Experience tells us what to do and what not to do and confidence allows us to do it or do the unthinkable with no regrets. When we don't have confidence we live in the spiral of our fears and those fears can take a negative toll and control over our lives. We need to take care of our personal welfare, which is a lot like spiritual warefare and stamp negative forces out of our lives. The secret to successfully doing this is to start by cleaning up unfinished business. This does not mean you need to go backwards and revisit bad relationships. The only bad relationship you need to relook at is the one you have with yourself. It is time to take a hard look at your life choices. It's not about what your parents did and how they did it, it's not a blame game...this is about you and WHY you haven been a poor decision maker. We are full of excuses and (the bad word that starts with an S). We know when we have gone down the beaten path that is only going to beat us up and make us question our judgment, our sanity, our entire being - yet we love the drama of digging ourselves out of our pile of crap. That in itself makes us feel GRAND! I spent years hooked into the syndrome of choosing men who were a mess and who could not value a good thing. I actual had a boyfriend who was a "piece of (SH-T)" for Halloween. It was this very boyfriend who I CHOSE to be with over a pretty accomplished guy who was a Navy Seal and who adored me. I thought in my warped mine, I had a purpose to save the pain inflicting drama king from his own demons. The result was I nearly got shot, stabbed and killed. Who told me I was John of Arc and had Christian Super Powers bigger than God to chase his demons away? Some warped voice in my head that would like to be so mighty and being a Christian I thought this was an obligation. I would never want to abandon him while he went through crisis after crisis. I felt I had to stick by him through his darkest moments.
WE are our worst enemies and we sabotage & lie to ourselves about our own truth and how we really feel about people & situations. We don't want to admit what we are really feeling on the inside. We create a life full of suffering, negative results and hold others accountable for the fact we lack enough confidence to set things up differently. We stay being mediocre and act as though we have no control over our lives and it is someone elses fault. We are much more powerful than we give ourselves credit for. I am not sure why we dim the light inside of us. I'm guessing it is just safer and helps us fit in to what we associate as "normal" or "socially acceptable". Some of us hate to rock the boat and are not risk takers. Society keeps us suppressed and so can some relationships. Many people do try to get help to find themselves and do use resources such as therapy, spiritual guidance, medications, books, etc. But, honestly if you are not actively changing your defaults and getting out of your comfort zone - - NOTHING will look or feel different. What you need is inspiration or someone or something that resonates with you in a way that it hits a chord inside of you that says AHA!
It is the AHA moment something mystical something magical shifts and you begin to let your light shine. If it is not an epiphany you will go AHA, I get it, but I'm not brave enough to take a step in a new direction. The trick is it has to make you tick in a different direction. You have to relentlessly trust yourself, have faith and believe in the outcome. This is the path to confidence. If you continue on the same path life will pass you buy and you at old age will be ho humming the same old tune. I can guarantee it! I'm always setting goals & planning my next achievements. This is very strategic so that I get the most out of my life. I love the idea of having a Bucket List & every year talking a few thing on it.
Why would anyone choose the insanity of doing the same thing over and over and not getting a different result. I have friends like this that just complain about the same issue and over and over. I ask well did you try this, I suggest that and they really prefer just to rant about the same thing rather than take measures to create more peace for themselves. What's painful, is MY EAR that has to hear it over and over again. I would love to take out a tape recorder and just allow these people to hear themselves so they can develop awareness of how draining they are to other people and how neurotic they sound. If you know you have bad taste in the opposite sex than go with something less comfortable for you. See life as an experiment to figure out what will and won't work for you. We stereotype, judge and expect things to look and be a certain way. Not everything fits in a box the way we had planned or expect. Learn to flow with the tides/energy a bit and allow it to take form in ways that you may not have expected. You don't have to contain and control every aspect of yourself and others to live fully! In fact, that does the opposite. This stunts our perceptions and opportunities tremendously and shuts us off from things that actually could make us very happy and give us great faith in our lives. Things do work out even when they go an unexpected direction.
