Suppose I asked you to talk in front of 10,000 people tomorrow, for about 15 minutes, on any subject that you wanted. Could you do it? Does the idea get you excited, or fill you full of dread?
Since public speaking is often rated as the number one fear, I’m guessing there are some of you right now who are coming down off of an adrenaline spike.
Because you don’t believe you could do it.
Or maybe skydiving, jumping from a perfectly good aircraft at 13,000 feet and trusting your life to a parachute packed by someone who you’ve never met before.
You’ll be strapped to a person you met a few minutes ago, and you’ll be falling towards this beautiful earth at a speed that would kill you should you land without the chute opening.
Do you think you are someone who would enjoy that?
In both of those cases, even though you’ve probably never been in those situations, you’ve already defined your concept of the event by your reactions to the thoughts rather than the experiences.
In truth, some of you might get through those 15 minutes on the stage, and find out that you are really good at it, or might stand there on the ground after jumping and realize you’ve found a new addiction that will be something you do for the rest of your life.
But because you never saw yourself as someone who could do that, or would like that, you never did.
And it gets worse when we start to look at the person you think you could be, because the definitions of who you are can be dangerous, but the definitions of who you could become, and what you deserve, can be deadly.
Since belief is linked to imagination, which is linked to intention, your beliefs about how the universe works, and what is has in store for you can literally shape your reality.
So now what you believe can kill you (figuratively, and sometimes literally).
I have a wonderful friend, who believes that she has done something so terrible that she will never be happy again, because she doesn’t deserve to be so.
If I were to tell you her ‘crime’ (and no, it wasn’t a criminal act), and explain the circumstances that led to her actions, you would probably find it in your heart to have a great deal of compassion for her.
Which is more than she can find for herself.
I will tell you that she is a good woman, and like all of us, she is human. But now, devoid of the belief that she is worthy of being happy, she will go through her life believing accepting less than she could have, because her definition of herself as a ‘bad person’ means that she has to be punished.
Not only at a quantum intention level, but at a personal psychological, her belief will determine her reality, but it will not be what it could be.
Her definition will determine her reality.
As I look into my heart, at a level deeper than I have ever gone before I , find that I too am beset by dangerous definitions of my soul. They have held me back, and stolen years of joy and service from me.
And although it scares me to my very core to do so, I am challenging those definitions, and breaking down those beliefs.
Because there is work to do, and I feel I must do it.
And I wonder, what have you determined for yourself that is holding you back, and how might you break through into the person you’ve always wanted to be.
And how might I help you with that.
— Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings