Paige Elizabeth’s new book, Leading an Intentional Life, is a direct, refreshing, and sometimes personal look at how to overcome your pain, overcome your resistance to positive change, and ultimately find peace with yourself and with others. that surround you.
Paige does a fabulous job of getting right to the heart of the matter by not holding back in the honesty department. As a life coach, he has helped many clients change by making them realize their role in the equation to get what they want. For example, at the beginning of the book, you tell about a client who described the perfect man she wanted to find. Paige replied, “So you want a Ferrari? Can you drive a gear stick?” When the customer didn’t understand, Paige added, “You love Mr. Perfect, but would you know how to react to his generosity? Would you be what he needed?”
Sometimes we are not ready for what we want. Drawing on psychology and the Law of Attraction, Paige explains that to be prepared, we have to overcome our ego and its fear of change. We have to resist resistance before we allow what we want to manifest. Manifesting is not easy, but as Paige explains, where most people go wrong when trying to demonstrate is in not becoming people who are ready to receive what they want. Lottery winners are a perfect example. They want the money, but when they get it, they don’t know how to handle it, so they end up losing it.
Many things get in the way of our way of leading a purposeful life. One of them focuses on what others want rather than what we want. Paige states, “People will try to usurp your power, but no one should take over your destiny.” Unfortunately, sometimes the person usurping our power is us, or at least we play a role in the usurpation. One of my favorite stories in the book illustrates this point. Paige gave an assignment to a client who didn’t know how to say no. The task was to say no to everyone for the next month, regardless of whether she wanted to do what was asked of her or not. When the client told Paige that she would take her advice, Paige yelled at her to say no. Talk about a way to reinforce an idea. The client got it after that.
As a yoga student and teacher, Paige also believes in karma and brings it up for discussion, showing how it is similar to the Law of Attraction. He quotes a friend who told him: “People are born with their own contracts. You cannot save them from their karma or steal their dharma. Only they can do that.” Paige defines karma as “beliefs, feelings, and thoughts” and dharma as “purpose.” We cannot fix anyone because it is in their own karma. But we can seek to raise our own vibrational state to improve our situation. That being said, we cannot go from depression to joy overnight. We have to start where we are, in our predetermined state, and work to gradually raise our vibration.
We also have to be aware of the addictions that hold us back. Yes, there are addictions like drugs, Paige understands because she lost her brother to drugs, but there are also feelings that can turn into addictions. Trying to be at a high level of joy is one example, and it can get exhausting. Constantly seeking emotional release is another. Paige shares how at one point she cried a lot until she realized that she had become addicted to crying. We cry because it liberates us, but Paige warns that when doing something drains your energy, it is not liberation but addiction.
Another area that Paige addresses regarding intention that frustrates me personally is people who say “I don’t know” or can’t make decisions. Paige gives an example of a couple trying to decide where to eat, they both say, “I don’t know where I want to go,” and they eventually end up eating where neither of them wants. (I have met many such people). But not knowing is not just about food. Not knowing can mean not knowing what you want to do with your career or your life. Paige says “I don’t know” is an excuse: the fear of doing the job to solve it and the fear of making the wrong decision. She encourages people to start where they are and just decide what they like or don’t like. If they just make mistakes or just keep learning what they don’t like, that’s okay because it brings them closer to what they do like.
Many of us also use “I don’t know” because, as Paige says, “Most of us exist in the gray that people like. Black and white thinkers are the minority. The struggle is to clarify in their direction, in instead of wondering why you’re not happy. ” Paige offers tips to help us achieve that clarity so that we can then set intentions for what we want and pursue them. We also have to commit to getting the job done. We can’t try something for two days and then give up because it’s not working. We have to commit ourselves for the long term. It also warns us that there will be moments of calm, but, and I love this because I have seen how true it is in my own life, we have to see calm as a test, wondering if we really want what we say we want. . Paige states, “Every time there has been a pause, there has been a breakthrough in success. That is, don’t tell yourself that the pause is what you manifested. No, the pause is the way through. that is manifesting. “
Ultimately, what all this advice adds to is learning to love yourself. Once we learn to love ourselves, we also learn to love others for who they are. And we learn that we don’t need the love of others. Paige states, “It’s a powerful place to not need another person. The compulsion to be in a relationship perpetually falls into the place of self-love. A self-loving person realizes that they will never find love. The difference is that a person who loves himself will be forced to give love, not seek it. Real love does not care about what it can get. True love cares about what it can give. “
None of the steps Paige offers to lead an intentional life are easy to take, but Paige convinces us that they are all doable. She shows this by sharing her own traumatic story that led her to know that these things are true. I also know from personal experience that they are true. I hope you take this journey with Paige to lead an intentional life. You will not be the same again afterwards, but you will be more truly the person you always wanted to be. Don’t let fear stop you. It is not as scary as it sounds.