In Charge I am Not

I have been, over the past year, working in the book The Artist's Way (Julia Cameron, one of Martin Scorsese's wives).  I've worked my way through the book once and am back for my second go-around.  Soon I will be looking for a group to share this amazing experience with, but for now I am slogging solo.
Today I am working on negative core beliefs; trying to challenge them with positive core beliefs.  And, in the middle of this I have found a small, golden kernel:

"creative recovery (or discovery) is a teachable, trackable spiritual process.  Each of us is complex and highly individual yet there are common recognizable denominators in the creative recovery process."

There is something very comforting about the phrase "teachable, trackable spiritual process."  It doesn't even have to be spiritual but the fact that there are steps that any of us as human beings are taking and those steps are recognizable is such a simple, satisfying notion.

So back to my statement, "In Charge I am Not."  As I try to move my journey back to this game and what it represents I am also stating and restating that college application is a process, and that students and their families shouldn't be shooting for perfection, but rather for a good fit.  Just as I should not be shooting to rescue everyone in the New York City area after Hurricane Sandy, or shooting for the perfect job, or the perfect anything.  Perfect doesn't exist, and in fact trying to make it happen has some drawbacks.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/09/20/how-to-tame-your-inner-control-freak/2/

Take a step back.....

The truth is you really do need to take the steps and do the work.  There was a hurricane and people do need help so step up and help them.  Even a small thing will make a difference.  High school students do need to decide if they are going to college or not, and there is an application process that needs to be completed.  But, going to Harvard isn't the only "good fit."  Maybe becoming a plumber or a phlebotomist or a police officer is a good fit.  The real work is asking the questions and really being honest with the answers.

Henry David Thoreau said, "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you imagined.  As you SIMPLIFY your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler."

Isn't the ultimate "good fit" figuring out how and when to say "I'm not going to do that right now," and letting the world go on to fill the space?  Isn't it finding out how to "simplify" life so each of us can decide what to hone and what to add?

Yes, In Charge I am Not!  But I am taking some small steps, and I am going places.