Walt Hampton, J.D.

Creating the Work & Life You LOVE

Listening To Your Heart

by Walt | Dec 28, 2023 | Success | 3 Comments

What Is Your Heart’s Desire

January 12, 2023

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 13:12

How are you today?

I hope you’re rested, refreshed, and satisfied after your holiday celebrations.

But if, instead, you’re feeling dazed and depleted and maybe a little bit empty, you are not alone.

The holidays are a huge source of stress; a seemingly never-ending torrent of buying and wrapping and eating and drinking and binging and networking and connecting and partying; with concomitant unceasing demands and obligations and expectations.

Likely you’ve spent the last month (or more) hustling around fulfilling everyone else’s wants. Tending to the needs of others.

Maybe you think you’re done.

Except that you’re not.

It’s today. Another day. And while you can, perhaps, distract yourself for a little while longer, as you ring in the New Year, the day is coming soon when you will face the expanse – or the abyss – of the year ahead.

So today’s question is not about all those other folks you’ve been attending to. It’s about you.

What do you want?

What do you really want?

Not what you think you should want; or what you think you’re expected to want. Not what your father wanted; or what you’re mother thought would be right. Not what your partner or boyfriend or girlfriend or neighbors want. Not what your clients want. Not what some well-intentioned teacher or guidance counselor wanted for you.

Rather, what is it you want? For yourself. Right here. Right now.

The folks who read this blog are, by their very nature, givers. The challenge for givers is receiving. The challenge for givers is getting quiet enough to listen to the still small voice that speaks to us of our heart’s desires. The challenge for givers is giving to ourselves what it is we really, really want.

Because, we presume that what we want is bad. Or selfish. Or self-centered.

Or more frequently, we forget what we wanted. We become numb to our heart’s desire.

So before you start the new year, I have a challenge for you: Set aside some time just for you; and spend some time asking yourself (and perhaps journaling about) these questions:

If I could make my life any way I wanted it, what would my ‘perfect’ day look like? My ‘perfect’ week? What time would I get up? What would I wear? Who would I spend my time with? What work would I do? What projects would I pursue? What travels would I take? What would my ‘perfect’ life look like?
If this were my very last year on earth, what would I do? Would I stay in the same relationship; would I keep the same job; would I hang out with the same people; would I go the same places; would I do things the way I’m doing them right now?
If money were no object, if I won the $30 million dollar Powerball, what would I do? After I bought all the toys I wanted, where would I go; who would I go with; where would I spend my time; what experiences would I want to create; what legacy would I want to leave?

Because here’s what’s true: Those whispers that are in your heart, those dreams that you have, those projects you want to create, those places you want to go, the empires you want to build, the impact you want to make… they’re not random musings; they’re not accidents. They are the call of your Spirit, the Divine within you, showing you – telling you – the way.

So think. Write. Draw. Free flow. Tear down the boundaries. No limitations. Let your imagination run wild.

And then get busy. Because, that’s what you want. That’s what you really want.

That’s your heart’s desire.

______________________________________________________

When you’re ready; when you’re ready to respond to that call deep within; let’s talk. Email me: walt@walthampton.com.

To Turn Again

by Walt | Dec 21, 2023 | Success | 0 Comments

Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
I rejoice that things are as they are and
I renounce the blessed face
And renounce the voice
Because I cannot hope to turn again
Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something
Upon which to rejoice.

— T.S. Eliot

It’s dark. Really dark. And cold.

The sun, even when it comes up, skitters across the southern horizon. And then disappears.

Yet, next week, on December 21st, we celebrate the light.

It is the turning point.

From the very earliest of times, before tribe or tradition, we have confronted the darkness with trepidation – the darkness of the night, the darkness of our souls – and railed against it. Through liturgy ritual and celebration, we connected with the ancient rhythms of the earth to welcome light – and hope – back into the world.

For a fraction of a moment next week, the earth will stop – and shift on its axis – and turn again toward the sun.

It is the turning point.

In the busyness of your frantic, constantly connected, and over-stimulated lives, you can miss this moment. It is easy to forget why you run around, string lights, light candles, wrap presents, and gather together – and in the process end up empty, depleted, and sad.

It is easy to forget why we celebrate.

We celebrate the light. We celebrate in the deep knowing that the light always returns. We celebrate that the light always triumphs over the darkness.

Take a moment to stop this week. Reconnect with the ground – and with the Ground of All Being. Feel the earth turn back to the sun, back to the light.

It is the turning point.

Then decide.

What will you turn toward in the days and months ahead? What light will you discover in your life? What light will you shine in the lives of others?

Be that light.

And celebrate.

It is the turning point.

Cancel It

by Walt | Dec 14, 2023 | Success | 0 Comments

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Just because it’s on your calendar doesn’t mean it has to stay there.

Become even more rigorous with your boundaries in this holiday season.

So that you can stay resourceful and resilient.

So that you can feel the joy.

How Do You Want It To Be

by Walt | Dec 7, 2023 | Success | 2 Comments

Planning is important.

We encourage our coaching clients and authors to do it. Getting clear on goals and objectives makes a huge difference. And raises the likelihood that you’ll achieve those goals and objectives.

But life is not one thing.

It’s the whole thing: Yes, your work, of course. But also your health, wellness, finances, relationships, spiritual life, and fun. (Don’t forget the fun.)

In our hustle culture, though, it’s easy to get tunnel-visioned. Caught up in the siren call of more, bigger, better, different, more. 2x. 10x.

Before you know it, you’ve lost your way.

So here’s a question that I know will help:

Sucked Into The Vortex

by Walt | Nov 30, 2023 | Success | 1 Comment

It’s December, and you’re being pulled into the vortex of time. The maelstrom is all around you! Can you feel it?

After Halloween, the year just seems to accelerate. After Thanksgiving, the days move forward at warp speed. The commitments and the demands and the lists and the expectations and the projects that need to be done – have to get done – before the end of the year seem to mount logarithmically. And then there are the card lists and the gift lists and the shopping and the school concerts and the holiday parties….

In many professions, there are the added pressures of pulling in the receivables and closing the deals by year’s end.

What to do?

Wrong question.

The question is what not to do.

The way out of the vortex – the only way – is the simplest and the hardest thing of all. The only way out is to say “no.”

Saying “no” is not news and it’s not rocket science. All of the leadership and success books will tell you that it is fundamental to your sanity and, paradoxically, a key to your productivity and goal achievement.

Jack Canfield in his book The Success Principles recommends creating a “stop-doing” or “don’t do” list. (My favorite list!)

I invited a colleague to a program I was hosting. Her response: “Thank you. But I ‘don’t do’ evening commitments.” (Those are pretty clear boundaries, I thought!)

But, why is saying “no” so hard?

Well, most of us are conditioned from very early on that “no” is not the “right” answer. As time goes on, you also begin to layer on your own assumptions – whether true or not – about what others expect of you.

Sometimes, I suspect, saying “yes” is just a habit. (I said yes to a commitment recently without even stopping to realize I would be out of the country during the time I’d committed!)

And yes, isn’t there a healthy dose of narcissistic self-importance that loves to believe that somehow your presence is essential or that you are the only one who can do something?

So as the vortex swirls, I’m working on saying “no” more often.

I’ve started by asking myself whether a project or an invitation is one that I “should” do or accept rather than one I “want” to do or accept. I’m working at eliminating the “shoulds.”

(Note to self: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.)

Saying no to the non-essential allows you to be more fully present in what is most important. By doing less, you can pay closer attention to what is essential. And as The Little Prince reminds us, “what is essential is invisible to the eye.” It takes time to see.

The Carmelite monk William McNamara writes, “We are not really practical, and we shall get nowhere, we shall never find life, life will escape us, unless we learn not to always be bustling about – unless we learn to be still, to let things happen around us, to wait, listen, receive, contemplate.”

“One final word on the subject of time,” McNamara says:

“I suggest that we stop doing half the work that presently consumes us. Then let us attend to the remaining half wholeheartedly, with contemplative vision and creative love. I stake the authenticity of our lives and the effectiveness of our work on this radical shift.”

I described the vortex to a colleague as a giant flushing toilet bowl.

Not a great place to end up.