{"id":1426,"date":"2017-09-23T01:11:02","date_gmt":"2017-09-23T01:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/?p=1426"},"modified":"2017-09-23T01:11:02","modified_gmt":"2017-09-23T01:11:02","slug":"what-should-i-do-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/2017\/09\/23\/what-should-i-do-now\/","title":{"rendered":"What Should I Do Now?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Each spring at Santa Clara University students have to meet with their faculty advisors to review requirements and plan their courses for the year ahead.<\/p>\n

One day in May, Ellen, a graduating senior, shyly knocked at my office door, asking for an advising appointment. \u00a0\u201cBut you\u2019re graduating in a few days,\u201d I said, \u201cYou don\u2019t need to come in for advising.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, but I do,\u201d she said, sinking down into the chair by the window. \u201cWhat should I do\u00a0\u00a0 now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt depends on your goals, on what you want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, what would you do?\u201d she asked, her voice shaky.<\/p>\n

\u201cI applied to graduate school at UCLA to get my Ph.D. and become an English professor. But that was my answer, not yours. What do you<\/u> want?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellen looked puzzled. Focusing on externals all her life, she\u2019d been living up to her parents\u2019 expectations, then her professors\u2019, fulfilling the requirements, following all the rules. Now she stood on the edge of possibility. Absolutely clueless and petrified, she didn\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n

Ellen is not alone. Lots of us become confused in times of transition\u2014finishing school, completing a big project, ending a relationship, changing careers, or approaching retirement. Last spring, in his fifth and final year on phased retirement, my colleague Phil suddenly panicked. Decades of college teaching had defined his life. Now he was at a loss. Anxious and clueless, he asked, \u201cWhat will I do now?\u201d<\/p>\n

If this sounds familiar, take a few moments to get back in touch with your own inner compass.<\/p>\n

Close your eyes.
\nTake a deep breath,
\nAnd focus your attention
\nSomewhere deep beneath the surface,
\nBeneath your family\u2019s expectations,
\nYour teachers\u2019,
\nYour employer\u2019s,
\nYour culture\u2019s,
\nUntil you find it there
\nShining like a hidden vein of gold.<\/p>\n

It may be faint at first,
\nOnly a brief glimmer. . .
\nBut take your time.
\nAnd you will find it.<\/p>\n

As you open your eyes and go about your day,
\nKeep listening to your feelings.
\nFollow your heart
\nAnd in good time
\nYou will find the treasure within you
\nYour own inner guidance.<\/p>\n

You will know what to do now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Namaste,<\/p>\n

Diane<\/p>\n

(compass photo from Wikimedia Commons,
\nCreative Commons Zero 1.0 License<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each spring at Santa Clara University students have to meet with their faculty advisors to review requirements and plan their courses for the year ahead. One day in May, Ellen, a graduating senior, shyly knocked at my office door, asking … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","kk_blocks_editor_width":"","_kiokenblocks_attr":"","_kiokenblocks_dimensions":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-mindful-leader","category-spiritual-practice"],"gutentor_comment":0,"qubely_featured_image_url":null,"qubely_author":{"display_name":"writeherewritenow","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/author\/writeherewritenow\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"Education<\/a> Mindful Leader<\/a> Spiritual Practice<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"Each spring at Santa Clara University students have to meet with their faculty advisors to review requirements and plan their courses for the year ahead. One day in May, Ellen, a graduating senior, shyly knocked at my office door, asking … Continue reading →","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1426"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1436,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1426\/revisions\/1436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}