How do you listen to your life? It begins with developing the habit of awareness. Here’s an exercise that might help:

1. Create a “listen to your life” timeline.
2. Draw a horizontal line on a piece of paper and use it to plot out the significant events in your life.
3. Look for trends, patterns, and significant moments. Have you always played basketball? As a child, were you fascinated with technology? Was there something unique about you that baffled even your parents?
4. Write it all down, then spend at least thirty minutes reflecting on what all this might mean.
5. Practice this every day until your calling comes into focus.
6. Reach out to a handful of friends or family members and ask them to describe something that you do better than anyone they know.

Sometimes we tend to overlook our greatest assets. Use the timeline and the wisdom of loved ones to help you see a direction you might be missing.

Listen to the audio clip below to hear more about listening to your life:

Resources:

• Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer
• Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation by Frederick Buechner
• Jody Noland’s Leave Nothing Unsaid