Taking Inventory

Life is a colorful journey that contains many seasons, much like a book with various intriguing chapters or a

TV series with its many exciting episodes. But it’s your journey, your individual book to write and you are the

main character of your unique story. You are the protagonist that grows and evolves through development

or unfolding of the plot and you are the director as well as the main character. Your life is your story. You wield the pen, and you hold the paper.

Every day you get to decide what direction to take, how you feel, what you want, when to act or when to

sit still, what to focus your energy on, what emotions to carry forward and what you will achieve in this

moment. You decide how to react, who to be, how to create and when to step away or when to retreat into

yourself or leave your comfort zone, test your limits, and explore various versions of yourself. As the days

turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months sooner or later, we must stop to pause, reflect, analyze, and

take inventory of our progress and the direction of our journey thus far.

There is no right or wrong time to pause or stop and take inventory, but Fall seems like the appropriate time

of year to reflect. Fall, also known as autumn, brings with it shorter days, lowering temperatures and some-

times a little rain. The thing about fall that most affects the state of our body is the progressive reduction

of daylight hours, a change that impacts our mood, subjecting us to mild states of anxiety and melancholy.

The shifting of the seasons affects our sleep too as the rhythm of our mind and body changes with the sea-

sons. During this time there is an abundance of energy available for us to use to our spiritual advantage. The

Fall Equinox represents a time of balance and transformation and offers us a chance to reflect on what we

have and what we’ve accomplished.

Taking Inventory isn’t only about reviewing our finances or checking the financial spreadsheet to view our

capital gains and losses. Life isn’t only about financial wealth or the accumulation of material possessions.

Although money does afford us the freedom to experience life comfortably and to do more of what we

love, money is a means but not the end. I am all for the manifestation of abundance as well as putting in the

hard work for the achievement of prosperity and personal fortune. However, I believe that taking inventory

of one’s life involves the exploration of more than just our finances.

At the start of a new year, a new chapter, or a new season we should have made a note of our goals - some-

times we call these resolutions or dreams. I believe in the power of bringing an idea from the world of

thought and into the physical world by writing it down, making a list, creating a plan with a timeline, and checking it regularly to measure one’s progress. In the first few weeks after making this list most of us are

driven, decided, and determined to stay committed to the realization of these goals. Our intentions are clear,

and we are ready, strong, and excited for the opportunity to bring forth new ideas and great experiences.

And then life happens. Part of being human is that we get to experience life in real time inside of the

third dimension simultaneously interacting with other characters and even though we are the main character

of our story and it’s our story we often face difficulties, challenges and unexpected obstacles that deviate us,

distract us and redirect our journey. We may start out the year with clear goals and intentions and are very

determined to achieve them, but we don’t control the universe, we only participate in the coexistence of this

life. Having written goals that, we can review regularly helps us remember our path, it reminds us to stay on

track and it can be a guide to getting back to where we were before we were thrown off course.

One very important thing to mention is that some- times our achievements aren’t as quantifiable as others.

Meaning not everything can be measured by the same ruler and growth isn’t always on the list of goals and

achievable dreams. Sometimes years can bring emotional, mental, and spiritual growth that weren’t a part

of our life goals and are not that easy to measure. So, if we had written down a goal of losing weight, a career

change, a new car, moving to a new city or going from renting to buying a home, improving our credit score,

writing a book, starting a new business, or finding a new hobby - those are all quantifiable goals that can

be measured. We either achieved the goal or we didn’t. Easy right? Not actually, and here’s why…

Sometimes the goal we are trying to achieve requires a level of mental growth, spiritual evolutional or

emotional development that helps us not only in the achievement of that goal but in making the most of

maintaining and finding success in that area of our life. So we may set out with a path in mind and begin

taking steps towards that goal but get deviated by a life experience that feels like an incredible setback but as

time goes on and we push forward making the most of our situation and growing with the struggles as we

unfold and develop with our character in our story, we begin to change and morph into an upgraded version

of ourselves.

So when we go to Take Inventory it’s important to reflect on our mental, emotional and spiritual growth

brought on by the experiences of this new chapter. We must have grace and patience with ourselves because

sometimes we’re getting ready to be ready for the realization of that goal because it requires a new level

of greatness that we didn’t have when we put the pen to paper in the dream state of the realization of that goal. The term Baby Steps comes to mind because as humans we want to run before, we can crawl or walk but it is the crawling and the walking, stumbling, falling, getting back up again and walking that strengthens

our legs and calibrates our balance so that when we are able to run, we fall less and run faster.

Sometimes life is like trying to purchase a house. We must first pay down our debt, work on the restoration

of our credit so we can boost our credit score and put things into place to qualify for that mortgage. We must

get our paperwork together, file our taxes properly, show the right income to debt ratio along with a high

enough credit score and save up for our down payment and then go get pre-approved just to go house hunting.

There’s a whole process behind the goal whereas people may think it’s just going to Zillow and scrolling to find their dream home. No, you need a mortgage lender, a realtor, a credit restoration specialist, an accountant, an inspector, a mover and a few more team members to help you get ready to be ready, begin the process, go through the process, achieve the goal, and then follow through with the necessary steps to the realization of that dream through the long haul. Because achieving a goal is not the end, it’s the beginning - once you arrive you must do what you need to do to maintain and make the most of that chapter you arrived at. I’m here, now what do I do? There are steps between the arrival of your goal and the arrival of success at that level and maintaining that success once you arrive at that level.

Writing a book isn’t just writing the book, as so many authors discover. It’s designing a book cover, the 

editing, the layout, the ISBN number, its publishing, its marketing, it’s book signings and if you don’t have a

team of people helping you achieve this goal it’s a lot of work that takes long term commitment, drive, and

determination to see it through. Taking inventory on goals and dreams is being able to understand that there

are levels to achieving dreams and we oftentimes must recalibrate and recalculate and re-think the pathway

that best leads us to our goal. Intertwined in the achievement of these goals are the complexities of love, relationships, family, community, career, co-workers, our body, our health, aging, hormones, and just the unexpected twists and turns of life. We juggle a lot just with balancing our checkbooks, groceries, laundry, cooking, exercise, pets, housekeeping, the weather, world happenings, politics, and the seasons of life. And sometimes it feels like just when we figured out how to juggle our current load something changes that throws off our balls and one falls as we fall, or they all fall, and we can’t figure out how to get back up again.

Our dreams require time, effort, energy, attention, creativity and so much investment but these are divided

between everything and everyone we are juggling. The days turn into weeks, the weeks turn into months and

fall arrives - we’re taking inventory and asking our- selves did we do enough? What did I forget, what did I

miss, where did I go wrong, who did I fail? And this is where we need to find Divine Grace to help us through

our Life Inventory so we can have patience, compassion, understanding and personal kindness within our

personal inventory.

So, this is your gentle reminder to have grace with yourself as you take personal inventory of your goals

and accomplishments this year. Sometimes we accomplished way more than we understand because we are

viewing ourselves from our perspective and we need to zoom out a little to see the whole picture, the journey, the map and the twists and turns that we experienced this year that brought us to where we are. And then let’s take time to experience Gratitude for our journey thus far. Let us enter into Thanks Giving by Giving

Thanks for the blessings, the answered prayers, the protection and the good that arrived with the growth

of this year.