You think of yourself as a citizen of the universe. You think you belong to this world of dust and matter. Out of this dust… you have created a personal image, and have forgotten about the essence of your true origin. – Rumi
How many self help books do you have sitting on your shelf?
Go on, you can tell me. Maybe they’re on spiritual enlightenment or creative vizualisation; or perhaps you’ve been to tons of personal development seminars or have cases of cds stuck away somewhere. I know I have, and I also know that after a seminar, or a new cd or book, I’d be enthused and motivated and determined to practice the principles. And I did…for a while.
How about you? Similar experience maybe?
Did you make temporary changes that didn’t last. I know I did.
For most of us we don’t get the chance to release our unlimited potential because reaching it is challenging when we’re living under the false assumptions we have about ourselves.
We’re inclined, all of us, to believe what our parents said about us, or what our siblings, or our teachers and peers had to say. And we’re amazingly good at believing the negative things.
And if that’s not bad enough, what do we do next? We hang on to these concepts of ourselves like grim death…because to let them go is unthinkable.
Oh wait. No that’s not it. We’ve never ever bothered to discover the validity of them, never given them a second thought and there they smugly sit in our subconscious mind, wreaking havoc with the healthy, joyful, plentiful, love filled life we could be living.
Whatsupwiththat?
If you’re frozen in the same old place, or you think there’s nothing you can do, or you believe you’ve been dealt a particular hand and now you’re stuck with it, or you think some things will never change. It doesn’t have to be so.
Begin at the beginning.
‘Know thyself’ is inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi…those Greeks knew what they were talking about. It’s where we all need to start. I’m not talking about knowing the limited you that’s probably your all too frequent companion, but the truth of you, the brilliance of you, the inner being who has access to all that is, the unlimited, unfettered, absolutely fabulous, shining gem that is you.
It’s time to see yourself as the amazing and magnificent being you are, time to stop belittling yourself for perceived inadequacies and time to give up the plague of self-doubt, worry and fear and yes, even guilt that might haunt you, otherwise a change in life circumstances will be hard, if not downright impossible.
Phew, some sentence.
We, none of us, can ever rise above the concept we have of ourself. Small wonder life hasn’t changed that much when we’re still carrying around those old images imprinted in our minds when we were knee high to a grasshopper.
Today is Your Day to Make
I’ve never been a good goal setter. Just doesn’t work for me. Using my conscious mind to create changes has never worked out well…or long term.
I’ve written down annual goals. Set countless resolutions at the beginning of many a year and even tried weekly targets. All to no avail, before too long I’m back to being who I was and doing what I did.
Not saying it doesn’t work for some of us. But if, like me, you’ve tried unsuccessfully to move into a mindset that’s more likely to attract a bountiful, lovely life, perhaps trying something different might work.
We’re set on an automatic programme, which is the default mode we return to when our attention is distracted. We can choose to use our conscious mind to be focused on being different and having different experiences, but believe me when I tell you from my own past, that the minute your attention and focus wanders, you’ll be right back to square one.
Why? Because our subconscious mind is the builder and maker of our world and that’s what we need to access to make lasting changes in our image of self.
Emotional v Intellectual
Instead of only using our intellect to make changes, it helps if we access the main powerhouse that leads to our actions, but it can only work with the data we input and it only accepts feelings as commands.
What if you believed that you were always doing your best, would that make a difference?
It’s the truth for us all. Looking back on my life I can see many places where today I would do a much better job at so many things. That’s because my level of awareness is greater today than it was then. Which equally means that my subconscious has different beliefs and assumptions from which to operate than it did back then. They might not be the perfect ones that lead to me to have my ideal life, but they’re different. I’d bet the same is true for you too.
Doing the best you can
As you begin to believe you’re doing the best you can with your current level of awareness you’ll be able to extend that feeling to others. Let’s face it, we’re all just doing the best we can. We might see reality differently, we might have different values, in which case we most definitely will act in different ways. All our actions, yep that’s yours and mine stem from the awareness, the concepts we hold.
And your subconscious mind will begin to move in a different direction, towards a new self concept. It can’t be any other way.
Our thoughts and beliefs are more, so much more than just attitudes or perceptions, they’re actual physical energetic vibrations, as real as the chair you sit on or the bed you sleep in. They’re the main creative forces in manifesting the life we currently lead.
