This morning, I’ve been listening to music and thinking about
taste. A song that opens the sky for me — that brings light every
time I hear it — can bounce off friends of mine without impact.
They may even frown and ask me to turn it off.

There are some songs that reach a wide audience, like “Here Comes
the Sun” or “Dragostea Din Tei”. There are others, like “Little
Earthquakes” or “March of Cambreadth” that specific audiences take
to passionately. There are still others, like the four bars I made
up and hum to myself when in a particular mood, that are strictly
individual.

All of these songs have their place. The world would be poorer
without any of them.

It took me a long time to find my work in the world. I tried a lot
of different things, achieved moderate levels of competence in
them, felt my attention drifting.

When I found Martha Beck’s book Finding Your Own North Star, it was
like being hit by lightning. Like having a parade with drums,
trombones and elephants march past my door just to pull my
attention to a banner that read: “Do what you want. No, really,
DO WHAT YOU WANT!”

“But, but,” I stammered, “what if I want something horrible?”

The conductor kindly stepped aside to answer my question. “You
won’t. When we are true to ourselves, our true selves are true to
the world, too.”

Martha Beck’s been gathering the evidence. Po Bronson gathered
evidence. So did Barbara Sher and Marsha Sinetar and Jack Canfield
and many more. What you really want will be to make something,
help someone, or solve a problem. That’s the vision that will pull
you through the sometimes tedious thousand steps to make it a
reality.

What specifically will be your vision? It will be like your
favorite song — maybe something millions also love, maybe yours
alone. How can you find it?

You could read and work through the authors I’ve mentioned above.
Or you could call me. Because my vision is to create a spacefaring
civilization by putting the best success tools in the hands of
science fiction fans. I’d be very glad to help you find what you
want to do and how you can do it.

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Book Recommendation

The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson

A rogue, a courtesan, and the naturalist son of a preacher interact
with Newton, Leibniz, and Louis XIV at a pivotal period of history.
Although published in three immense volumes, the Baroque Cycle is a
unified tapestry holding many threads. Full of adventure, richly
imagined, and immensely entertaining, the Baroque Cycle takes a
gonzo tour of the movers and shakers of a time that just happens to
see the beginnings of the science, math, and banking that
created our civilization. Available in three volumes as
Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World or as six
paperbacks beginning with Quicksilver: Baroque Cycle Volume 1.

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Anna Paradox is a life coach who speaks science fiction. Her
clients invest in themselves to achieve their dreams. If you’d like
to join them, call 505-640-0979 to set up a sample session. Or
email me at anna@annaparadox.com

Creating Space is her twice-monthly newsletter with tips, insights,
and a book recommendation for science fiction fans and space
activists. You can subscribe at www.annaparadox.com/newsletter,
and read back issues there, too.