First Step Exercise
Here is a spiritual centering exercise that I created for our last council meeting that I thought might be helpful:
Sit with your back straight, yet relaxed. Be comfortable with your feet flat on the ground and your hands resting lightly on your lap. Feel your head getting lighter on your shoulders as you take deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. As you become aware of thoughts coming into your mind, do not try to push them out. Merely be aware that they are there and let them pass by.
As you continue breathing, be aware of that feeling in your heart that often goes ignored. This is God tugging on your soul to bring your attention to your calling. Open yourself to that calling, because it contains your True Self.
Picture your ideal self a year from now. As you continue breathing, what does that you look like were you to accept your calling and be true to who you really are?
What’s prevented you from becoming that true version of yourself? There have likely been barriers that may have served you well in the past, but have merely becoming a stumbling block to becoming your True Self.
How are you going to overcome these barriers?
What’s going to be your first step toward the new and true you? Imagine a concrete and measurable action item that will set you on the right trajectory and get you one step closer to who you are called to be.
How will you keep yourself accountable to make sure it happens? It is ok to seek accountability from others around you at times, but this can sometimes lead to codependency and a lack of ownership on your part. Ultimately, it is you that you must be accountable to in this process. You have to be able to trust yourself to take that first step and the following steps that will be needed to get you to where you know you need to be.
The journey is yours. You have the strength, the power, and the tools necessary to do this. God has always been with you and always will be. You’ve got this. Now get ready.
On your mark.
Get set.
GO!
Blessings on the Journey,
Brandyn
Apophatica 
September 21, 2016 at 5:33 pm
Amen brother! Thank you. JL