Hi, I'm Laura Pallatin. Welcome to The Practically Spiritual Show, where we break with restrictive religious and cultural indoctrination and create our own personal spiritual path. In this episode of the podcast, I'm going to be reading Chapter 5 from my book, Walk in Your Own Footsteps. And I'm really excited to share this concept with you.
It sounds a little, daunting. The chapter is called Finish What You Start, It's really about freeing yourself from having any projects hanging over your head that make you feel bad about yourself.
And That's actually a really exciting concept because I think we all have some loose ends we'd like to tie up. So let's listen to the theme song and then I'll meet you on the other side and read. Chapter 5 of Walk in Your Own Footsteps.
Welcome to the Practically Spiritual Show. Together we will learn, laugh, and grow. Break indoctrination, rise above our nation and soar
welcome to the Practically Spiritual Show.
Chapter 5, Finish What You Start.
In this chapter, we'll look at the unfortunate habit of walking away from projects and commitments before they are completed. This is a self damaging way to live for several reasons, but the most important may be that it deteriorates your self esteem. No one wants to think of themselves as a quitter. But when you leave a wake of unfinished business behind you, it's a little difficult to think of yourself as a great completer.
Sometimes we get into something we think would be great for us and realize we're wrong. I've known people who take classes in arts such as stained glass. They are excited about the possibilities and buy all the specialized tools and take lessons but never create another panel. Either their lives are too busy, or they simply choose not to continue with that art form. This is fine. Choosing another path is just fine. If you consistently leave projects unfinished, it's worth taking a moment to explore what you're avoiding.
Sometimes we're afraid that what we create won't be accepted. Or maybe we're stuck because of the fear that if our creation is accepted, our lives may change. Perhaps finishing the project seems too overwhelming. There are as many reasons for putting things off as there are people. If you have a few things that are hanging around waiting for your attention, then get to them.
It may be helpful to write down a list of your unfinished goals and projects. Carefully examine your list and consider which items you actually want to finish. There may be things you're feeling bad about not finishing when you really just don't want to. If that's the case, cross them off and let them go.
Take a close look at goals you do want to accomplish. Decide which items you want to complete and start finishing them one at a time. If one of your goals seems overwhelming, try breaking it down into smaller steps.
Most goals are achieved one step at a time. Great things are accomplished by regular people every day, and you can be one of those people, too. Whether your personal dream is to write the great American novel, run a marathon, start a business, get started and keep working until you're finished.
Bringing a project to completion is an excellent self esteem building experience, and each project you finish helps you feel more confident about getting your next goal accomplished.
Walk in Your Own Footsteps is a workbook, and at the end of each chapter, I have a little section called Bringing It Home, and then lines for people to journal their thoughts.
I'll read Bringing It Home now.
1. Reflecting back on the list you made earlier in this chapter, select at least one thing you can complete in a day or less.
2. Once you've completed the first item, reflect on how it feels to have one less thing on your list.
3. Now, evaluate your list and take off what you really don't care about and prioritize. the rest of the list, remembering that it's okay to decline new opportunities in order to complete the obligations you already have.
Remember, your personal to do list is a tool for you to use to keep track of your priorities. It should never be something about which you feel bad.
That's a short, to the point chapter. One of the things that I assume if you are listening to this podcast is that you are a person who feels that you are living a life as a human being, a spiritual being having a human experience, for a reason. You came here with some kind of mission and And that mission is as broad as any life could possibly be.
I met a woman who was very instrumental in my life, who after seeking for a long time decided that her mission was actually to help other people find theirs. And What a powerful mission that is, right? So she was a conduit. She loved learning about spiritual and metaphysical things. She taught runes and cards and divination and just so many different techniques to people.
She did not feel that she was a seer or a reader herself. But she was a person that helped develop those tools in other people. That was her mission. And she showed up every time that came along. For her, learning about all these modalities and how to execute them and do them well, that was her mission in itself. So she didn't need to then go, Oh, well, I haven't been working on my tarot practice because she saw herself and her goal specifically as teaching other people how to use these tools.
So, for me, My goal is to help you break your cultural and religious indoctrination so that you can leave all of that stuff that makes you feel uncomfortable and sad and not quite right, and then move forward toward a life where you can be who you really are, right, and find your mission. And when we have projects and things that we've started because we felt like we were going in a certain direction. That can feel like a dead end, right?
