When we come to this planet, our souls evolve by gaining perspective through various life experiences. However, our personal journey towards spiritual evolution is not written in stone. We are meant to learn certain lessons, but our choices determine the specific pathway towards our experience of them. To me, “destiny” is an idea that carries a lot of wiggle room.

As an intuitive life coach, I spend my days helping people navigate their long-term vision. What I notice is that our minds often set grandiose goals that seem out of touch with where we actually are. It is great to want to win an Oscar for acting, but it might be a far reach if you’ve never auditioned for a student film or taken an acting class. I want you to strive for the stars, but it concerns me when there is a very narrow window to happiness and satisfaction in life.

What about something a little bit easier to attain? Living our true destiny isn’t always about life-changing realities. Our smaller achievements often help us align with the experiences that we are meant to have. We must learn to walk before we can run.

After traveling and working in Japan this summer, David and I really enjoyed being able to speak some Japanese while there. We didn’t know much, but we mastered introductions and greetings. We were able to order drinks in a restaurant and even ask what was good on the menu. Their responses were typically lost on us, but it was fun. As a child, I dreamed of being fluent in Japanese and studied it once a week for two years. But the truth is, I gave up when it got tough (three alphabets for one language was quite a challenge!). Looking back, I set my expectations too high and abandoned my goal because I was impatient.

On the flight home, we both agreed that we wanted to learn more. But this time, I would be more realistic. Instead of becoming completely fluent, my goal was to lead my Japanese clients through a short meditation without using a translator. If I can achieve this goal by the time we return to Japan in four months, I will consider it a complete success! A mini-goal, if you will.

This past Saturday we enrolled in our first level of Japanese language studies. I was surprised at how nervous I felt getting back into a classroom after 21 years. On the drive there, to manage my energy I decided to try a different approach as an adult. I am going to give myself permission to have fun and enjoy the journey. I reminded myself that there are no grades, and any lesson that I retain leaves me better off than I was (just like in life).

I believe that our souls need to be stimulated and nourished, which is why we set goals in the first place. There are so many ways to do this. But pay attention to short term goals as well. If you want to become a professional chef, invite your friends to take a cooking class. If you want to be a writer, start a blog and post on it frequently. It is critical to give yourself permission for growth and expansion in smaller steps. Is there a smaller way that you can improve an area of your life this week? Let me know in the comments below, I am here to support you!