The Direction of Intention

131.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Dear Horatio,
There are many, many ways to suffer in this world. There is starvation and cold. There is war and the brutality that befalls people living in the way of a resource like oil, rubber or water. These are the obvious and are easy to see.

Many forms of suffering live only in our heads but are no less real because of it. They are spawned in pools of false expectations like trying to be perfect (whatever that means) or when false comparisons obscure your unique offer to the world. They come from false investments in a story that says you can or can’t do something or that you are not valid until…. These forms of suffering are insidious and pervasive; I see them everywhere. Almost every person I meet is suffering because they are hiding their investment in the idea that they are not good enough or that they can’t realize their dreams. They discount the road already traveled; they judge themselves for every decision. Hiding compounds the suffering and is exhausting.

I have read mountains of material on the fear of success and I doubt that it is success that we fear. It is being seen. It is vulnerable to show up 100% and make your strong offer to the world without investment in what others might think; without investment in how your offer (you) will be received.

When I am afraid I check in with what I am doing (am I making art or trying to please?). If I am trying to please I stop and throw away what I am doing because it has no merit. If I am making art I make a list of the actions I need to take. The actions are rarely difficult; the story I wrap around them is where the challenge arises. How can you take the actions without investing in the story? I break the actions into small steps. I take the first step and actively doubt the story I try to tell myself. The purpose of the story is to keep me from moving, to keep me from showing up. How can you invest in the actions and not the story?

[to be continued]

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