Be honest with yourself. Are you your biggest cheerleader or your biggest critic? Or are you somewhere in between?
The only hindrance we have to living a joyful and fulfilling life is ourselves.
That’s a powerful statement! How does this make you feel? What’s your first response when you read this? That statement isn’t one of blame. It’s a truth. It’s a statement I look at every single day! Sometimes moment by moment.
In the simplest terms your beliefs, your thoughts, your doubts and what you allow create your life.
You begin creating a joyful and fulfilling life by paying attention to your thoughts. This will help you understand what beliefs you have that are empowering and which ones no longer serve you. Do you mindlessly say yes to things that go against the life you want to be living? When do you doubt your own intuition and wisdom? Are you able to challenge long held beliefs?
We all have some major life experiences that are less than joyful. Experiences that are unfulfilling, painful, disappointing and traumatic. I am not discounting anything you have or are now experiencing. I only want to give you a different perspective.
Our thoughts are repetitive, and we layer our thoughts on top of one another. We have a thought about an experience. This was good or this was bad. Our thoughts also have emotion attached to the experience. We tend to create a story in our minds to match the experience. For instance, as a child, you may have gotten hurt, and no one was there to help you. Or maybe you were blamed for getting hurt. In each scenario you create a story attached to the emotion. You might have felt invisible when no one came to help you, which can lead to feeling unworthy. Maybe you decide that you don’t get anything right, so why even try. You’re just going to be blamed anyway. Maybe this becomes a pattern of self-pity. Your thought becomes your belief about yourself.
Maybe you’re the child that was helped when they were hurt. Your thoughts become I am loved, I am important. In this case you have a completely different thought about yourself.
Beliefs can also interfere with your joyful and fulfilling life. For instance, you may believe that families should always get along no matter what, If you have a family that doesn’t, this belief will cause you a lot of heartache. Maybe you believe that a good person works long hours and never complains. With this belief you may not have the relationships you want, or your health becomes compromised.
I was told that if I didn’t go to college, I wouldn’t be an interesting person. Unknowingly I held onto this belief because of who told me. Since I don’t have a degree, I piled this belief onto others that “proved” I didn’t have much to contribute, that I wasn’t worthy. Luckily, I ditched that belief to the curb! It took a LOT of effort and plenty of tears to know I have value and worth by being me.
My point is we limit ourselves in so many ways that we are often unaware of. I encourage you to pay attention to your thoughts, this will help you identify what’s working for you and what’s not.
