(recently posted at http://www.smallbusinessgurus.com/life-before-business/a-new-kind-of-risk.html)

A new kind of risk was highlighted during a recent coaching conversation with a client, who had taken a VocationVacation last year to explore a new career option. This client has seen, explored, prepared for and conquered many risks in life but this new kind of risk, one that may not have the support of those people closest to them, seemed to be more daunting then the others.

This particular client has spent most, if not all, of life using their gifts of intelligence, foresight and analysis to create a steady stream of achievements; least of which is the career that they now enjoy.  What is interesting to me is how successful this person is in many aspects of their life yet when it comes to staking a claim for what makes their heart sing—that can stop them in their tracks.

I’m sure that most of us can understand this dilemma. I know that I sure can.  It’s almost as if the Universe creates ample opportunities for me to get off the ride of doing what I really love to do (coaching, writing, radio interviewing). I’m realizing that I have had a very linear way of looking at following my bliss in life.  In spite of all the stories and lessons I’ve learned in life to the contrary, I had a belief that if I was going after that thing which I loved the most, that all the energy of the Universe would rush to create a vacuum to pull me forward.  I suspect that portions of that belief are valid; however, what occurs to me now is that somewhere in the process of following our bliss we will be offered numerous chances to bail.

One of the wonderful “Aha’s” that this client discovered as we explored their “true values”, was that there were two ways of answering with one coming from the heart and the other coming from the mind.  When we looked closer we could see that the answers coming from the heart felt light and full of energy whereas the answers coming from the mind felt heavier.  Neither answer was better than the other; in fact, we discovered that the first response answers coming from the mind were somewhat similar to the heart answers they were just much safer (such as it was safer answer a value of leading others then to “energize” others).

There are several stories of very successful CEOs and business owners who have taken VocationVacations to explore the career of their dreams and then apparently decide to take a new kind of risk and embark on creating the career of their dreams (which in some cases seemed diametrically opposed to who they were).  For all of you who decide to take the risk and jump into the abyss of your heart, I say, “GO FOR IT” and know that there are many support systems available to you out there to acknowledge, love, and listen to you along the way.

I hope that this life we are living is not all there is after we are dead and gone, but all I know for sure today is what I can see, hear, feel and touch.  So given that, I want to make the absolute most of every corpuscle of time that I have available to me today.  Why not be putting my energy into what I love?