Some of us may validate through shadows of the past; we have people we need or needed to please. There may be something or someone in our past, or perhaps in our present that provokes our need to validate ourselves. Maybe we were told we weren’t good enough and we started to wear that invisible yoke as our reality. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy that proclaimed, “you know what, you’re just not good enough”. If we think it long enough, we begin to wear it. It grows heavier every day. We wear it on our face, through our body language, from a posture that signifies “I am not worthy”. We can wear it for so long that we get used to it. Some of us learn to live with it for the rest of our time.
When you realize that you have the power to change this, you can make a choice. Choice takes strength — nothing that is worthy of the effort is easy. But do know this: If you stay in the shadows of those limits long enough, it will become your indelible self-fulfilling prophecy. Will you allow self-imposed limitation to kill your potential to create a future that is less than what could have been?
We must summon the conviction and the fire to say no, I am good enough! I will prove it to myself by making the choice to change my thoughts and take those actions that are consistent with these thoughts. I will assume the risk and work for the reward. I will not accept the surrender to the shadows of past conditions. The voices of the past will not defeat me. They are nothing but the echoes of narrative — constructed memory and fabricated feelings associated with the story I tell myself. I will choose to make the story work for me. I will use past condition or failure as an emotional fuel that will propel my first decisive step forward into a new dawn, a new stage, a new era. I will not crumble and buckle under the belief system of others. I will divest myself of the labels and limitations that emanate from the jealousy, pettiness, weakness or opinion of others. I will work to become aware. I will make the choice and do the work to break through the invisible barriers of limitations. I will accept, forgive, or forget those people who, by intent or lack of awareness, attempt to contain or douse my fire of possibility. I will not permit this to happen; I will not wear the opinions of others as fact; I will choose to make my way “mine”.
Throw off the labels and challenge yourself through force of internal will and the confidence of self-belief to turn the fire of past condition into a flame that lights the path to your future. Make it happen for yourself by taking the first step. It sounds sappy, it sounds like those things I used to read and hear and then think, “This can’t be true! Achievement can’t be all about positive thinking”. Positive thinking is just that, positive thinking. Attitude — It’s essential, but it’s not the only thing. You have to summon the will, have the talent, feel the conviction and find the courage to put thought to action. This is where attitude becomes actualized — Where the fire is lit from purpose and can only be extinguished by self-doubt.
Throw off the labels and challenge yourself through force of internal will and the confidence of self-belief to turn the fire of past condition into a flame that lights the path to your future.
To live your best life, you have to be willing to pay the price to create the condition — your condition, your lifestyle, your reward, earned from taking the risk, feeling the pain and enjoying the gain that comes from the attempt. Make the attempt every day to be a better you today than you were yesterday. One day at a time — one step at a time — one conversation at a time. You don’t get to “great” — hell, you don’t even pass “good” and you won’t collect your $200 — by listening to other people who tell you what you can’t do. You’ll pay a price. The price will include frustration and the cost will be compounded by failure. But, failure isn’t often fatal –and success isn’t often final. It’s just part of life in process.
Everything is process; everything is forward. Nature is aligned with forward motion. I didn’t make up the rules of life — I just live my life within the dictates of my nature. I am smiling as I create this blog because looking back, the retrospective is either accompanied by approval or regret.
Live your life now, free from the shadows of self-doubt and the need to validate the ghosts of the past or naysayers in the present. Live your life now so one day you can look back and have less regret than you would if you failed to move Always Forward!
