We often think that if we can just reach the next milestone — the new job, the dream home, the relationship, the bank balance — then we’ll finally feel how we want to feel. But as my mentor Michelle once said, “If you don’t know how you want to feel, you have no compass.”
That sentence stayed with me for days. Because it reveals something so profound:
if we don’t consciously decide what emotions we want to cultivate, our nervous system simply keeps recreating the ones we’re familiar with — even if they’re emotions we no longer want to live in.
We may say we want peace, but if anxiety is what we know, we’ll keep creating chaos to match it.
We may say we want abundance, but if scarcity feels familiar, we’ll find ways to keep feeling limited.
We may say we want love, but if unworthiness feels safer, we’ll unconsciously push love away.
That’s what it means to live without an emotional compass — we’re not truly creating, we’re recycling.
🌿 The Journey Is the Destination
Michelle reminded us that emotions are not a reward at the end of the road — they are part of the creative process itself.
You can’t build a destination you love out of a journey you hate.
You can’t manifest abundance while living in daily scarcity.
You can’t create freedom from a place of emotional imprisonment.
The journey equals the destination.
How you feel today is shaping what you are building for tomorrow.
So instead of waiting to “arrive,” the real work is to practice the feelings now.
Not one day when life is perfect — but today, in the middle of your becoming.
🌸 The End of Self-Neglect
When we explore the “areas of life,” we often think it’s just a self-assessment — physical, emotional, financial, relational, spiritual, and so on.
But the deeper meaning, as Michelle beautifully expressed, is that these areas represent the whole of our humanity.
Each one reflects a need — and when we neglect one part of ourselves, it doesn’t go away.
It simply finds another, often unhealthy, way to express itself: through exhaustion, people-pleasing, emotional eating, or overworking.
Self-neglect is expensive.
It costs peace, energy, creativity, and connection. True balance is not about perfection — it’s about the end of self-neglect.
It’s the commitment to honor every part of you, even if only in small, consistent ways.
🌞 The Feelings Come First
You don’t need to wait until your bank account grows to feel abundant.
You don’t need to wait for someone to love you to feel cherished.
You don’t need to wait until everything is calm to feel peaceful.
You can practice those emotions now — in micro-moments.
When you light a candle with intention.
When you choose stillness over chaos.
When you take a walk and breathe in the day with gratitude.
That’s how you begin to rewire your emotional patterns.
That’s how you take your power back.
🕊 Your Journaling Invitation: Designing Your Emotional Compass
Take out your journal and let this be a moment of quiet creation.
Step 1 — Releasing the Old
Ask yourself:
- What emotions have I been most familiar with, even if they don’t serve me?
- What patterns or stories keep me returning to those feelings?
- What am I ready to stop recreating?
Step 2 — Defining Your Areas of Life
List your key areas — Physical, Emotional, Relationships, Spiritual, Creativity, Finances, Career, Home, and Joy.
Step 3 — Choosing New Feelings
For each area, write down 1–2 emotions you desire to experience daily.
Example:
- Physical → Vibrant, Grounded
- Finances → Secure, Expansive
- Relationships → Cherished, Free
Step 4 — Practicing the Feelings
Each morning, ask:
“How can I practice one of these feelings today?”
Each evening, reflect:
“When did I feel aligned with my chosen emotions?”
💖 A Closing Reminder
No one else is responsible for making sure our needs are met.
That power — that sacred duty — belongs to us.
So, take time to know how you truly want to feel. Let those feelings become your compass.
And remember: you don’t have to wait for the destination to feel good about your life.
You can start now — right here, in the middle of your beautiful, unfolding journey. Because how you travel is how you arrive. 🌿
🌙 A Reminder for the Becoming
Don’t rush to become who you already are.
The feelings you’re chasing have been waiting inside you all along —
quietly asking to be felt, not earned.
Breathe.
Let your joy arrive before the reason.
Let your peace take root before the proof.
You are allowed to feel beautiful things,
even while life is still unfolding.
Your journey is not a bridge to happiness —
it is happiness,
when you choose to walk it with awareness,
gratitude, and love.
Salima
Just me thinking out loud over here