The world we are living in today is changing constantly. Many of us are being pulled in several directions at the same time. Hardly any of us understand what’s real and what’s not anymore. There are so many exaggerations, alternative truths, absurd bullshit and outright lies working on us that it’s amazing that we are not all insane.
Every once in a while you just want to drive out to a secluded spot, climb to the top of a hill, and scream your lungs out. And you know what, that will probably do you more good than all the self-help books in the library.
There is some indication now that some countries in the world have started crusading to clean up the Internet to prevent or at least limit all the exaggerations, alternative truths, absurd bullshit, and outright lies, and try and get back to some sense of what’s real.
I’m not sure how that actually gets achieved, but greater minds than mine are working on it and hopefully, they will figure something out.
I have also noticed that some of the people in the coaching industry are now starting to encourage people to develop techniques for getting and staying in touch with their true feelings. On the surface, that sounds like a lot of new-age hooey, but if you dig a little deeper into that idea, you might find that there is a lot of merit to it.
The biggest challenge people face these days is where to put their faith. For years the general consensus has been that you can put your faith in a government or a religion or a wife or a husband or a trusted friend. And a lot of people still do.
But here’s a big idea for you. How about putting your faith in yourself?
I mean who knows you better? And who controls your actions and beliefs? It’s not a government, friend, spouse, guru, religious or secular. It is your own sense of what is right and what is wrong. Of what feels real and what feels fabricated.
Too often, and maybe because it’s easier, we tend to put our faith in some person or entity, and more often than not, we come to a tipping point where we start to question that very act.
And what do you know, it all comes back around to you.
Everybody, regardless of where their faith has been, has a sense of right and wrong. They can tell black from white. And they can identify all the colours in between. They know what they want, and usually, if they want it bad enough, they can figure out a way to get it. People do this in small ways every day, and because it’s almost second nature, they don’t really think about how much they use their own judgement to determine certain small things, everyday things.
But we do. And because we do, we know how. And if we know how then why can’t we just expand our intuitive thinking to include bigger things?
The answer is that we can. The reality is that in order to do that successfully you have to be willing to wade through an ocean of exaggerations, alternative truths, absurd bullshit, and outright lies and reject it all. Where you will then end up is at your truth.
And once you’re there, and you make up your mind to stay there, you’ll discover that the big decisions in your life are just as easy to make as the little ones were.
I know this sounds a bit like abstract advice. But let me tell you a story about me.
Two years ago, I had an E. coli infection that lodged in my spine. I had to have the infection surgically removed, and in the process of stabilizing my spine, I lost the connection from my brain to my legs which controlled my balance.
When I got home after four months in the hospital, I was basically bedridden. And in the first few days of being home, I did a lot of thinking about how I was going to live the rest of my life. And I decided that I would do everything in my power to become as whole a person as I could. This meant, learning to stand, learning to take steps, learning to use a walker and build my stamina, then learning to swim again (I swam 100 lengths a day before I got sick).
This was the hardest work I have ever had to do, but I visualized and did the work. And the only thing that was powering me was my belief that I could do it.
Today, I am back to walking just about everywhere. My wheelchair has been retired. And this summer I got up to 60 lengths in my pool. The number of medications I was on has been reduced by half at least. It’s still hard work, but I have come to love it because I was originally told that not much of this would be possible.
But I believed something else. And I used that belief to power my actions.
So when I tell you all this stuff about how you can control everything in your life, just by deciding that’s how it will be, I know what I am talking about because I’m doing it.
I’m not selling anything here. I’m not a coach or a guru. I’m a writer and a retired advertising guy.
And this is not going to make sense for everyone. But if it does make sense to you, just really focus hard on who’s really in charge of things in your life and start listening to that person a whole lot more.
I believe you’ll find that the best coach you’ll ever meet is yourself.
