Put your left foot in...

Remember the hokey pokey?  Yes like yesterday…well it was yesterday since I have a 4 year old and that is a funny game for him with all the bonuses of learning left from right.  In the game you get to put your foot in and then take it back out, shake it about, and all that fun stuff. Dancing and singing your way through life.  Obscurely tied to this thought, let me get to the point.
The other day I was doing a little research for an upcoming peer mentoring circle session and I came across a rather provocative thought.  In short, the thought was that if you are thinking of leaving a relationship, you probably already have one foot out the door (see the connection now!).  I am not in the middle of thinking of leaving a relationship, (I must qualify this on the off chance my husband takes a gander at this entry), but it got me thinking.  By changing the statement just a little bit, can’t this become an affirmation of positive movement?  If you are thinking of making a change, you have already taken one step through the door.
Is this true?  Well, in my experience…yes.  I have spent many hours with coaches and mentors describing what I want my life to look like.  I have analyzed past wrongs, cleaned up where things needed cleaning up and charted a course forward.  There has been many an idea that was well thought out, planned and acted upon.  And there has been many a thought that was pretty much, thought –action-result.  But in all cases there was a common thread: I set an intention to achieve a stated change. 
The intention behind my actions is incredibly important. I need to be clear about the direction I want my footsteps to take me after I have the first thought.  I am not an advocate for treading water, leaping before I look or invoking my inner ostrich.  I do like to take prudent risks, consider the art of the possible and find the adventure that enhances my experience in this lifetime.  I gave it some thought and have come up with a few things to keep in mind when you have a major or minor scale revolutionary intention:
1.          Envision your ideal, does this action enhance that vision? 
2.          Think through the short and long term implications of what you are about to embark on.  What seems attractive in the near term may be a total cluster in the long term and vice versa. 
3.          What happens if it is successful? 
Somewhere in between the extremes of never take an action without a 4 point plan for success and become the bull in the china closet, is a recipe for success.  I think the steps above can be accomplished in as little as a split second to a few minutes all the way up to a well thought out, written down analysis.  It is entirely dependent on the level of intention you are dealing with.
Enjoy the journey….