A Personal Story
More than thirty years ago I decided to get serious about getting beyond the debilitating and self-destructive habits that had created a path of destruction in my life.
I had given my first child up for adoption, left the second child with his father and moved from London to San Francisco without a clear direction or friends to lean on. With drugs and alcohol as the only way to combat the fear and self-loathing (think Hunter Thompson Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas).
With an urgent need to change, I embarked on a journey that would change my life for the better, and give my children the parent they deserved.
Becoming self-aware is not an easy journey. It takes a lot of effort to face the demons and be willing to look yourself in the mirror and confront the beliefs and behaviors that do not serve your best interests. It’s hard but it’s worth all the effort to create a life you can feel satisfied with.
We fear change because it means that outcomes are unknown. Our brains seek stability and certainty. When we don’t know what will happen, we make up stories and worse case scenarios. We find it hard to move on when something comes to an end and we resist making the changes necessary to improve our situation.
In my case, if I didn’t change, I might well have died an early death. Not hyperbole!
Having gone through several decades of making changes I can categorically state all the hard work to get honest with myself has paid off. I am stronger and more confident today than I ever thought possible.
That doesn’t mean there is nothing more to change…far from it. Whether it’s how I run my business, my relationships, or my health, there is always more I can do to make it better.
What changes have you resisted?
Did you find your back against the wall before you made a decision? Did you spend endless hours obsessing over the details before you finally took a chance? Did you seek constant validation that it was the right thing to do?
We are creatures of habit and those habits don’t always serve us in the right way. Breaking the habits of a lifetime takes hard work. It’s easy to slip back into default mode, and we must fight the current that wants to drag you back to the ‘normal’ way of doing things.
How has your life changed in the last two years?
I would hazard a guess that there has been a lot of resets and you probably think there is more change coming. Consider the following:
- Are you meeting the need for change with grace, or with resistance?
- Do you get excited thinking about new possibilities and opportunities?
- Are you curious about what the future has in store for you?
- Are you in control of your destiny because you are willing to change?
Your life is created by achievements big and small, and it is in the achievement of our goals that we find our success. When we resist making changes we lose opportunities to discover how much more we can be, and how we can have more impact in our life.
Today is the start of the next part of the journey of life. Make each day count.
Don’t let a day go by without asking who you are. Understanding is a skill, and like all skills it must be coaxed into existence. To understand who you are means returning again and again to the question, Who Am I? Each time you return you are allowing a new ingredient to enter your awareness. Every day is filled with the potential for expanding your awareness, and although each new addition may seem tiny, overall the accumulation will be great. It may take thousands of days to know who you are; it only takes one day to quit asking. Don’t let today be that day.
Deepak Chopra
YOU ARE INVITED to join me for a FREE 90-minute masterclass on June 21st at 3pm PST on What Are You Willing To Change?
SAVE YOUR SPOT AND SIGN UP TODAY
In this Masterclass you will learn:
- What it means to Know Thyself
- Develop the confidence to examine your obstacles
- Clarify the outcomes you want to achieve
- Examine your assumptions and redefine who you are
- Transform your ability to face challenges and take a different approach
At the end of 90-minutes you will have a roadmap to create the career and life you desire once you recognize where you are holding back.
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