (on 2 continents!). It took a couple of years to get the book to best-seller status, but now, my business lives and breathes the success principles of that book. Had I not gone to that conference, would I have gotten that clarity? Would I have gotten the ideas for that book? Maybe, but going to the conference made it a lot easier - despite my resistance.
Remove your expectations of how it's supposed to look. I just knew that the conference would be my springboard to more clients and deeper connections with folks I knew that would be there. In truth, none of that happened. Instead, I got something WAY cooler... something totally unexpected.
The hardest part of this process is letting go of the outcome. In your quest to find the source of your Searchlight moment, you might come to what looks like a dead end, or something that opens up more questions than it answers. That's okay. Just keep asking yourself where the searchlight is.
What's lighting you up right now? When you've been stuck, what's worked for you? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments.