This past week, working on an Oren Jay Sofer exercise, I’ve been focusing on my big aspirations. Over the course of several days, after a few minutes of sitting quietly and considering where I tend to feel connected to inspiring possibilities, I’ve been asking myself, “What’s most important to me? What is my aspiration in this life?”

By the second day my list had eight items. This was clearly too many, but I didn’t want to censor myself. Then I noticed that certain items had a quality of “greasing my wheels” — i.e., helping me move towards other less attainable ones. For example, relaxing helps me be more fully present.

So, I pulled these items into a separate list labeled “Helpers.” And then I expanded the list.

My aspirations feel too tender to share publicly, while, curiously, I have no hesitation in sharing these helpers. They are:

• Grounded confidence (a phrase I picked up from Brené Brown’s latest book)
• Gratitude
• No self
• Creating
• Stillness
• Relaxing
• Opening
• Words as gifts
• Orienting

Many thanks to Oren for sending me down yet another fruitful path.