There are five lies that stand
between you and the life you deserve. They block your view, stall your progress
and steal your resolve. Don’t bother looking for anyone else to blame. You are
their author, their advocate, and their most loyal defender. You need them.
They help you stay stuck in the familiar world of incompletion, frustration and
unrealized dreams – the only world you’ve ever known. It’s hard to leave home.
But it’s time.
Lie # 1: I’m not ready.
You’re not a kid anymore. You’ve
been around the block. You have a dream and
a clue. You’ve written lists, searched the web and talked to people – lots of
people. You’ve even paid for a few workshops and have pages and pages of notes
to show for it. Yet you’re stuck. It’s so difficult to know when the groundwork
is laid and it’s time to fly. It’s so
easy to imagine that you’re not ready yet, that you can’t possibly begin until
everything’s perfect – whatever that is. This is when a trusted friend or life
coach can be invaluable. By bringing a fresh pair of eyes and an objective
perspective a mentor can help free you from this paralyzing lie. The truth is
you are ready, and you’ve been ready
for a while. What you need now is trust.
You’ve mistaken fear for caution. As Emerson said, “Once you make a decision
the universe conspires to make it happen.” In your bones you know this is true
– you’ve felt it many times before. It’s imbedded in your own experience and
verified by your own authority. Make a decision – say, I’m ready – and it will be true. Then watch everything fall into
place.
Lie # 2: I’m just not good enough to compete at the highest levels.
Our heroes inspire us. They also
scare the crap out of us. When you finally meet your hero at a conference or a
book signing or backstage or in a crowded elevator you hardly know what to say
even though you’ve rehearsed this moment for years. You babble incoherently,
painfully aware that ten minutes from now, long after they’re gone, the perfect
words will appear. We mistakenly believe that our heroes are higher order
beings, mystically endowed with superpowers that will forever elude us. Not
true. When they started out they felt exactly like you feel right now – full of
doubt and scared to death. But they took one step, and then another, and soon,
with the passage of time, they were well on their way. The trick is to stop
comparing yourself to anyone else, especially your heroes. You’re right – you
could never do what they do. And they could never do what you do either. And
that’s that. Stop thinking about them. Take in the inspiration but leave behind
the intimidation. The reason they became so great and powerful is because they
were fierce and uncompromising in the pursuit of their own personal greatness.
They stopped comparing themselves to anyone else. They didn’t say, Where’s the path so that I may follow.
They said, The only path is the one
behind me, formed by the footsteps of my own artful meandering.
Lie # 3: If I fail, it means I’m a worthless fraud.
The ego mind has a curious knack
for exaggerating our weaknesses and overlooking our strengths. This is easily
remedied. Come out of your ego mind and see with the unbiased eyes of pure awareness.
In this light our so-called failures are simply missteps corrected long ago and
eclipsed by all the right moves we’ve made since then. It’s really true that
there are no mistakes – every turn in the road revealed new wonders and
cultivated new strengths and connections that are now indispensable – we can’t
imagine our lives without them. Why will your next so-called mistake be any
different? Gifts come in many forms. Accept them all.
Perfectionism is ego attachment
plain and simple. Learn to play the fool. When you’re laughing, you’re
learning. Mistakes are what growth looks like. Don’t be defined by your
mistakes – define them.
Lie # 4: There’s no more room at the top.
The world is full of
self-appointed prophets of doom with bulging briefcases and flashy websites
full of evidence that your plan isn’t going to work. And you believe them. In
fact, you’ve internalized and blended their voices into one – your very own
inner prophet of doom – the master of excuses, the prince of procrastination
and the minister of fear. But the truth is far simpler than all of that. The
truth is that this thing called the future is unformed, fluid and highly
malleable, forged by the mettle of intention and action, shaped by the vision
of visionaries and dreamers who have the guts to love what they love and
detractors be damned. Henry David Thoreau said it best. “If one advances
confidently in the direction of their dreams, and endeavors to live the life
they have imagined, they will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
Leave the common hours to the prophets of doom. Dare to speak a deeper truth.
Of course there is room at the top. But it’s even crazier than that. There’s no
such thing as “the top.” There are just excellent people doing masterful work
all over the place, and being rewarded for it. Bring your gifts, without fear
and without apology. Never doubt that they will be willingly received by a
world hungry for what is brought forth in love.
Lie # 5: Success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
This is perhaps the most
insidious lie of all. We delight in the foibles of the rich and famous. We mock
the successful and ascribe nefarious motives to the most gifted and generous of
change-agents. We fear wealth because we crave it so pathologically and
unconsciously. Our animosity toward the rich is little more than a childish
projection of our own self-loathing. We misread and misunderstand success.
Success has nothing to do with wealth and power. Success is mastery in our
given craft and the well-being that arises when we learn to live authentically.
When we follow our bliss, hone our skills and perfect our capacity to give the
world what it needs, when we become a powerful agent of the healing of the
world, the world will in turn fulfill our every need. Giving and receiving are
two names for one circle. When you chase money from the consciousness of
scarcity, wealth eludes you. When in your humility you learn how to serve,
abundance rains down. This is an unimpeachable law. Stop thinking of success or
wealth as a goal, a salve for your self-inflicted wounds. Instead, realize that
abundance is the natural state of the universe, and by opening up the circuits
you become a conduit for the circulation of love-energy. That’s how we keep
what we give away. The fearful never understand this paradox. But you do.
The five lies stand between you
and your fullest realization. The longing you feel is the longing of the
universe to manifest itself in you, through you and as you. It’s not personal,
it’s universal. The universe is trying
to do something amazing. Let it. Stop believing in these five lies. They have
no power over you anymore. You’re free to be who you really are. That’s what
your soul is asking for. Get out of your own way.
