Our Own Worst Enemy
I’m not sure who may need to hear this, but I know that I need to be reminded of it almost daily… I can be my own worst enemy!
How many times have you been inspired to start something, a spark ignited in you… and you don’t follow or take the chance because of that conversation with yourself, ‘Suppose it doesn’t work? Who will want to buy that? Will people like it? Will people accept it?’ We become paralysed and then talk ourselves out of it. I am guilty of this, it affects what I post and when and it sometimes trickles into my other projects and hinders the progress in those as well.
Why do we do it? Why do we talk ourselves out of things that clearly our souls want to do… want to follow… want to experience. Why do we ‘self sabotage’? I think our minds are set up to defend, to protect, to focus on the risks, and decide on the safest outcome… sometimes… to do nothing at all. It is logical to a fault… our souls however, that is different. Our souls want to experience this world for what it is… it wants us to follow our passions and to feel that joy and pure bliss that comes from doing something that we really love and enjoy. Our souls are set up that way I feel… it doesn’t know that we can’t do something, it doesn’t set up limitations, it just knows how to feel joy, to feel and give love and to follow our emotions.
Have you ever realised that when you allow your mind to wander, a lot of times it chooses the worst case scenario unless you consciously move your mind away from it? Unless you choose to think happy thoughts? It’s a protective measure. If you allow your mind to control everything, you may never you leave your safe space. When you feel sad, and you think thoughts that add to that sadness, more thoughts come, and before you know it, you have found yourself in a pit that is difficult to come out of. That’s our mind, and because we ‘feel’ that emotion and continue to add to it, our soul adds more to it… at least this is what I think. In the last couple of months, I’ve experienced some lows… nothing in particular caused them, no life changing event, but, I allowed my mind to wander… and the thoughts that many times I try to move away from come to the surface, ‘You don’t have a partner and time is ticking’, ‘You are not where you want to be career wise and will I ever be there’. Our mind is really powerful, and we need to direct it in the direction we consciously choose… choose wisely. I’ve pulled myself out by repeating this mantra ‘Good things are happening to me all the time even though I can’t see it’. Sometimes repeating it 3 times is enough to get me out of the funk, but many times, a minimum of 15 times is required. Other times I recall all the things I’m grateful for… for my bed, a roof over my head, my bed sheets, my camera, my dogs, my parents, the parking spot I got, the fact that all of my senses are functional. The thing is… whatever you need to do to get out of that funk… do it.
The inspiration for this piece stems from a conversation that I’ve had recently with a super talented friend. He has so much talent packed into that one body, but… there is a but… that mind, that mind that creates scenarios that prevent him from taking those steps. If I had half the talent he has, I imagine myself taking the risk and just doing it… just creating and putting myself out there and seeing what happens. But if I put myself in his shoes… would I really? I would like to think I would. The end of our conversation, he asked me what allows me to create even though I have all this fear.
My answer… I’ve seen a loved one leave this earth at such a young age, that I can’t waste my time that I have here. The fear should be used to fuel you… the more fear, the more that it MUST be done. It’s to take that first step, and everything else will start to become easier. That first step if often the hardest and most challenging… and it has a lot to do with use. To each decision or step that must be taken, look at it in two opposing views - if you take the step what can happen? ‘ I can succeed and thrive and do what fuels my soul and fills me with joy. There may be stresses along the way, but the payout, my happiness, my joy, is worth much more.’ The opposing view ‘I take the chance and don’t succeed, well, I give myself a time period and after that, either regroup or move on to something next’. Would you rather just not take the chance at all and never know what joy and blessings could come out of it???
Take the chance! Start that business! Join that class, speak to that person, apologise, let go of all that you cannot change but allow to dampen your soul. Time to be selfish in that way… if you cannot change something or someone, let them go with love and take that chance on yourself.
I feel that I have gone all over with this piece, but the message is… what are you waiting for? The time is NOW. This life is limited, and it is filled with wonderful experiences that will enrich you and by extension the others around you.
Don’t allow yourself to leave this earth without sharing your God given talents! The time is NOW.
Sending lots of love,
Mimi.