Tracking Aliveness

Tracking aliveness is a way to find purpose and meaning in present moment activity. Like following a compass to find a destination, paying attention to the right signals can tell us a lot about whether our lives are headed in the right direction or not.

Look for “yes” signals like:

• Aliveness
• Curiosity
• Expansion
• Love

And pay attention to “no” signals like:

• Indifference
• Numbness
• Constriction
• “Should”

Exercise

• What makes me feel dead inside? (substitute with whatever “no” signal resonates most with you)
• How can I stop doing this? How can I do less of this? How can I make it a lower priority in my life?
• Next, create 2 separate pages or 2 columns: “Experience” and “Ideas”
• What makes me feel alive? (substitute with whatever “yes” signal resonates most with you)
• Write down things you have been doing recently that give you this feeling under “Experience” and write down ideas that you think might make you feel this way, but you haven’t done recently under “Ideas”
• For “Experience”: how can I do more of this?
• For “Ideas”: how can I experiment with this?

Good Girl / Good Boy Syndrome

There’s a certain kind of overachiever who might struggle with this exercise. If you’re used to always meeting everyone else’s expectations and find it difficult to feel these signals within yourself, this bonus video is for you: