A Disturbance in the Force

No Limits | The Freedom Blog™

A Disturbance in the Force

Written by Steven Griggs | stevengriggs.com

“Well, the Force is what gives the Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.”

Obi Wan Kenobi

I know you feel it. You know when there is something hijacking your energy, short circuiting your creativity.  When something is blocking you, almost like a force field that you can’t seem to break through.

I've been feeling it for the past week. Every time I’ve tried to sit down to write this article I felt blocked and sidetracked.

I would find myself drawn into a confusing whirlwind of feelings. A combination of melancholy, fear, frustration, anger, and it was not a good feeling.

And so I would stop, leave my computer and wait for the creative spark to show up like it always does.

But it wasn't coming.

I know why.

I've been going through many changes over these past four years. I have been shifting from being a very active investor, involved in every aspect of the real estate business- mortgage lending, foreclosure processing, developing and owning office buildings, mobile home parks and many other businesses, to being a full time writer and life coach.

I had reached the end. I no longer had the desire to do it anymore.

I've been a maniac business person since I was 18, building, buying, wheeling and dealing and I was very good at it.

But I just had to stop. And the chapter’s ending is near.

So what was happening?

There is really only one thing that can stop us and block us from staying in the flow of creativity.

And although that one thing comes in many forms and disguises, they all block you and they all cordon you off from creativity, from your force.

Fear.

Fear wears many faces- worry, uncertainty, doubt, insecurity…...

It comes in all kinds of variations, fear of change, fear of failure, fear of not being perfect, fear of the unknown but it always boils down to fear

In my case, feeling melancholy is the sadness of knowing a cycle is ending. And that brings up the question of what comes next, which brings up the fear of the unknown.

Frustration and anger arises when you have regrets or guilt. I felt both. I felt I should have been able to do both things, coach and write while managing all the chaos involved in these businesses and properties.

But that is not the truth.  I couldn't and I won’t.

What is true is that I haven’t turned the corner yet, almost, but not quite….

I am still playing the role of problem solver and strategist. But the problems that need solving and the strategies I could devise have no meaning for me anymore because I no longer see myself involved in that game. And old patterns can be difficult to change.

In a past article Your Exterior vs Your Interior, I spoke of how some situations may seem very hard and difficult at the time but it may be that this is a part of the process, a step that is required in order for us to move towards our new paradigm.

So that’s what I remembered: Change is a process.

Step back when you feel blocked. Take time to reconnect with nature. Stop and go have a cup of tea. Take a long bath. Just do something to change your state.

Years ago I worked with an assistant who when she saw that I was getting stressed out,  would tell me to go for walk and let the bugs blow off.

She was right. Sometimes you need to let the bugs blow off.

I know what my new path is and although sometimes I may feel tired and discouraged, I can see that the change is coming.

I am moving towards full alignment with my passion and my purpose. 

And I can't wait.

So the lesson again is that fear and all its relatives are created in our own minds. None of it really exists, we generate it, we nourish it and we make it real, all while it eats us alive.

See fear for what it is and understand that feeling fearful is ok, we are all just humans.

But after you acknowledge that you are feeling the fear, remind yourself that you have control over your feelings. So feel it, acknowledge it, remember it’s not real, and then let it go.

Remind yourself that you will soon look back on this time and smile.

It’s not real and never was.

Focus on the next step and keep moving.

www.stevengriggs.com

Action is the Killer of Fear

No Limits | The Freedom Blog™

Action is the Killer of Fear

Written by Steven Griggs | stevengriggs.com

“Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”

Thomas Jefferson

“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do”

C.G. Jung

“Action expresses priorities”

Mahatma Gandhi

All of us become stuck at some point.

We find ourselves stuck in revolving and repetitive reviews of uncomfortable choices. We occupy our minds revisiting our problems, reevaluating our options, reviewing possible outcomes, looking for the right thing to do.

We become almost paralyzed. Some call it analysis paralysis.

The paralysis comes from the fact that because we have spent so much time dwelling in the place of our problems or limitations that it becomes comfortable.

And…..safer.

You don’t have to make a choice or take action it’s easier to just think about it.

It’s like we’re swimming in a hot tub of problems, it’s warm and cozy and that makes it harder and harder to step out into the cold. 

But by taking just one step forward you can break out of your inertia and change your position relative to where you just were. That one step reveals new opportunities and options that you can then move towards.

Action creates its own momentum, it pulls you forward to the next step.

It’s like walking. When we walk we are actually in a controlled fall, you step out with the left leg and start to fall to the right. Your right leg steps out to stop the fall and you fall to the left then your left leg steps out. Step, fall, step, fall. If you increase the rate of the falling then you are running.

It’s the same with action. Take a step, review and react to the new situation, take another step, review and react. Pretty soon you are moving at a much greater speed.

At speed, your options increase, your fear dissipates and you see more possibilities.

It doesn't matter if the action you take is not exactly the correct action, it just matters that you act, that you move yourself forward on the board.

Taking action changes your physiology, your mindset. You may still have doubts and fears but just the act of doing something affirms that you have control, that you can change things.  

You begin to melt away the doubt.

And if you are still unsure and can’t see the next step clearly sometimes just getting out and exercising will do the trick. Take a walk, it will change your state.

It really works.

Action is the fear killer.

Don’t spend too much time thinking. Take action.

Then keep moving.

www.stevengriggs.com

Your Exterior vs Your Interior

No Limits | The Freedom Blog™

Your Exterior vs Your Interior

Written by Steven Griggs | stevengriggs.com

“One’s own self is well hidden from one’s own self; of all mines of treasure, one’s own is the last to be dug up.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

Carl Jung

When talking about our exterior life vs our interior life there really isn't any versus, because our outer life and our inner life are one and the same. One begets the other.

They may seem separate but they are not. We create our exterior life by what we believe and visualize in our interior life. The only difference is that sometimes there is a delay from when we begin imagining our desired life to when it actually starts showing up.

Actually not all things take a long time to show up, in fact many times things can show up almost immediately... 

But I am talking about the basic circumstances of our life. How and where we find ourselves.

The issue we face is that sometimes we get it turned around and think our outer world, our exterior, is the real world and our interior world is just a world of daydreams and wishes.

But it is not.

Another problem for a lot of us is that we become sidetracked and blocked by the obstacles, the problems that crop up. We begin to wonder: “Why is it so hard, why is this happening?” “I didn't want this, this isn't what I was moving towards”. We see these as negative because they contradict what we say we “want”.

The truth is that this is happening because our interior dialogue is not totally clear and in alignment. Somewhere in our interior world we are getting blocked because we aren't really clear about our intentions. A limiting belief is clogging up the machinery. We are getting what we say we don't want because we aren't totally clear on what we do want. 

But when negative things are happening it gives us the opportunity to look into our self and seek out the source of this seeming contradiction. To take an interior inventory and find out where those beliefs are coming from.

What am I really believing?

We may see situations as “bad” or “negative” because they may be difficult or painful to move through. 

But the truth may be that this is part of the process, a step that is required for us to move forward, towards our new paradigm.

In other words the path we take isn't always in a straight line, in fact it probably never is but we keep moving forward.

When we come to a crossroads, we turn left or we turn right but there is no wrong turn.

Each step of the way gets us a little clearer, a little better at seeing the truth, and a little further along on our journey.

I personally don’t believe our interior and exterior worlds will ever be in complete alignment because as we grow our needs change and our exterior will need to be adjusted to reflect the new vision from the interior.

And so it goes….

www.stevengriggs.com