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The Sacred Space of Planning

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Laying out my plan by working backward FROM the VISION I HAVE OF MY FUTURE is so fun WHEN I prepare my tissue, thoughts, and emotions beforehand. The most potent preparation I know is meditation.

To follow meditation with some mind mapping, laying out of details on paper, and researching is both nourishing and satisfying for me. Ahhh!

I’m astonished by the synchronicities and clarity that occur when I pair my “prepared state” aka “flow state” with the planning of possible pathways to my future.

As a kid, planning was serious business, giving me a sense of my Sovereign, confirming that planning brought my unborn future closer. I’d spend hours designing elaborate plans for my Olympic gymnast career where I’d medal in gold, for the luxurious upgrade to our rustic family cabin where I grew up and for becoming a renowned master of haute couture.

Even when the projects failed, there’s been no greater endorsement of my Sovereign than acting on my plans.

I’ve learned that owning the outcomes of plans that didn’t work out is much easier than owning the “futures I’ve ended up with” when I’ve failed to plan.

Failed plans often are gifts. When I track back from the outcomes of plans that rendered results I was going for, I see the failed plans were early attempts toward those results.

So how can I not embrace the Olympic career that fizzled early? Or my plan to upgrade the family cabin that went no further than the forts we built in the forest around our house?

And though I WAS on track for a big career in fashion — God had other plans. Enter a blessing, my son Nicolo, whose arrival required a pivot from the jet life of fashion to a career with a travel schedule more conducive to motherhood. The great thing about “plans” is you can change them.

I’ve discovered that the greatest measure of my Sovereign isn’t my plans coming to fruition, but rather my taking responsibility for them regardless of the outcomes.

Not planning has ever only diminished my precious unborn future and, with it my Sovereign. Designing, executing, and owning both the successes and failures of my plans have produced a Sovereign life, continually unfolding outcomes beyond my wildest dreams.


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About the Author


Gina Carlson is a meditation teacher and mindset coach. Gina created EMBODITATE to help people access their heart intelligence -- essential for building the mental, emotional and physical agility needed to thrive in the modern world.