Have you ever been in a big shopping mall where you were trying to get to a particular store, but you didn't know where you were in relation to it -- so you had no idea which direction to turn? Then you found one of those maps that showed the layout of the mall and had an X that said, "You are here' -- and instantly you knew which way to go!
You can't get where you want until you know where you are.
This seems obvious on the surface, and when it comes to simple things like finding our way through a mall, it's fairly easy to figure out. But when it comes to finding our way to more important destination and accomplishing higher priorities, getting clear on where we are requires a different kind of map, and a deeper kind of work.
In the Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey, his character could never go beyond a certain area of his town. Try as he might, when he hit a certain street or the edge of the lake, he was overcome with mental and emotional anxiety and had to stop. He didn't even remember why initially, all he knew was that it was dangerous to go further.
Because the world he lived in was false, made up by someone else as an experiment, there had to be boundaries that he would never go beyond -- or else he would break the illusion and the reality show would be over. To make sure he would stay within those boundaries, he had been conditioned through fearful experience as a boy so that he wouldn't go beyond the known borders.
This same level of conditioning has been used on circus elephants, where they are raised with a strong rope around their neck, a rope that holds the baby elephant. As it grows up, the rope can no longer restrain it, however, because it has felt the pull and the restraint for so long, it believes it is stuck in place. So much so that even during one great circus fire, the elephants never tried to escape, believing they couldn't.
This is called learned helplessness. It's a state of mind and being where we believe we are stuck with certain limitations that are no longer true, or maybe never were.
How this relates to your life now is that, in the areas where you seem stuck, limited, or feel like you'll never make it, you're experiencing a level of conditioning making it look and feel that way -- but it's a lie. You aren't where you really think you are, what you really think you are, or who you really think you are. You are so much more, but you have been conditioned to be trapped.
The problem, like with Truman, is that we don't know what we don't know. We don't know what we're believing that is false, and we don't know what the truth is. We're not actually experiencing reality, we're experiencing our limited perception of it -- like taking a picture of a small part of a vast landscape, and calling that picture reality!
We don't have choice or free will without expanded awareness, without knowing what we're believing and the patterns we're reacting to. This is why all the great master teachers and teachings include some form of meditation and contemplation as part of the practice. As the great Oracle of Delphi says, 'Know Thyself.' That's what we must do.
We must be willing to get really honest with where we are, what we believe, and how we feel. You can't heal what you won't feel. That energy remains stuck, unconsciously wreaking havoc on your life. But when you bring this unconscious material to the surface and challenge it with the truth of your being -- now real healing, growth, and ultimate freedom can happen.
That's what happened with Truman. He finally confronted his deepest fears and worked through them -- finally realizing they had no power to hurt him. Once he broke through this, he could keep going, past the perceived boundaries, and break out of the limited world he had grown up in.
The key to his transformation was his desire. He has a bigger vision for his life and a deep love, giving him the fuel to face his fears, overcome his foes, and keep going until he achieved his freedom!
What is that burning desire in you that you want more than anything? What are you willing to risk for, to work hard for, to face your fears and even die for? You won't have to literally die, but some part of you will have to -- the old identity, the old protective habits.
The challenge is that the human mind is designed to avoid pain and move towards pleasure. It's an evolutionary mechanism that was designed to help the developing human survive before we had the higher levels of cognition that allowed us to think more deeply about life and our choices. But this same program that helped us survive now puts us on the verge of extinction.
To override this, we have to be willing to challenge our beliefs and experiences, to dig deeper and find out who we really are, where we really are, and why we are alive - and then to design a way of life that is in integrity with that. It's not easy because of this survival mechanism, but it is possible - and it's necessary if we're going to live our full potential and highest purpose.
To begin overriding this limited program, you can start with the Prayer of Awakening: "More than I want to fix, change, heal, control anyone or anything, I want to wake up to the truth that makes me free. I want to know who and what I really am and why I'm alive. I want to see with the eyes of God, feel with the heart of God, know the truth."
That prayer can, in and of itself, begin to bring up everything that's in the way and even start to heal or release the limited patterns. It's a powerful intention.
The second prayer or intention is, "I'm willing to see and feel all the things I've been avoiding, all the things I've been afraid to look at, and let everything that is not serving me anymore come up to be embraced, redeemed, transmuted, or released -- come what may."
On a regular basis, you can also ask yourself, "Where am I really? What am I really? Why am I here? What do I really believe? What do I really feel?" This will continue to make you a candidate for fresh insights and healing activations.
Remember, you can't get to where you really want to go, to where you're destined to go, unless you're honest with where you really are - and willing to live here, fully present to whatever exists. That's the journey I invite you on and welcome you to. It's one trip where you're guaranteed to lose your baggage on and be happy about it!
To support you in mastering this, Listen to the in-depth podcast on the subject, where we break it down and put it into real-life practice TODAY. This will be a real game-changer.
To Your Emergence!
And remember, self-help is shelf help -- you have everything you need already!
Stay inspired!
Derek
Other powerful free trainings in the podcast library:
When to Stay the Course, When to Change Directions
Why ALL Your Beliefs Limit You (And What You Should Do Instead)
Why Going With the Flow is Wrong
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