I just want you to know there are no dead ends. Every time we feel drawn down a path and we, we meet people and we have experiences, we do not know when we are being a Wendy, right? Wendy's the person that took the time to teach me about all these divination tools so that she could help me identify what worked best for me.
And, and that was huge, right? So, I met Wendy through church. Now, church is definitely not something that is a part of my life today. My former husband was a musician. And so I went to support him and I spent quite a bit of time in church. And through a series of friends, I met this woman who was instrumental in growing my career.
comfort with spirituality that grew my comfort with divination. That's probably not what you would expect. So when you follow a path that feels like it's leading you, you put yourself in a position of meeting the right people and having the right experiences to help you to better identify what your path is, what your purpose is, and then how to execute it.
When you notice that it doesn't feel right anymore, that you no longer feel drawn toward that path, to stop and let it go is extraordinarily powerful because When you are doing something, even something that you love, even something that's fun, but it just doesn't feel like it resonates anymore, that you're not on the right path to do what you need to do in this life, letting it go is a powerful reinforcement to yourself that your mission matters and that what you're doing is important. If you're listening to this podcast, then you are a person who's on a mission, who is living a life that's specific and purposeful and meaningful.
To complete what needs to be completed, what you feel drawn to do, no matter what it is. I don't care if it's to finish an Afghan you started 25 years ago. That might draw you to exactly the person or the exactly the place you need to be for your next level in your life.
For me, seven years ago, I started writing songs. It's a passion of mine. I am I'm constantly humbled by my lack of musical knowledge, however, I know that the words and the melodies that I write connect with people, and that has become part of my mission.
Had I stopped doing it because it was hard or scary or, uh, that I was afraid I might be successful, those are all real concerns, like, that could happen, but I'm willing to risk it because... My mission is very, very important to me. I love my life. I have no desire to have a big upheaval and change. So releasing my music feels very scary. And I know statistically I'm pretty safe that my songs are not going to become wildly successful, but anytime you release something to the world, you risk both success and failure.
That's scary stuff. I am living my truth. I am actually following through and doing the things that I'm talking about. Taking the time to clear away projects that. I may have started to do and decided that that's not actually the direction I need to go has been as important as finishing the books and projects that I have. I hope that makes sense.
So, do your due diligence, look at your life, go within and get really firm. If you don't know your purpose yet, that's such an exciting place to be. Um, I remember when I first started my path and before I had really solidified my purpose, sometimes I would just have this burning desire to go to a park by my house and walk laps around the lake.
And I remember getting to the end of, um, walking a couple of miles and it was a really pretty day and there was a picnic table under a tree and I was listening to a song by Traffic, a really long song that just kind of goes on and on and I laid down on my back and I looked up at the sky through the tree and I just had such a sense of peace about me and my thought was, I want to help other people reach this sense of peace.
I want to help other people know their inner knowing and connect with Spirit in such a way that you can just be all by yourself. You don't have to have anyone around you to feel that connection so deeply. And, and that was really pivotal in leading me toward doing everything I've done, writing books and songs and certainly this podcast.
So I hope you feel supported in. Finding your own mission and identifying your own goals and, uh, and trust me when I tell you that I know you definitely have a mission. Together we're going to help you find it and stay focused on it.
Ah, we've reached the end of another episode. Um, I hope that that was helpful for you. I loved writing that book and every time somebody new reads it I get so excited about their feedback. If you have any questions or comments for me, I have made websites for thePracticallySpiritualShow. That's allruntogether. com. And for my artsy stuff, um, and my books, I have links to everything on my website, laurapallatin.
com. I'm on Instagram, tiktok, facebook, and threads
I am in the process of putting together emails to do a mailing list, uh, a newsletter, because I think it would be awesome to have a community around this concept of breaking indoctrination, like leaving all that behind, and then starting on a path that's really meaningful. And I think it would be really neat to support one another in that, so hopefully I'll, So I'll be putting that together soon.
If you're interested in being a part, please reach out to me any way you like and send me your email address.
Until next time, dear ones, take good care of yourselves and remember there is no them. There really is only us.
Thanks for listening to The Practically Spiritual Show. Thank you so much for sticking around to the end. It means so much to me. I love you. See you next time. Bye bye.