As I approach, what used to be called, the Autumn of my life, I am reminded that nothing worthwhile has ever happened without risk. If there has been one constant in my life it has been my seemingly fearless attitude to take risks. Some have been more successful than others but all have moved me well beyond my "comfort zone". I said that my ability to risk was "seemingly fearless" because most of the time I have just chosen what I considered to be the best option at the time and not because it was the easiest. Most of the time I was scared to death of the possibility that I might fail, but I have learned to regard failure as a necessary step in my evolution as a person moving toward a successful and rewarding life. I find myself tonight contemplating the future. I am 54 years old and about to move back to the city I grew up in to begin a new job. While I am excited about the new career choice and a return to many of the places of my youth, I begin to wonder exactly why I am so confident that the risk I am about to take is the right one. " What if I fail" my subconscious whispers in my mind. "What if my wife and family hate this new city"?screams the negative side of my confidence. Somewhere from within my chest beats the heart of a fearful yet fearless survivor. The truth is that in order to make our lives easier, we often first have to make them harder. We have to consciously choose to do something different, stop doing something, or start doing something. Change is often uncomfortable, because we are letting go of the familiar. Even our fears are draped around us like some familiar and comforting cloak; letting go of them feels difficult, because they are part of our model of the world around us.
If we like where we're at, there is no reason to get uncomfortable. If we're dissatisfied in any way, we need to accept that our experiences are a direct reflection of what is happening inside of us, fears and all. We need to first look inside and expand our "comfort zone" before we can change our reality. The good news is that as we get used to our expanded boundaries, what was once uncomfortable becomes comfortable.
Resistance and doubt stop the flow of everything you desire from coming to you. People look upon making changes in how they think, feel, and act as the hardest 'work' they've ever done in their lives. And when the process is approached with this attitude it really is super-hard 'work.'
Stop looking at it this as 'work' right now, and re-focus your energy!
When you focus your energy and attention on your desires and dreams make it a wonderful 'GAME' you are ALLOWED to play rather than thinking of it as 'work.' Once you begin to focus on this as the greatest 'game' you will ever play in life it takes on a whole new meaning.
It's becoming 'passionate' about what you want in life. Instead of attempting to 'force' or 'will' your desires and dreams into your life begin to 'FEEL' them into your life. Your FEELINGS affect everything that happens in your life. They are more powerful than your thoughts. They connect directly with your subconscious mind with super intensity.
Your desires and dreams come into your mind only because they are attainable for you. If they were not they would never even appear in your thoughts. So whatever you can dream know you can achieve it. The Universe presents them to you because it wants to give them to you. All you have to do is stop the resistance and doubt and ALLOW them to come to you easily and effortlessly. If you are not attracting your desires and dreams into your life you may be 'thinking' too much. You cannot 'think' your way to all your desires/dreams, BUT you can FEEL your way to them.
Life's journey has never ceased to be a voyage of discovery. While my risks have not always resulted in favour, they have moved me to a better place in life and I am a far better person because of them.
TS Eliot once said "The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down." As for me, I feel happier today than at any point of my prior life, and really there is nothing more to ask for than that.
Greg Riggs 07.2009
