How To Win A StreetFight With Vulnerability
Discover Your Recreate Button
Unknowingly I hit the recreate button on my life this week. I felt uncertainty to show up and give a powerful talk. The resistance to share my point of view became a street-fight with vulnerability.
Hiding Behind Perfecting Images of Yourself
The story in my head was, I swung left to protect myself with one image. When that fell through I swung right to hide behind another image that I swear I had perfected.
When that image failed my mind clamped down like a steel trap. Then a conversation would happen with a friend and a ray of light shined through.
The Status Quo
Here is my assertion. My attempt to mange my life to fit the status quo hasn’t created the life I want to live.
I have this gift of taking leaps into the unknown when I can be a learner. I am a human sponge with knowledge. I am even comfortable to stand out front and lead in most cases.
But then I stall out when I make a mistake. When I fail.
When I reach the point that the emotional labor to move forward in a vulnerable way seems to cost me something. My being wrong in who I am. I pull back. I stay small.
Stuck Reliving Old Wounds
I realize I have been picking the same scab and reopening the same old wound over and over. One I know I want healed.
I stepped into the shower this morning. All the spiritual books and universal truths I’ve gathered raced through my mind.
I have been on a hard-core journey the last twenty years to make sense of the human experience. To improve the quality of my life and the lives I inspire.
Creative on Purpose
I loved a talk Scott Perry hosted a few weeks back, what does it mean to be human. What does it mean to be happy? How can you have more of both?
All these insights into the human condition share a similar message. Love your neighbor. Do unto others as you would like to be treated yourself. Let go of attachments. And my own add on stop the blame game.
Searching For A way Out
I have been swirling like a Tasmanian devil in these topics searching for a path and a way out. What will it finally take to break the dam into an enlightened experience?
I sat down at my desk to write. Where am I headed with this transformation around the uncertainty to show up?
More Than A Feeling
I contemplate the Creative on Purpose community I would be speaking to on Sunday. I mull over a few I have invited to join. Some say they have church during that time. Something I think about I have sensed before.
This is my church. These are my people. These are the friends I come to connect with and grow to better learn the human condition. This place has provided fertile soil to better understand what makes a great life. Like kindness, resiliency, empathy and connection.
I used to be curious whether it would bring value has deeply effected how I see myself and others. Embracing the uncertainty to show up on Sunday’s has changed this “church event” into a place to feel energized.
Ignite The Energy Within
Then another “aha” moment. What if this energy is not contained in a certain place or in a specific person -what if this energy is within me?
What’s at stake to come alive in the face of uncertainty and realize what I have to offer is “good enough”.
Interrupt The Status Quo
Do you ever have that sense you belong at a certain level in the status quo?
That you are comfortable with where you fit and what is expected of you. If you risk to move out of that expected role what’s at stake?
Here’s what I finally got. Striving for certainty and confidence in the status quo drives the fear of not enough. Never enough.
I burst that bubble last week. I went sixteen rounds in a boxing ring. I went to the mat. I wrestled with vulnerability. I let go of the image I believed the status quo told me I needed to make great work.
I can make good enough work and keep going. Vulnerability won. I got joy back in my life to give and create to make a difference.
You Live In A Creative Universe
I am a fan of neuroscience and quantum mechaincs that shows a creative universe.
The short version of quantum mechanics is you can never be exactly measured at any given time.
That you and I are a set of creative possibilities. That your worldview is created from the possibilities you choose from in front of you.
Create An Eye-Opening Result
You can alter the wave of your possibilities by letting go of some unwanted choices and put a few new ones in place. The compounding effect is off the charts. This is the stuff of miracles.
I amplified the wave of possibilities this week and created an eye-opening result.
Only you are the best determinant of the quality of your life experiences. There is not some credibility metric earned from an outside source that can change the way you feel. This is your choice.
The Only Way Out is Through
I am throwing off the need for an A. I can shine without the grade. Like when you were a little kid and your picture got put on the fridge. I feel that joy.
I can give myself an A for effort and believe my art belongs on the fridge.
No more circling in the library of universal truths. In search of some key to nirvana to stop the suffering. The only way out of uncertainty is through.
You Are A Creative Genius
I assert you are a creative genius and I am a creative genius. The thing we get wrong is what society brainwashes us to believe. The certainty that we know what genius looks like.
We are trained to believe life is more fixed than it is. There is enormous creativity that you rarely consider. You remain focused on what doesn’t work.
You accept the safety and comfort of the lie that the life you want is not possible. You are unwilling to take 100% responsibility for who you are.
Your Perceptions Are Real
Your perceptions give your life meaning. You know what a sunset feels like. No one can tell you. You feel it yourself.
No one can tell you what it’s like to share a bowl of ice cream with someone you love.
By shifting your perceptions and the meaning you choose to give something. You take back the power to create the life you want to live.
I hung in there with a little help from my friends this week. What I see cannot be unseen. Joy.
Freedom. The open door to create the life I want. The agency to improve the quality of my life experiences and inspire the lives I touch.
