Listen To Your Inner Superhero!
“Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.” – Steven Pressfield (The War of Art)
It’s so easy to let ourselves be talked out of living our best lives. There’s a place in all of us where courage lives, where the faith that anything is possible dwells, where the belief that we are capable of greatness is unequivocal. I like to think of that part of myself as my inner superhero. Sadly though, the voice of the superhero in each of us is often drowned out by so much of the NOISE that we let in and give power to.
This noise includes the limiting beliefs of all the doubters in our lives, the discouraging words of all the haters who would prefer we maintain the status quo and play small, the doom and gloom news that focuses more on the problem than the solution. The biggest culprit of them all, however, is the voice of our own fears that often reigns the loudest in our minds and in our internal world. That voice says “I can’t do it…I don’t know how…I don’t deserve to be successful…I’m a failure… It’s too late for me… What if I lose everything?...What if they find out I’m a fraud?…I’d better play it safe and make sure I don’t mess things up… I can’t afford it…Things aren’t that bad…I don’t want to disappoint mom, dad, etc. “
At their core, these statements and fears all have one thing in common: they stem from the natural Resistance that we all face as we set out to embark on a path of growth, expansion, creativity, entrepreneurship, spirituality, mastery, love and intimacy. All of these endeavors are rooted in EXPERIENCE and they live in the realm of that which we have yet to explore, often referred to as the unknown.
So of course, in the face of foreign experiences and all the uncertainty that comes along with them, we tend to shrink back in fear, to rationalize our worries, to justify our doubts and ultimately, to talk ourselves out of so many great ideas and grand visions of what’s possible for us and for the world. We want to dance, but we’ve grown up being told that we don’t have rhythm. We want to sing, but we someone once told us we didn't have a nice voice and we believed them. We want to love deeply but we don't want to take the chance of getting hurt. We want to inspire the masses, but we are too afraid to let our own inspiration move us to action. The life and love we want, the change we wish to bring forth, the greatness we aspire to, all live outside of what's familiar and comfortable to us but it takes courage to go there. Our task is to give our attention to the voice of the superhero within us that is ready and willing to lead us there and to take consistent action until we succeed and thrive.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: where would we be in the world today if all the great leaders, innovators, artists and inventors had allowed their work, their vision, their dream, their promise to be overshadowed by the voice of doubt or even the voice of so-called reason?
And so I ask you: what great idea, vision, desire or promise do you have deep down within you? Are you letting the noise around you and the voice of your fears talk you out of it? If so, are you willing to listen instead to the voice of your inner superhero and go wherever it leads you?
Much love,
Chris
Written for The Daily Love (July 28th, 2012)