Set it in stone. Mark the spot. Highlight it. Need a pen?

Do you live your life in permanent marker?

Making and keeping commitments is the golden ticket. Or is it? I myself am a very consistent and organized person. I tend to write it all down, calendar it in, cross it off my list. Yet lately, I have been sharpening more pencils, checking more cancellation policies, and leaving more space between things. Pencils slow down life in a very desirable way!

Penciling it in allows me to pause myself and to make room for not just work…but for fun.

Why?

I am realizing that sometimes it is actually more effective to just pencil it in. It does not mean that I am not taking life seriously…what it actually means for me is the polar opposite. When I pencil it in…I am taking life really seriously…the living of life that is. What I am taking less seriously is myself. Penciling it in allows for less overthinking and more living in the moment. My to-do is much more about today when I allow for the possibility of change and flux.

Penciling it in makes me more flexible with myself.

Every pencil that I use also has an eraser. By nature, I finish what I begin; yet that eraser allows me to alter my course. I don’t have to quit or give up if I am not reaching a goal or a desired outcome, I can measure my growth, mark it off in pencil notches, and erase my course in order to chart a new one in its place. Erasers allow for renewal, change, augmentation, and exploration.

Penciling it in allows for erasing and letting go of what no longer works to rewrite what does.

Pencils allow us to sketch out a plan. When I use a pencil, I can switch thought mid idea and create something entirely different. When I use pencil to journal, or make lists, or write a blog post I actually feel more creative!  When using pencil, I am less obsessed with the finished product, more intrigued by the process of creating ideas, and exercising imagination.

Penciling it in promotes creative zeal and possibility because my results can be anything. Pencil takes me out of the comforts of what I know and into the opportunity of creative exploration.

Life can be very black and white. Pencil offers the ability to shade…to add gray…or perhaps a colored pencil or two into the mix! Pencils allow for alternative viewpoints, and the ability to make mistakes and corrections as part of the process of creating. Pencils teach us to allow ourselves to not only be “doing “ but to also to allow for the process of “being” as well.

Penciling it in creates balance between the busyness of life and a space for the unknown.

Once the lead and the eraser are gone, so is the pencil. A great parallel to life itself, keeping us mindful that how and where we spend our time is a gift not of forever, but of today. Today’s pencil creates tomorrow’s memories, sharpens our focus on staying centered less on the finish line and more on the actual race we are running. Super focused when sharpened and less so when used down to a nub, a pencil’s usage is measured in the moment, free from conformity, gliding and guiding us toward the endless possibilities of change, transformation and choice.

Penciling it in allows us to erase it out and redefine our message. With pencil in hand we are true to ourselves, allowing us to trust our instincts, listen to our inner voices, and curate and create…and re-create the lives we desire. Pencil keeps us grounded in ways that pen, and marker, and our computer keys cannot. It leaves an echo where the words once sat in a way that our keyboards cannot duplicate.

Some may wonder, is penciling it in a less effective way to set goals? After all, if you believe in something why would you not set it in permanent marker? Pencils equal confidence. Pencils are the tools of choice for long and complicated math equations. Why? They afford us a way to switch gears mid way, to rethink, to calculate, to be wrong… so that we can be right. Want to get started? Pencil is the way to create the framework for what’s next! It allows you to start, to begin. Beginning is being in action.

Let me know where you are penciling it in this April. Visit my in-box at Randi@RandiLevinCoaching.com and let me know your thoughts…