How To Become a Visionary

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” Maya Angelou

It all too often seems like we lose commitment the moment a flashier opportunity presents itself. Why are we so often flakey in our relationships and faith, and what is keeping us away from our follow through? How can we get what we deserve and become... visionary?

To be visionary means expanding beyond our individual, 'only me' mindset, and reaching an interest in inclusivity which separates us from the unfortunately more popular route of exclusivity and separation itself.

When we can reach a level of societal norm that accepts acceptance the way a human heart only wishes to love, we will see a complete end to the societal issues we are facing in relation to violence, gender apartheid, and a lack of faith.

That lack of faith shows up in our lives far too often. I sure know in my own life I have found myself abandoning my will power the moment when things became just too difficult, or failing to choose the always available option of forgiveness in favor of a flaired ego and a whole lot of righteousness.

But what I have learned from the many times my ego has flaired with righteousness is that life is evolutionary and that progress is a process. We can’t expect to wake up and have all of our problems solved, but we can solve them in small steps, day by day.

And that problem solving happens when we can become specific, and pin point our weaknesses instead of avoiding them. Nothing is ever worth avoiding.

As an exercise, ask yourself what you’re avoiding in your life and putting off “until tomorrow”. Write down every single thing that you normally would be afraid of admitting. And if you're defensive and thinking "I'm not avoiding anything", then I suggest you do the exercise anyways. Try it... I know it's scary, but like Nike says, Just Do It! By doing this exercise, you'll be given greater mental clarity and even though it may be nerve-wracking to see our fears out on a page, admittance is always the biggest first step to overcoming anything.

Spirituality and life itself is about being authentic. It is about admitting the truth to ourselves, and to others. It is not a holds-barred sort of existence.

Within our real and sometimes messy worlds, we will get to know and understand what anger, blame, ego and struggle is. We will find that we are flawed, and that those flaws are actually where we can find our strengths. But we will only find them if we look for them.

In my own personal search for strength, I have been led to find happiness, acceptance, love, and success unde
eath my biggest fears and anxieties (and trust me - there were a lot of them!). Sure, that success or happiness may not have come in clear-cut and material ways, but it showed up and continues to show up in places within me that can never be taken away.

Life is a teacher and our willingness to learn the lessons we’re sent here to experience and understand is completely up to us. We can either surrender to our teachings or we can oppose them – it really is our choice.

My hope is that we choose the option which is still less popular – the option to be free, and to be open to change. It’s imperative to note that when we are so regimented to being any one thing, we should respectfully remind ourselves that we are always presented options to be so many other things, too. The options surround us, we just have to remove the blinders from our eyes so we can see them.

The greatest revolutionaries in the world knew they never fell into one single category and this gave them visionary status. Maya Angelou, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone – these are undefinable souls whom knew no limit to the showtime of life. They danced, wrote, sung, and when they learned… they taught.

Let us be reminded by their authenticity that there is always an undiscovered river of personal power that awaits our discovery within. There is always more, calling to us within our deepest depths, asking for us to realize our true potential.

When we look within and remove the barriers of our fears and small-mindedness (we can all always be more open-minded – as an exercise, try saying YES to everything you want to say NO to today!), we will open up to the life of great flow and prosperity that is waiting for us.

When we simply try to switch our perspectives, we will be rewarded with more and more of our boundless potential.

It is there, in our boundless potential, where we are the true visionaries.

Thanks for being you,

Garrett Paknisr
Creator and writer of www.justenlightenment.com