We live in a society where more than ever before in history we have this amazing thing called endless choices. I watched a You Tube video today of Elizabeth Gilbert’s address to the 2011 iCan Conference (I’m sure you can find it on You Tube). She’s the gal that wrote “Eat Pray Love” (you know, that quirky movie with Julia Roberts). I really resonated with what she spoke about in relation to women in the current age. But I actually think that there is equal pressure on men too, so I write not only to women here but equally to men.
Elizabeth thoroughly dissected the modern day dilemma of self-retrospection and not so much because we have the time to do so, but because we are thrust in the middle of so much information that it is almost obligatory to question our own motives on a fairly frequent basis. Competition is so thrown upon us even if we are not competitive. We see people doing, being and having what we want and wonder why. What is so wrong with us? What do we have to be doing and thinking in order to have what that person is having? There has to be a missing link. And most people I would argue look in all of the wrong places to quench the yearnings of their heart.
Most people bury themselves in their career. Endlessly striving for that “Manager” position. Working hard, studying if that is what it will take. We become so bound up in our titles that we quite often lose ourselves and our own true purpose in life. We seek the appeasement of others in order to feel good about ourselves. I’m not going to name names here but I used to work with someone some years ago who was exactly like this. It was what I consider one of life’s true tragedies. She came across as very confident and even somewhat aggressive at times. She was extremely good at her job and quite literally threw herself into it. She came to work more than an hour before everyone else and stayed well over an hour after everyone had left. She took on more workload than what was necessary and did more than was expected and was obviously, well rewarded for doing so. She was almost the “perfect employee” I suppose you could say. But her personal life was in tatters. She was estranged from her family, didn’t really have a lot of close friends and even her relationship was somewhat unusual. She quite literally became her job. That was what defined her and she would defend that most vehemently. Now I’m not here to say that that is wrong at all. It certainly served in making her feel good and that is all that matters. What I am saying, however, is we are not our jobs.
We are not the suburb we live in. We are not the income we make. We are not the car we drive. We are not the school we choose to send our children to. We are not the sport that we play. We are not the friends we spend time with. We are not our families. You see it goes far deeper than that. And when you strip back all of those superficial layers – what exactly are you left with? People are almost becoming too afraid to face what that really is – ourselves. Our true and authentic selves.
You see, at a molecular and cellular level, we are all the same. We just choose to express ourselves in different ways. We all fundamentally want the same things. We all want to be loved and accepted. But in this maddening society of more, more, more all the time – we are always chasing for more are we not – and we lose ourselves more and more. Look at simple societies. Ask any westerner living in Bali for instance and they will tell you that the women working out in the rice fields are immensely happy. That are not striving for the next Mercedes Benz AMG, they are not looking to be able to afford the beach house at Malibu or fly first class to Europe. They are content in where they are at and who they are. I would argue they are more emotional advanced than we are!
So to close here I am going to set you an assignment. Introspection. However that works best for you, whether it is meditating, praying, quiet time – whatever you want to call it. Dedicate at least 15 minutes a day. And don’t let me hear you say you are too busy for that! Go to bed 15 minutes earlier and get up 15 minutes earlier. Find the time. Because I promise you this – with consistent practise and perseverance you will find yourself in a way that you could not even perceive possible. And you will start to re-wire your brain and live your life in a far more meaningful and contented way. Because what you are really seeking amongst all of the materialism and consumerism is not a new car, house, job etc etc. It is you. You are the one that has all of the answers already inside of you. The only way to access those answers is in quiet introspection. Leave me your experiences of this. It’s incredibly powerful knowledge and even more so when applied.
For more hints and tips on life results, success strategies, law of attraction methodologies and how to achieve goals and the life you really want, like our Facebook page at: www.Facebook.com/SerendipityLifeCoaching