Courage and Trust.

Here is this week's Food for Thought:

I came upon a shocking piece of data recently. Over 91% of people spend the majority of time every day doing 2 things: Being frustrated by their co-workers and thinking about quitting their jobs. Imagine that? That means they are unhappy almost the entire time they are awake. I won't even go into what a waste of time and energy it is. But think. What does it mean "being frustrated" by other people? It means blaming, complaining, "venting" (such a charming word.) It means getting a cheap hit of power and a temporary and false release from the anger and the disappointment with yourself. Because focusing on others is a distraction from what's actually going on inside you. And why are you angry and disappointed with yourself? Because you are hating your current situation - your job, or something else equally important and doing nothing about it. And you know it better than anyone.

That's what you really hate, not your co-workers, nor the job itself. Because you want to be inspired. You want to inspire yourself by doing something exciting, courageous, powerful. Inspiration is that breath of fresh air that makes us straighten our shoulders, see what's Possible, feel happy to be alive. Acting courageously is inspiring. Stretching yourself is inspiring. It is inspiring to others and - more importantly - to you. This doesn't mean sabotage yourself and leave your job this moment without any plan or any idea of how you'll make your ends meet. Nor does it mean waiting forever to quit either. It means making the right choice and starting to move in that direction. Remember: having Courage doesn't mean having all the answers before you act. It means going forward in the direction of your dream even if you don't. It means refusing to give up and to conform. It means refusing to settle. And for this you need Trust. Courage and Trust and so connected. I am speaking of your ability to trust yourself. Can you? Because if you can't yet, it is much better to tell yourself the truth so that you don't set yourself up for failure. For example: If every time you meet someone new you tell yourself that he (or she) is "the one," this is definitely not the area where you can trust yourself. On the other hand, if you are with a person and everything looks perfect on the outside, everyone keeps telling you how lucky you are and what a great "catch" he or she is... while every fiber of your being knows - you don't belong with each other and that you have no soul connection - maybe indeed this IS the area where you CAN trust yourself. But will you have the courage to act on your knowing? One thing to always remember regardless of where your self-discovery takes you is to be kind. Be kind to yourself. Accept your humanness, give yourself plenty of room to heal, to grow, to change. Don't expect immediate, dramatic changes.

Small steps. Loving and kind steps in the right direction will take you there faster than a huge leap across the abyss ever will. You may not make it to the other side, you may crash and hurt yourself and decide to never again... . Don't do that. If you are tempted to - it's your negative ego talking. Tell it "thanks but no, thanks." But keep on moving! And that's what we looked at and worked with during the class I taught not long ago, and in a very fascinating way it set the stage for working with Self-Esteem next time. You will see how it is all connected when I write about it. All for now.