I was hiking with my friend Kristi. It wasn’t an out of the ordinary day, except that I was visiting Colorado for a month, living in a vacation rental, and testing out the city to see if I might like to 
move there. Kristi was introducing me to one of her favorite hikes. She’d moved to Colorado a few years earlier, and her presence was one of the reasons I was considering these particular mountains.
The Universe had been signaling me that I needed to move near mountains. It was strange the way the Universe had begun working in my life… so specific and yet so obscure. I’d turn on the TV and there would be a movie or a nature show set in the mountains. I was in the checkout line at the grocery store and the magazine with the snow-capped peaks on the cover caught my attention. I walked past the toy section in Target and wouldn’t you know it the end cap display included a beautiful puzzle – a mountain scene, of course. And each time I felt that engaged feeling in my stomach… almost like a punch in the gut, but kinder.
Yes, this is how the Universe speaks to me. This is how I tune in to my desire. Your signals will likely look different, but they are there.
The Million-Dollar Hike…
Back to our hike. It was like many others we’d had back in Ohio, but this one was unique. We instigated a conversation that went like this. “If you suddenly had a million dollars, how, specifically, would you spend it?” We were doing a 6-mile hike so we had plenty of time to detail out this idea. Where we would invest, what would we donate, how we would change the way we lived our lives.
This was interesting to me, and I loved the conversation. Yet something was bothering me. It was the nature of the conversation. It was a daydreaming conversation, but it in no way had the air of something we were going to make real.
I was used to having conversations like this – dreaming about what could be, yet changing nothing.
But this day I noticed that I had changed.
Desire Is for Now
I had been taking business seminars and had joined a mastermind. Each time I was on retreat, my mentor asked the room the question, “What do you want?”
And it was the first time I’d been asked the question in an energy of actually wanting to know, and more importantly, with a belief that what I wanted, what I desired, was actually possible. See I’d daydreamed about the question before, in the way in which we think about what might be possible someday if all things went beyond expectations. In other word, if a million dollars fell in our laps. But I’d never thought of my desire as an indication for what was possible now.
But on that hike I noticed that something was different. I was there, in Denver, living in a rental with my dog Monty, and exploring what might be possible if I lived there “for real.” (Exactly 1 year later I moved to Denver). And as we daydreamed about our million, I noticed I wasn’t dreaming. It felt real to me. I didn’t need the million immediately, but I knew it was coming. More importantly, I knew that the actions I would take with a million dollars were real, and that I was going to start taking them immediately, in the way that I could.
In the years since that hike, I’ve learned to understand my desire and the purpose of desire in a way that I couldn’t comprehend back then. Desire is your spirit speaking to you and guiding you to what is true for you. Desire is real, if you let it be your guide.
Waterfront Reality
Today I write to you from Seattle, WA. I am looking out our windows at a panoramic view of the Puget Sound. I spent 3 ½ years in Denver, met the love of my life, got married, and continued to build my business. This week I am realizing a huge dream of mine. One that came up on the million-dollar hike, and the one thing that came up every single time I ever sat in a seminar in which I was asked to really think about what I truly wanted. Today I live on the water.
Six years ago, almost exactly, I started my business. About 5 ½ years ago I started to envision waterfront living. I wouldn’t have been able to have this then. I couldn’t have imagined being able to afford it. More importantly, I didn’t really believe I deserved it. Who was I to be one of those “rich” people who live on the water?? It took me six years to align my heart with my desire and become willing to act on it. Yet here I am. Because from the first moment someone else took my dream seriously, I knew this could be my reality. I just had a bit of groundwork to lay to be willing to let it happen for me.
The Purpose of Desire
So what’s the purpose of desire? Your desire is actually your guide to YOUR purpose. Your desire helps you make the changes you need to make to see the bigger picture of your purpose here on this planet. Each baby step toward your desire will reveal more of your purpose. Each decision you make that represents a trust in your own divine guidance, your inner knowing, takes you closer to who you are meant to be.
I can’t tell you the purpose of my desire to be here near water, or the subtle guidance we received to choose Seattle over any of the other waterfront locations on the planet. It hasn’t unfolded yet. All I can tell you is that this has been THE best 24-hours of my life, and my soul is happy.
And I can tell you without a doubt that each decision I’ve made to honor the little desires of my heart has led me here. And I love here. And I know that even here is just the beginning.
You Will Make Waves
As I watch the waves of the Sound, I think about your waves. I KNOW because I’ve experienced it, that as you start to make decisions based on your desire, you’ll begin to make waves. It happens for all of my clients as well.
When I moved to Denver I remember how many people would ask me why I was moving there. I never knew how to respond. Do I tell the Truth, “The Universe showed me mountains,” or do I make up some other reason that people could understand? Because people get uncomfortable with things they don’t understand. And other people can never really truly understand your desire.
You Got This
I’ve built my faith muscle since then, and I care less and less about giving people a reason for my decisions. You, dear courageous entrepreneur, can do this to. I have faith. I trust your desire is real. You are allowed to make waves, you are allowed to stir other people up. You are allowed to make yourself, and them, uncomfortable. The key is to believe yourself and your desire, and make it real. I know it’s scary. I’ll share with you what my mentor said to me. Believe in my belief until you have your own. You got this.