DON'T Follow Your Passion.
Follow this instead....Fear.
Really?! Yep.
This isn't the first time I've written about fear and the power of re-framing it to serve you (rather than stop you). In fact, I have a free MP3 you can listen to that digs deeper into this subject and even gives you a tactical tool for uncovering your deepest fears and taking action in spite of them.
GO HERE to listen (after reading this).
The other day someone who inspires me very much, Marie Forleo, sent out a newsletter that said, Don't Follow Your Bliss...Follow This Instead. It went on to talk about how we so often hear people saying 'follow your bliss' and 'follow your passion' (and that's all fine and dandy)...but what about following your fear? And we don't mean the fear that keeps you from doing ridiculous things that may end your life or make you bankrupt...we are talking about the kind of fear that is actually a compass pointing you in the direction you are meant to go (it's your souls call and where you potential will be actualized).
Marie sees it and I see it. Again and again,we let fear stop us, rather than guide us. We trick ourselves into not seeing what is really going on with our choices to not take action by calling it 'rational.' We see a path (one we haven't taken before - that's why it scares us) that could lead us to the clarity, confidence, and space we need to move to the next level in our life. And them, Boom!...we choose our old ways.
We choose stuck over power and convince ourself that it was a wise and rational choice.
We say the same things we have said so many times before:
I don't have the money
I don't have the time
I'm not ready
This isn't the right time
And this is the thing...we actually believe it's the truth.
But here is a truth...
"I don't have the money." Tony Robbins says that if you want to move beyond scarcity, you have to begin beyond it. In other words, you won't change your financial reality by thinking and acting from a place of scarcity. This was my big excuse for many years. Until in 2013 I decided to really take my power back and become the leader of my life. I hired a coach even though I barely earned 25k a year. Yep. I did that. Scary - oh yes. But I knew the stories in my head about it being too risky, that I'm not use to making investments in things like this, that it didn't make sense for me, or that I could do it on my own were getting old and not the stories I wanted to be making choices from anymore. Ever since then I have been operating from a very different frame of mind with regards to money and I'm investing in my future self in ways I would have never done before. I finally got it and I am so grateful for taking that initial 'risk' I took. Now I live life like it's an adventure and a game, rather than a struggle. We may not be able to afford everything, but certainly we can afford the things that matter the most to us. All of us have stories on how we created a way for something we really wanted. And I can not imagine a more valuable investment than one that is an investment in your future self.
"I don't have the time" is another great way to steer yourself away from taking action that could radically shift your reality (to one where you actually have time). In fact, it always makes me laugh a little that the people who use this excuse are the very ones who avoid taking actions that will actually create more space in their life (such as getting support). We really must be willing to see how we operate on auto-pilot before anything is going to change.
"I'm not ready" and "this isn't the right time" here is what I know about those statements - they are two feathers of the same bird because we only become ready when we decide the time is right - right now. Right now is the only time we have. We so take that for granted and waste days and months and years of this one precious life of ours waiting 'to be ready' and waiting 'for the right time.' Waiting doesn't create change, action does.
Below is a brief and clever depiction of how we tend to get ourselves stuck in the same patterns again and again, having the same experience of life...until we choose another path.
Autobiography in Five Short Parts by Portia Nelson
Chapter I
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost... I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in this same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it there.
I still fall in... it's a habit... but,
my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
Chapter IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter V
I walk down another street.
My honest, heartfelt question for you is - how long do you want to wait before you choose another street?
If you are ready to follow your fear towards your potential then I may have the program to support you on that journey.
You can learn ALL THE DETAILS about my Activate: Living Powerfully Program and My Living Powerfully Mastermind HERE. Act now, as these programs will be closing for the year soon.
I am committed to serving emerging leaders (Yoga Teachers, Coaches, Conscious Entrepreneurs, Community Organizers, Activists and other mindful, go getting Creators) to step into their power, presence, and purpose - taking a stand for their deepest truths as they reach for their potential and actualize their visions.
You are the worlds emerging leaders — even if you don't know it yet.
Your Champion for Living Powerfully,
