Coaching Videos & Tips - June 25 2020 No.658
A CURIOUS ADDICTION
As with all addictions, this one blinds us to not just the reality of the moment but to the reality of who we can be. And yet, in the twinkling of a eye, the intake of a breath, we can break free.
You can download the audio of today's video - simply right click and save to your device - Download Today's Audio! And, if you're really on for breaking free, don't forget that you can delve into some (or all!) of the 657 previous editions in The Archive!
Set aside a few deliberate minutes and have a good look at yourself in the mirror. What do you see? Bet you that, within seconds of starting this little exercise, you started judging yourself.
Now, stop. Take a couple of nice long deep breaths and, for the next few minutes, using your breathing to modulate your attention, look in the mirror again... non-judgementally.
You will - it's inevitable - start judging again... that's why I asked you to ground yourself in the rhythm of your breathing.
You really do need to get to know the real you. With today's Quick Tip, I'm offering you a short interlude in which that might just, even momentarily, happen.
The big challenge we have is, however, that we are constantly judging everything and, most pointedly, ourselves. However, we are not judiced (a word you may never have heard becuase I'm not sure it exists - but it serves our purpose here this morning) - you are pre-judiced. Your own formative programming as prejudiced you against... you.
And that's why we need to go looking elsewhere for approval and affirmation. Hence the madness that we explore in today's short Video.
There is no need. There is no need to look to others who, mostly, don't care (apart from, hopefully, our loved ones!). There's no need to look to anyone. We just have to look beyond our thoughts - look within.
That is - as I keep saying - the real challenge: developing your ability to manage how you use your mind. So that you use it, free from prejudice, in a way that makes it your ally instead of your foe.
As you might have gathered from today's video, tip and reflection... we are the normal crazy people. Until, of course, we stop.
Some people, however, simply don't know when to stop. Firstly, I recall a story relayed to me some time ago of the scene in a tennis club where two guys (who judged themselves to be rivals) stripped to their underwear in an impromptu show of masculinity - they wanted the onlookers to judge which of them had the best toned muscles!
Secondly (and this is a tennis club story too... there must be something in the air), some girls asked their friend why she was only eating a green salad for lunch. She replied "I couldn't fit on my plate this morning!" Turns out that, rather than use a weighing scales, she would see if her bum could fit on a dinner plate!
The tennis club members were, thankfully, not party to that particular impromptu show!