Coaching Videos & Tips - August 22 2019 No.617
SABOTAGE, FOG AND TRIPWIRES
Today we explore how, when we operate in "normal crazy mode", we simply have no chance of really understanding what is really go on in the here and now. The horrible result of this is that we end up inhabiting a fallacy that we call the "real world"... worth five minutes of your time?
And, if you'd like to go a little deeper, don't forget that you can browse all 615 "back issues" in The Archive!
Stop - ask yourself the following: "am I being the best me that I can be today?"
OK, I know, it sounds like a motivational speaker's rhetorical question but, if you've watched today's video, you will understand precisely why I am suggesting that you ask this question.
You could also look at this the other way 'round - you could ask yourself "how have I got in my own way today?"
Either way, reflecting on these questions will provide you with some insight into whether or not you're really "in the zone". And, of course, with insight comes self-awareness... and that is the beginning of wisdom.
"I am my own worst enemy" - something I often hear in the course of talking to individual clients. And, although they say it in the hope that I will set their mind at ease saying that, of course, they're not, I am always compelled to answer in the afirmative... "yes, you are your own worst enemy". We all are. Our minds are designed, our brains wired, to stop us from being all that we can be... without delving into the science, it's an evolutionary thing - we are designed to stay on the straight and narrow and make it through today.
This means that, normally, the normally-minded person lives on a set of rails - we talked about "loops" last week! It means that we stay within programmed parameters within which we feel safe - as I said, it's an evolutionary thing. And what it actually means in practice is that, regardless of how uncomfortable our comfort zone is, we'll settle for it.
Until, of course, you decide that that's not what you want to settle for at all. This is your life and, as far as I know sitting here typing this right now, this is neither a rehearsal nor something that you'll get more than one shot at... certainly not for now. That means that you have to get uncomfortable. That's what John Kabat Zinn means when he says "If meditation makes you feel uncomfortable, it's working!"
You're only your own worst enemy if you do nothing about it. You will only continue living in a loop of reality-unrelated bulls**t if you're prepared to do nothing about it. Doing something about it doesn't demand any major shift in how you live your life. The shift is in your head and how you use it. The shift comes when we take a couple of minutes each morning to ensure that, at least for starters, we've started the day in the right state of mind.
When you do that, you immediately see the major shift in your life... and it's effortless.
Today I am reminded of the dietician who, having advised her clients to eat a balanced diet using fresh produce but who, without the first idea of how to actually cook herself, lived on a diet of preprepared frozen "ready meals"!
The Summer is drawing to its inevitable close and people are returning to the local gym. Most arrive in cars, parking as close to the front door as possible and, then, pour themselves into pumping iron, rowing and running, until they are fit to drop.
Spare a thought, though, for those who, having worked themselves to within an inch of their lives or run non-stop for 30 or 40 minutes, step outside, gasping... gasping for a cigarette! And, having enjoyed that moment of healthy bliss, return to work it off all over again.
And people wonder why their lives don't amount to the sum of their parts!