"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become." ---Steve Jobs
Oh, how I WISH I could do this. I think it's my constant struggle in life, giving myself permission to BE myself. In my shame-based system I always think that I'm wrong. I should be more practical, more frugal, more content with staying home and doing nothing. Or maybe it's the less that I should be: less adventuresome, less of a risk taker, less emotional, less excitable, less spacey....
I'm a child raised in dogma. I was trained up in the way that I should go so that I won't depart from it now that I'm old. I was taught ever so well in church twice on Sundays and private school and even private colleges! I learned all about my sinful tendencies. I learned about how my "old man" needs to die and how my "new man" needs to live and somehow it was interpreted to me that anything that I want in life must be the old man and must die.
I don't struggle with the opinions of others for the most part. I struggle more with the voices in my head. In the indoctrination of my life, I decided that my personality was one of those things that needed to be "nailed to the cross" and thus all my desires were also wrong. Any expression of myself that wasn't used in church was not of any value.
Funny the things that become our "rules" as children. Interesting how we interpret life from our small little vantage points and carry them on with us till we are old and gray.
What are the dogma's or your interpretations of them that have you trapped today? We don't want to throw the good things out, but we do need to examine our thought processes. We can't live someone else's life. What worked for our parents, will not work for us. If I build my life around their voices I will fail at being me.
I blog about this often... because I think it is at the root of most of our struggles, holding us back in life. When we listen to other people's voices and don't measure up, it kills our drive, our confidence and all the strength that we need to move ahead is zapped while we fight to climb up the mountain. Every time someone judges us by their standards, it sets us back. We don't want it done to us and we don't want to do it to others. It's our privilege to love others unconditionally. It is NOT our job to judge, nudge, push, prod, or make other adults see things our way. This goes for religion, politics, lifestyle, anything!
To thrive we need to live in an accepting environment. We can give this gift to each other freely. Today your soul food comes in two parts: 1) Review and evaluate the voices in your head and 2) Don't place voices in other people's heads! "But, but, I know people who need 'fixing'". Oh yeah... hmmm... My God is big enough to get their attention without me butting in, is yours?
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