How's that working for you?

Do your best to answer that question honestly and courageously. If you can… avoid the generic GREAT response. Think carefully for a minute and give your authentic answer… the truth behind the person you present yourself to be. If you are great then that’s… great. Good for you. You can come back tomorrow. If you’re not great… then that’s okay too. I’m not asking you to be perfect… just honest and aware.

The Devil’s Circle…

A man lost in a desert can trudge for hours through the sands until he sees ahead of him an unmistakable line of foot prints leading to the horizon. But his joy on finding a trail turns to despair when he realizes the tracks are his own. Since one limb was a few millimeters longer than the other or habit or injury inclined him to step fractionally further with one leg, he consistently veered to the right or left. Without a path or landmark to guide him, he traced a vast circle while convinced he was walking in a straight line.

This describes life’s tendency to repeat itself. Like someone lost in a desert, I feel compelled to struggle ahead, unaware that a devil’s circle will only bring me back to where I began. Through the years, I return again and again to the same stock obsessions. I flick through the tomb of my achievements in the blink of an eye only to feel that nothing has really happened. I am still the anxious and puzzled child who set out on the journey.

There was another story of a young man sitting eating a pile of chili peppers. He was sweating profusely; his face was flush with pain. When asked what he was doing… he replied… “If only I continue a little longer… I am sure I’ll find a sweet one.”

No matter what experience has taught us, we insist on making the same mistakes again and again. A devils circle is addictive. It raises you to dizzy heights of rapture only to bring you crashing down into thoughts of despair. Yet I do not hesitate to start the diabolic cycle again. I find it hard to resist the urge to go through the familiar and comforting motions of habit, even when I know that the end result will be the anxious craving to repeat the experience again.

A path leads into unknown territory, whereas a circle goes over the same ground again and again. The enticing avenues that a devil’s circle offers are not paths at all.
New paths are not familiar and secure. The new patterns we will create are not as stable or predictable as they once appeared. In the devils circle, not only does the devil block the way to freedom, he tricks one into following paths that appear promising, but lead only to frustration and disillusion.
(Living with the Devil—Stephen Batchelor)

Right now, are you where you want to be mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, financially, and socially? Are you managing your life or is it managing you? Are you the controller of the chariot… or… are the horses running wild with you? Are you living proactively or reactively? Consciously or unconsciously? Are you doing different to create different… or are you like the man lost in the desert?

The truth is that many people will get out of bed today and do exactly what they did yesterday… even though yesterday was crap. Yes… we humans are very predictable and are creatures of habit. In fact… some people will get out of bed and do what they did last week… last month and sometimes… last decade… even though they’ve been complaining about their life for years. Complaining but not changing… Victims of their circumstance.

Truth 1: Many people are unhappy and unfulfilled because they keep doing what doesn’t work. And if nothing changes (behaviorally)… then nothing changes (reality).
Self awareness precedes self transformation.

Could you imagine building a house with no plans? No checks? No assessments along the way? Could you see yourself getting up each day and pouring concrete… cutting timber,…. hammering nails… laying bricks… hanging plaster and building your new home with no rhyme… reason… strategy… or logical process? That place would surely look disastrous. It couldn’t possibly function properly. It would be dangerous. Sooner or later it would fall down. For some of us… that house is our life.

Truth 2: Success is not random or accidental….its intentional.
We don’t deserve it… we create it.

I know that you’ve read enough… heard enough and learned enough. I also know that right now you have enough talent… time and skill to transform your life. Even if you don’t believe it.
Of course… I acknowledge that the transformational journey might not necessarily be a quick… easy or painless process… but right now I’m not talking about what’s easy… I’m talking about what’s possible for you. Could you learn more… know more and understand more? Yes… we all could. But the smart question here is… In the quest for a better life…what will create a positive shift in your world … more theory or more doing? More information or more application?

The fact that you’re reading my blog tells me that you’re probably educated… intelligent and wanting to change something about your life. It also tells me that you’ve probably read many similar personal development stories and health and fitness articles. And I’m also going to take a wild guess and say that you might have a history of seeking information that falls in line with your hopes and desires. Or... I could be totally wrong.

Truth 3: Knowing what to do… hoping it will happen… wanting to change… and intending to take action isn’t enough. Transformation lives in the consistent and courageous application of the information.

“Everything is hard before it’s easy”

Everything comes at a cost. I don’t know if you’re ready to pay the price of change. To get uncomfortable enough. To ask yourself the hard questions and make the tough decisions. To finish what you start… even when it hurts. To be honest enough with yourself and others. To step out of the theory of success and into the cold hard reality of life. To do what most people won’t. To persevere when previously you would have given up. To choose your own rules… beliefs… values and standards. To be you no matter what!

I don’t know if you’re willing to step out of your ‘conditioned’ mindset and into the vast universe of uncertainty and excitement that lives in the exploring of your potential and the building of your best life. I don’t know… but you do.

Truth 4: In the pursuit of success (whatever that means for you)… the only person who can get in your way… is you.

“We have met the enemy and he is us”