Official blog for the book "Just Behind the Door"

Posts tagged ‘change’

Are We Managers or Leaders of Our Life?

I read a statement the other day that resonated with me. ‘Real living begins where your comfort zone ends.’ For some, the idea of purposely putting yourself into a totally new situation, taking that leap of faith and moving beyond what is comfortable, normal and predictable may seem frightening. I would call these folks MANAGERS of their lives. They don’t want to change anything because they fear the unknown. These same people might even comment that, at times, their lives seem boring. Really? Doing (and thinking) the same thing over and over could, indeed, be boring. To allow your life to be controlled through fear reduces your opportunities to learn, grow and fully experience life on planet Earth. Fear eliminates possibilities in your life and can encapsulates you in a cocoon of predictability. The longer you live in an environment of fear the tighter the cocoon grows around you. If you notice people who get upset easily when a change happens in their life, or something doesn’t go the way they expected it, you can almost see the invisible cocoon of fear enveloping them tighter and tighter. Their fear speaks louder than their voice.

Conversely, there are people who embrace the inevitable changes and challenges in their lives. They have decided to be a LEADER of their life rather than a manager. They realize that, at its core, life is all about change. Every day and in every way things are changing around us. We cannot stop or even control the speed of change. These people, realizing they have free will, choose to look for the positives in the changes presented in their life. A hint about identifying these specific people is to look in their eyes. You will see a little spark of possibility, even excitement evident. They seem comfortable in their own skin.

When we embrace the unknown, realizing that everything happens for a purpose, as my son has told me in my book, Just Behind the Door, it puts us in the driver’s seat rather than the passenger’s seat of life. We recognize that there is something bigger than ourselves in the Universe – and it is good. Whatever name you choose to call it, God/Universal Energy or … (fill in the blank) we are a part of this Power and it will deliver to us what we think about most often. Nothing more and nothing less. Believing this makes it easier to let go of fear, embrace the changes that happen, and truly welcome the wonderful opportunities yet to unfold in our lives.

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Virtues and Reasons for Life Challenges

The 27 Divine Virtues that Robert Schwartz talked about in his lecture, is to help us to determine what particular areas we are working on in this lifetime. Usually 3-5 seem to pop out as areas that are the most difficult for us to accept, believe in or practice. Going more deeply into the why we may have chosen particular virtues to work on, he has discovered 4 main reasons. They are explained in greater depth in his book, Your Soul’s Gift.

He first talks about KARMA. He defines karma differently. He feels it is not a ‘cosmic debt’ that we are trying to repay but rather as something our soul needs to experience to more fully understand the emotional lessons involved in fully learning the virtue. He further explains that karma can be for 1 of 2 reasons. Balancing or releasing. Balancing our karma is when we have purposely designed life lessons to help us experience all emotional sides or an issue for deeper understanding. The result then, is a 360 degree view of the virtue. You really, really get it at that point. Releasing, on the other hand, is achieved when we finally understand the underlying root cause of the imbalance and can release it. For instance, if a person looks at life as if the cup is half empty, scarcity or the fear of not having enough of something, may be at the root cause. FEAR of … (you fill in the word) is usually the cause of our imbalances in life. Once we truly internalize that anything (including fear) that we give emotional energy to, we are actually drawing more of it to us, we will stop. If you don’t want scarcity in your life stop dwelling on it. Think abundance and believe that there is more than enough in this Universe for everyone. Refuse to be crippled by fear of anything!

The second reason Schwartz feels that we may have planned certain challenges in our life is for HEALING. He explains that when we have unresolved negative energy from a previous lifetime (such as anger, guilt, blame, judgment of self and/or others) we may plan specific life issues to live through that involve these exact feelings so that we can heal ourselves from inside out and achieve greater understanding and peace.

Schwartz believes the third reason we may have chosen our life challenges is for SERVICE TO OTHERS. The phrase is self explanatory. We know that what we give, we receive and what we teach, we learn. He says that this area, service to others is an ‘accelerated path’ of spiritual growth. Remember the phrase, pay it forward? It applies here, for sure. When we remember that we are all part of God/Universal energy and when we help others we are also helping ourselves, the impact becomes that much greater.

He feels a fourth reason for our challenges on this earth is for CONTRAST. My understanding is that on earth we experience an intensity of emotional experiences. No kidding! We are in a classroom of nonstop learning! So our opportunity for growth (to become a better person) is greater. It makes me think of the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, The Princess and the Pea. Even under 20 mattresses she was able to feel the pea. Her physical/emotional awareness was so heightened from her experience as a princess. On earth, since our challenges are so vast and difficult, our own physical and emotional growth is heightened which allows us to develop a higher level of functioning and understanding.

Have you found anything from his work that seems to speak to you? I hope so.

STAY TUNED – ON MY NEXT BLOG ON WEDNESDAY, I WILL SHARE WITH YOU ABOUT MY BOOK. IT IS NOW AVAILABLE!

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