Our lifestyle, the people in it, our bodies, our choices - OUR LIFE may be lead by higher powers, but overall it is your palette to paint, create, explore all the colorful things life has to offer. Try something new, something out of your comfort zone. I did it 3 years ago and actually wound up engaged to a nice guy. The day I met him I decided to change my default with my "type" of guy. Now that I have changed my confidence factor I revel in it and know I earned it because I make choices to surround myself with people who like me and I truly like them.
One thing that holds us back from the confidence factor is based on the choices we make everyday and how we interpret our choices. We cannot lie to ourselves because our body will let us know and our mind will weaken. Poor decisions lead to poor results in life that lead us to nothing but low self esteem which cyclically leads to more bad choices, to a very sad life and outlook on it. This is how people wind up suicidal, mentally breaking down, in mediocre lives living fantasies, daydreaming about the what ifs....we look at every decision we make as positive or negative. We need to pause before we leap and sometimes we need to just leap because the voice has been shouting DO IT for so long that we have to stop being paralyzed by our fears.
Sitting in our own discomfort for some reason at times feels better than throwing yourself a life raft. We will allow disease to set in, addiction to form, neglect ourselves all symptoms of a big problem in action that is getting bigger...but there are always consequences around the corner when we make bad choices that leave you with the worst of all things - a bad conscience. YOU CHOSE TO IGNORE WHAT YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO DO TO CHANGE IT and BAM life kicks you right in your Fat Ass One Day and says "time to wake up and smell the coffee buddy. You wanna play games with yourself, do you? And we get hit by a mack truck cause god thinks it's funny to scare us into a reality check!
What would your life will look like if you had confidence about that one Achilles Heel schema that you seem to suffer from? Uncensor it...it may mean leaving your partner, working out over your kids dinner and bedtime, taking a trip by yourself, dumping someone you can already see based on their patterns has too much baggage for you to pick up. We all would like to believe we have the best of intentions, are doing our best, "trying"...I call bullshit. A spade is a spade, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is a duck. Stop pretending you are so nice, loving, standing by your marriage, doing things for the kids...Life is short, we need to make quick strategic decisions. They can be heartfelt, but if your heart is telling you to love a crack head that robs you and that you need to stay there and love this poor dark soul, well smell the coffee, YOUR HEART IS LYING TO YOU. When did the bible say keep your children in households of addictions and alcoholism or let a man beat you because he loves you?
The best is when we compare ourselves to others to rationalize things - Yes, but let's remember Ted Bundy, the serial killer was a father, good neighbor, nice guy and husband. On programs, people love to see "well I did so much better than I used to"....right there comes the rationalization of how they cheated themselves and why it is okay. It seems some just prefer self inflicted bad habits and can't face or stop it regardless of how they affect family, friends even their own children. This is a person who is not ready for love because they do not love themselves. Deep problems can be resolved over night though with just one AHA, light bulb moment. What's the need for years of therpay. Just make up your mind to live your life fully.
Just wake up one morning, smell the coffee and begin to commit yourself to one thing - taking care of your own personal welfare. You can still balance this with caring for other people. When we do - magically, we are gifted with what we really deserve real people, a life of integrity and mystical gifts that come in ways we least expect it. The laws of karma are real. What needs to be sacrificed in order to have true JOY? I would say sacrifice one big thing - SELF AVOIDANCE. Facing your fears is scarry, but is the secret to developing confidence. I am a testimonial to this and can tell you where I am is a lot better place than nearly being shot, stabbed and killed by an abusive drug addicted boyfriend who I let rob me of my integrity. I had to finally face the music that I had a very unresolved past with my childhood and this helped me take action to heal & discover myself more deeply. If you play with fire, expect to get burned. Snap out of it! We are all equal and all capable of reaching our full potential.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tock....