The Heroic Journey: Beyond Stress Management Into Bliss
Wow. That Was Incredible. You’re The Best Lover I’ve Ever Had.
I Love You
You’re The Best Mum (Or Dad) In The World
I’m So Proud Of You, Son (Or Daughter)
You’re Such A Great Friend
What’s Your Secret? How Come You’re So…?
Isn’t it the moments, people say things like this, that we strive for and daydream about?
Don’t we all want to be a hero to our Lover, our Kids, our Parents, Friends and Colleagues?
But for the most part nobody ever notices how hard we try, how much effort we put into the every day things that we do for others. And let’s be honest, we don’t always help ourselves do we?
Sometimes we’re so stressed and preoccupied that we aren’t everything we would love to be in our interactions with others. And when it comes to doing the stuff that we do, it can get overwhelming to put all the different pieces together to perform at the levels that we know we could, if we could just stop the world for a breather to work it all out.
And so, one way or another we settle for being average. Heck, while we’re being honest, sometimes we’d love to just consider ourselves as average.
And so mostly, the only times we hear these comments are in our daydreams. Yet there’s a part of us that knows, that if we could just get all the pieces together, we could be that Hero, we’ve always dreamed of being. And we’d be standing on that metaphorical pedestal receiving all the respect, love and adulation that we secretly crave.
photo credit: bobster1985
Look I know I’m speaking a bit more bluntly than most people ever will. And almost no-one will ever admit to this secret wish. But it’s thereason why somany self-help books that promise you the ‘achieve your dreams quick’ sell so well. And did you know that most of these books and tapes are bought in a moment of hope and lay unread gathering dust on some bookshelf.
Even the people who dilligently read through every word struggle to put the ideas into practice. Because they are trying to walk along someone else’s path from a completely different starting place.
The truth is you already have more than enough knowledge. It’s never been about knowledge.
photo credit: kevingessner
The fights you have, the stress you feel, the awkwardness you feel in interactions with others, the inability to focus and attain your best performances have never been about knowledge.
You see, the media, the best selling Author’s and the Advertisers have all fallen into the same mistake that makes you vulnerable to believing the myth that you are missing something.
It’s what I call the Missing Piece Syndrome.
The truth is you don’t need any new information. You just need to be in the right emotional state to express the best of you.
The problem is that this Missing Piece Syndrome makes people do too much. They feel they have to read up on all this stuff and keep updated. They try to do too much. And so they run around like headless chickens. Then they’re distracted, exhausted and burned out as they perform or interact. And so even though they know and are capable of far more, they underperform.
And the fact is, unless you overcome this issue in your life, your life will slip through your fingers without you ever reaching the heights you know you could – and should.
You have all you need. You just have to be able to access the right feelings, the right words and the right thought processes to meet with those occassions.
You know how sometimes, hours or minutes after a situation, you suddenly come up with the perfect line or idea to deal with a situation, but it’s too late. The moment has passed and another opportunity has slipped through your fingers.
photo credit: andronicusmax
By then, your Partner has felt rejected and unloved. Someone else has grabbed the project you desperately wanted to head. Your child has got distracted and is no longer open to your potentially life changing insights. Or the group conversation has moved on and the brilliant or witty observation you were about to make is lost forever.
Well this is really about confidence and being present in the situation. And it’s entirely down to your ability to be comfortable with who you are and expressing what you have to the world.
The Three Steps To Bliss
There’s three main steps to mastering this issue and anything else in life for that matter. It doesn’t matter how you define success, whether it’s having your Lover adoring you, your kids respecting you, changing the world or some other achievement, the fomula is the same.
Step 1 -Stress Management
Step 2 – Finding Yourself
Our education system teaches a dizzying number of subjects. We know much about the depths of the ocean and other planets. Yet no-one ever teaches us how to ‘know thyself’.
The Missing Piece Syndrome makes us focus on finding everything bar ourselves. But the real key is about living with integrity and understanding and getting comfortable with who and what we are.
photo credit: Wonderlane
Step 3 – Following Your Bliss
Once we have come to terms with ourselves, we understand our unique make up and why we are as we are. It’s in this understanding that we find our mission and purpose. This is the point where by living with complete integrity and transparency we are able to use our natural design, our interests and personality quirks to live in harmony with the world. It’s the point where by expressing ourselves purely and effortlessly, our natural design in it’s perfect environment makes everyone believe that we are a genius.
It’s when the world recognises what was always there. And that is when those close to us, get to see the loving, tolerant, patient and nurturing side of us. And it’s when they adore, admire and respect us. And it’s when we get to love them, the world and most importantly, ourselves.
However this journey, that I call, the Heroic Journey begins only when we consciously commit to taking it and accept the challenges and tests we will face along the way.
So now we come to the crunch. This is the point in every Hero’s life where he or she had to make a life-changing decision. Does he (or she) accept the challenge or cower and run away?
This points happens to all Hero’s real or fictitious.
It’s the scene in Star Wars, where Luke Skywalker has the choice between becoming a Jedi or a quiet life on the farm.
It’s the moment Nelson Mandela had to choose between going to prison for his beliefs or bowing to the apartheid system.
It’s when Buddha left his comfortable life in the Palace to seek enlightenment.
It’s when Gandhi set off on his mission to free India, regardless of personal risk
It’s the moment when a brave Passer By dives into the river to save someone from drowning.
It’s when Rosa Park decided to fight for equality.
It’s when Thomas Edison set out to create light from electricity.
It’s the part in The Matrix, where Neo is offered the red or blue pill
And it’s when millions of people throughout history have strived for more than just the comfort and safety of their humdrum lives.
Now you have to choose do you answer the call of adventure in your life or do you pretend it doesn’t apply to you and settle for your day today routine?
Click the red button and together we will face the adventure of facing up to stress and mastering it. Click the blue button and you can pretend that you’ve never read this.