Value yourself. You’re an expression of the Divine.
Bottom Line
We can all release our unlimited potential as we let go of and replace outworn, outdated and absolutely untrue concepts we hold of ourself. It doesn’t happen through our intellect, however useful that is in our daily life. The most powerful force at our disposal is our imagination.
With imagination we can be, do and have anything. We’re not constricted by time or space. Everything is now.
Acknowledge abundance in your life and you’ll see more of it. Focus on the love in the world and you’ll draw more love to you. Pay attention to whatever feels good to you and you’re reprogramming your subconscious mind.
This is the vibration of energy that moves us past the point of resistance that comes with fear, self-doubt or any other negative vibe we’re holding on to and ALLOWS our life to flow as it is always meant to.
Choose to believe you have an ally in your subconscious mind. It’s your partner in your success, feel that the person you’ve decided you are has arrived. Feel the life you’ve always wanted to lead is yours now. Enjoy the excitement and pleasure. That’s one way…not claiming it’s the only way…but it works.
My best advice? Take a week off, and go and play and dance and eat, drink and be merry and most of all FEEL GOOD.
As always, I’d love to hear from you with your take on releasing your unlimited potential. Remember, your insights might be making a huge difference in someone’s life.
And if everything is hunky dory in your life right now, put this one on the back burner to bring out should you need it.
Encourage one another.
Love Elle
xoxo
17 Comments
Absolutely loved this post Elle. We are definitely limited by our own perception of ourselves. Reading your post was a wonderful way to start my day. Thank you.
Thanks Vanita…so glad you enjoyed it. And always appreciate your comments. 🙂
I’m doing my best in all ways and I’m always having fun. Goals sound like work to me;) I just decide! Make up my mind what I want to do and then do it.
Having fun is what we sometimes leave out of the equation. Make up your mind on what you want to do and do it. Simple, straightforward advice Tess. 🙂
I love that you mention to get to know yourself. That’s what I focus on with my coaching clients too. The more you know yourself the better. I have found that we are so disconnected from ourselves that we often can’t answer the most basic questions about our likes, dislikes, wants and needs. It’s time to change that. 🙂
I like your perspective Anne-Sophie…it’s amazing how little we do know ourselves, even though who we are is ‘writ large’ in our very life experiences. Thanks for sharing your insight. 🙂
I love this post Elle. It reminds me that reaching my potential is up to me and to stop listening to the doubts 🙂
So true Carolyn…if we all would just see that focusing on our doubts means we’re resisting the very things we want…our life would flow just as it was always meant to, with ease and grace. 🙂
I’m with Tess about goals. I think more in terms of choices that we make as we go along. I completely agree with your point that shining our light brightly is up to us, and that the only blocks are ones we’ve created ourselves. Releasing the victim model is a huge step to freedom.
Sadly Galen there’s often a payoff for being a victim…but there’s a much bigger payoff for being the victor in living the life we were designed to live. And of course, we often don’t realize that shining our own light brightens up the world for us all. Maybe we should start a ‘shine your light’ week? 🙂
I love that idea! I think it’s hard for people to permit themselves to shine brightly. I’m speaking to a group next weekend, and this is exactly what we are going to talk about!
How come we’re always on the same page Galen? Hmm maybe there’s something in this ‘we’re all one’ thing! 🙂
I know! It happens with enough frequency that I think we are beyond the coincidence stage!
Hi Elle,
My bottom line is that ”Potential is a heavy load to carry” … we all have ‘potential’ … work out what it is and use it. Thanks for this.
Be good to yourself
David
Life Coach. Listener. Solution Finder.
I like your bottom line David. As always you have great insights and I appreciate you sharing with us. 🙂
I think the biggest thing for me is being aware of my emotions and knowing how to not get overwhelmed by them and change them when I need to. The problem is that we get super excited about something and think it will last, but no feelings last. All moods pass. We have to raise our base level of functionality slowly one day at a time, failure after failure : D.
I like how you said that intellectually you know what to do, but emotionally it can be difficult. It is so true. It takes a lot of time and effort and learning to balance the emotions and the intellect.
Persistence is a wonderful thing to have Sebastian. 🙂