Don't Overthink The Process Of Growth
There's no one who makes simple things harder than me. I laugh at how many times I've take super simple concepts that were working, added a bunch of complexity, watched my gains slow to a crawl, then finally figured out that I've made things harder than they needed to be.
Here's a great example. In 2016 life as I knew it crashed and burned. I hit the reset on every aspect of my life - my health, wealth and how I showed up in all of my relationships.
By embracing some super simple concepts and making my own life simpler, I have literally transformed every aspect of my life into what I didn't think possible for me.
Change at Any Time is Possible
I was a 300 lb. guy who was on the verge of suicide, abusive of alcohol, food and anything else I could put in my mouth, I had just gotten terminated from my second executive level position in less than two years, and I was also abusive to my family. I made some changes, and I've turned into a fit and healthy prosperous business owner who is capable of loving and being loved at levels I had never imagined.
When I began my coaching business I began teaching what had really made the most difference in my life; it was my thoughts and feelings that caused me to become the painful version of myself, and as I transformed those thoughts and feelings everything else changed too.
As I taught these concepts more and more, I saw people's lives change rapidly. New levels of health, wealth and love became the norm, not the exception. It simply takes understanding that what's happening inside of you determines the quality of your life, not the other way around.
A person who hates themself will gradually become more miserable, while a person who loves themself will become more wealthy, successful, and happy. It really is that simple.
How do we love ourself at increasingly deeper levels? Change your thought patterns and your feeling habits to reflect those levels intentionally.
Let me explain what that means.
Suspend all disbelief for a second. If you had no limitations, obstacles or roadblocks in your life, who would you be? What type of life would you live? How would you spend your days? What would you possess? What would you accomplish? How would you interact with others? What would your body look and feel like? What would your financial state be like? How much love would you give and receive?
Once you get a clear picture of the above life, consider how that person thinks and feels on a daily basis.
Are they happy? Do they feel valuable? Do they know they make a difference? Are they confident? Do they feel energized? Are they givers or takers? Do they sacrifice themselves for others? Do they worry about the future?
Take an inventory and write down what that person thinks, feels, and how they show up in the world.
Now here's the best kept secret - the hardest work you need to do is to become that person. What I mean is that you need to retrain your mind patterns and feeling habits to be that new version of who you just described. Let me get woo-woo for a second - that new version that you described is the real you and your higher self already knows it. It's just that you're still identified with your lower self.
In past blogs I've described my three favorite techniques for growth: meditation, shadow work, and visualization. These are all methods of retraining your mind and body to become who you really are - your higher self.
The Tools to Create Real and Lasting Change
Meditation is the process of observing your current thoughts and feelings so that you can see all of the chaos inside of you. This is also where you learn that you are not your thoughts and feelings, but you are the observer of these things. While we live in a left-brain world, meditation rebridges the left and right hemispheres so that you can relearn to trust, love and feel joy again while using your left brained analytical side.
Shadow work is a process of understanding the deepest pain that is hidden inside of you and resolving it. If you don't resolve your hidden traumas and internal baggage, you'll continue to live out your deepest shadow patterns which are the cause and the root of your worry, fear and doubt.
Visualization is using your inventory of your higher self to become that person right now. You don't need to wait to become that person before you think and feel what they feel, but beginning to think and feel as they do you'll reprogram your mind and body to become that person. Trust me when I say that you already know how your higher self thinks and feels, and it's from thinking and feeling as your higher self now that your circumstances will change dramatically.
Putting It All Together
My wife and I were watching a show last night where a criminal said "He was always happy, but we all know that nobody is that happy all the time." The only reason he believed that is because he's living a very unconscious life, and he just reacts to whatever his mind and body thinks and feels.
We all have a choice of who to become in this world. You can continue to live an unconscious life by continuing to think and feel like you already do and go wherever your thoughts and feelings take you, or you can decide how you want to think and feel and become that person consciously.
The choice is yours.
Photo by Visual Stories || Micheile on Unsplash