Just because we’re on A path, doesn’t mean we’re on OUR path. We have a goal, an idea, a career, a rational life plan that we’ve polished from start to finish. 

But all of these, while still very useful (and very necessary), can hide the tracks of our deeper path. 

To start — I live in South Africa on Safari land, which has been in my family for generations. Above all, I am a lion tracker. It’s my art, my vocation, my calling.

And when you’re tracking a lion, not everything can be planned. In fact, stick to the plan a little too closely, and you’ll miss the signs that were in front of you the whole journey. (As it is in nature, so it is in life.)

I realize that most of us don’t know what we’d like to do with our lives. Or, if we do, we have a plan that we’ve stuck to that—simply—doesn’t feel right anymore.

We have a chattering, logical mind that creates an inner tension—as if it’s in a tug of war with our heart. We have ideas—from other people, from the culture, from our peers—on what we should do, and how we should do it. 

But these ideas don’t come from us. They come from everyone else’s expectations. Everyone else’s ideas. Everyone else—except us.

And yet, while it’s not as comforting as having a predictable plan for our lives, if we just stop and listen—truly listen—we can start to see ourselves again. And if we just feel our way to our own authentic selves, we can see what we’re meant to do. 

Of course, I’m not naive about it. We all have goals rooted in the real world. It’s easy—and natural—to choose the things that align with the goals we’ve always had. Maybe we want this shiny object, because it comes with monetary success, and monetary success—let’s face it—feels nice. 

It’s easy—and certainly human—to think of what will get us the most accolades, the most money, and the highest step on the career ladder.

But to do what is easy and automatic can also disconnect us from something truly meaningful: our connection to what we were meant to do in this life. 

And what we were meant to do in this life is intimately tied with the activities that, above all, we’re most present with.

It’s this idea of presence—when you’re doing something, and you’re fully immersed—that a lion tracker would pay keen attention to. Because when you’re doing something, and you’re locked in, and you’re simply present, your feeling self and your authentic self is giving you a signal. 

In short—it’s giving you something to track.

To pay attention to presence is—in essence—to pay attention to the feeling self. Do you feel locked in? Fully here? Good? In the moment? 

The “feeling” self can be rather neglected. We love our rational, thinking brain—and clearly, it’s a beautiful part of our engineering, a beautiful part of the human body. 

But what we feel, what we see, and what comes in from our sensory experiences shouldn’t be discounted. It’s the wonderful part of being a human being, and to only listen to the planning, rational self would be to live as only half a human. 

So instead of planning, try this: bring the feeling self into the conversation. Pay attention. Look at your life, your experiences—what feels good, in sync, aligned? 

As if you’re tracking a wild animal and looking to your environment for information—notice the mind for similar clues, too. Does it feel good when you build a chair? How does it feel when you go on a run? When you make a piece of writing? Talk to a group?

And soon—as you authentically connect with the things around you, you’ll notice something. It’ll be a vague, faint outline of what you’re truly called for. And this outline is giving you an indication of where you could be going in this life. 

Sometimes, that framework doesn’t match up with what you rationally want, and that’s okay. But the idea is to trust it, to make tiny tweaks, a shift here and there. If you trust in yourself, it’s likely you’ll get to where you need to go.

The lion’s whereabouts are never obvious. The lion doesn’t tell me precisely where she is. But the cues, the environment, the feelings—they all add up to something greater than the whole. They add up to is a direction. 

Finding what we are meant to do isn’t a matter of choosing a career in school and hunkering down for the rest of our lives.

Finding out what we are meant to do is a matter of listening to ourselves—feeling what’s right, feeling what isn’t, and letting that act as our compass. 

You won’t always know where you’re going but you’ll know exactly how to get there . As you continue to track, something wonderful will emerge, all on its own.

You’ll walk YOUR path. And that, my friends, is a wonderful feeling.

This piece is part 04 of a series called UNLEARNED: Cut the BullSh*t, Unlock Your Best Self & Find Your True Path. To read all, visit here. (If already opted-in, see your email for “START HERE” link)

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