There’s never been a time when it’s so critical to know for sure what train you’ve boarded! What “all aboard” call you’ve responded to.
As I’ve seen video and heard the stories of people threatened and even trapped in the CA fires, it hit me – that is such a metaphor for how we are all feeling. Trapped by the threatening flames of uncertainty, fear, anxiety, hopelessness, the pain of loss.
We all feel those things many different times in our life. It’s just that right now, we are feeling them just as intensely as the wild fires burning, and as a result of the difficult times we are enduring, we’ve become a pile of dry kindling.
It is the embers of emotional habits that are igniting a raging fire.
Let me explain: Emotional habits become very close friends with stress, fear and depression.
A train we don’t want to be on. Get off and stop living by the going nowhere formula.
Beliefs > Emotional Habits > Stress, Fear, Depression = Golden Ticket to Nowhere.
It’s a cycle as vicious as wild fire.
May I offer you a fire extinguisher?
STEP ONE – When you’re feeling any of these feelings, probably many times a day, ask yourself, What is the belief propagating my feelings in this moment?
STEP TWO – Ask yourself; what emotional habit or thought or action am I engaging in at this moment?
STEP THREE – Ask yourself; how can I shift the perspective around this belief?
One way to shift perspective is to see all this as an adventure. It doesn’t change reality, it simply changes how you experience the reality.
STEP FOUR – Notice how your body feels, how it might be suffering. Maybe you’ve had some health issues. Take a moment to pay attention to any pain, tension, shallow breathing, a heart rate that is more than normal, etc. Your body responds to every belief and emotional habit.
HMMM, are you noticing that maybe your beliefs and responding habits are running the show?
STEP FIVE – How are you compensating for your suffering? Let me assure you, we all compensate! Notice what your response is to those difficult moments or feelings. Do you immediately need to eat something comforting? Are you caring less about how you look? Have you relaxed some good habits? Are you reaching for that extra drink?
As for me, I’ve always been meticulous about washing my face and oral hygiene. I would never have believed I would slip and let that go before bed. I did!
Those habits are what is sabotaging our joy and sense of well-being!
And we’re settling for it. Because we believe this is as good as it’s going to get!
Truth – Everyone, everyone craves passion, desires joy, but fear of the unknown is greater than the desire to feel that passion and experience that joy. Especially now!
Fear of the unknown is the #1 criminal that robs us of everything our soul wants and could be living.
When we settle – we literally sacrifice joy and quite frankly ourselves, our soul.
Settling is a default habit because we believe it keeps us safe.
Are you allowing yourself to ponder what you really want?
Let me make clear, that knowing what you want doesn’t erase the difficulty you are experiencing at a given time – quite a lot these days, but it does shift our perspective of those deep-rooted beliefs, and thus shifts the corresponding habit / action.
Guess what? That creates motivation to move toward the changes you need and want.
Your soul is desperate for transformation. But instead of questioning your belief around the possibility of transformation, the habit is to ignore your heart’s pull that wants to lead you to a better way to live your life.
STEP SIX – Ask:
What do I want in my life?
Where am I settling for what I don’t want?
What belief is bringing forth the habit to settle?
Now – pivot that belief to a new perspective
STEP SEVEN – Think about all that could happen if you dwelled on these new perspectives?
Dwell on that vision a while, and go there as often as you want.
Yes, this process can be quite intimidating. It’s far from “just think on positive things.”
It in fact, can scare the pants off of you!
But hear me: Settling is much more painful because it’s the choice to sit in all the anxiety, stress, fear and loss.
What all of us really want is the freedom to live our life unattached to the emotional habits that result in how we experience the difficulties in our life.
You already have that freedom!
Your feelings are real, but you don’t have to get on the train.
Turn in the golden ticket to nowhere. Get off the rails and fly with you as the air traffic controller.
Flying in the direction I want to,
