Several
decades ago, I began studying goal setting as if my life depended on it. I was
committed to learning anything and everything I could about how to set goals
and "have it all”. I was certain that having it all would bring me a very
deep level of happiness.
My
motivation was the fact that in my twenties I had reached a point where my
greatest goal was to merely get through another day. With many of my childhood
dreams shattered, my life consisted of going to a job I despised, being newly
divorced left with no apparent way to support myself, and living from day to
day wondering if this was it.
More than
three decades ago, all I wanted to do was survive the harsh realities life had
put in front of me. And survive I did. I barely got by each day, feeling like
the world was against me and wondering why all the lucky breaks happened to
others but not to me. I nurtured the belief about how tough life was and as a
result never got any breaks. So much in fact that I lost my assembly-line job
with the inability to get another. I became more disillusioned with each
passing day and felt stuck with no way out.
That is until a small miracle happened. (Reflecting on that day 30 years ago, I would say it was more of a big miracle disguised as something small).
I found a
book that changed my life forever — The Magic of Believing by Clyde Bristol.
From the first page to the last, I was captivated by what I read. Written in
1948, the information is as powerful today as the day the book was written.
Belief creates reality
In essence,
the author wrote that we create our reality by what we think and believe.
Feeling as if I had found the holy grail of knowledge, I was fascinated that I
had never heard this before. Or if I had heard it, I had never paid attention
to it.
Amazingly,
as I applied what I read, a few small things shifted. The shift was enough to
encourage me to learn more about the power of thought.
Because I
didn't have any disposable income at that time, I found one of my favorite
hangouts to be the local library. I read anything and everything I could get my
hands on to do with changing the circumstances of my life. There was no
shortage of information on setting goals, reaching achievement, accepting
“believe and you will achieve” and other such topics.
A shift in perception
As much as I
had no desire to do much of anything prior to the discovery of The Magic of
Believing, I now had a thirst that no amount of reading, learning or searching
could quench. I was fascinated with what I heard about "What you can
believe, you can achieve."
Now my quest
was to turn my life around, acquire whatever I wanted on a material level in
order that I would be fulfilled. Little did I realize the lessons life had in
store. I would learn that fulfillment was not about acquisition but rather
something completely different. You see, there were many times I acquired just
what I thought would be the "golden ticket" to happiness. Although
some things did bring me a sense of satisfaction, often it would be
short-lived.
So what was
the answer? When would that deep sense of fulfillment be mine? Having placed so
much emphasis on acquisitions, awards, and outward recognition (and having
achieved a great deal) I wondered why there were times when, regardless of the
outward trappings, a deep level of fulfillment would often evade me.
Morphing the meaning
Over more
than a 30-year journey of discovery, my experience and definition of
fulfillment has morphed more than once from something superficial to something
that words cannot begin to express. Something that one comes to
"know" rather than define with words. Yet, words are often all there
is to convey to another what the experience is.
Happiness
and fulfillment had very little to do with what was manifested on the outside.
There is no doubt whatsoever that happiness is an inside job. Granted, there
are outward things that do invoke feelings of joy, but it is something that
manifests from the inside out, rather than from the outside in.
Ironically,
when we are on a quest for the deepest level of fulfillment, life will give us
exactly what we need. It may appear as if it has nothing to do with what we
want, yet when we give ourselves permission to step back, observe all that has
occurred, and recognize the gift in even the most difficult situations, we
realize we have been given exactly what was needed in order to reach the
deepest level of appreciation, fulfillment and joy life has to offer.
Yet, it
takes more than simply knowing this. It takes surrender and willingness to
allow life to unfold in such a way that we are given the opportunity to become
who we are meant to be. It takes a willingness to know that often we just don't
know all there is to know.
This is counter-intuitive to much of what many people are selling as the "key to
happiness." How ironic is this? For years we can search for "the
knowledge" only to discover the greatest knowledge is that we just don't
know all there is to know.
Surrender to Win
It is in
surrendering to this fact we are in a position to know more. What actually
happens is we become okay with letting go of the need to do, know and be
everything. We simply move in the space of being in concert with what is. We
reach a place of showing up to the miracle of what each day has in store.
It has been
said that a miracle is a shift in perception. It is in the ability to recognize
the shift where the greatest miracle resides — the miracle of who we are meant
to be.
Make no
mistake, there will be experiences in our day-to-day living that at times may
seem more than we are equipped to handle. Yet, when we move in the space of appreciation
for what is in front of us, life holds amazing miracles — miracles that no
amount of money can buy; miracles that create the tapestry of our lives; miracles that take us to the deepest place of
surrender that makes life have more depth than we ever dreamed possible;
miracles that allow us to love in ways we never dreamed we would or could;
miracles that allow us to become the person we are truly meant to be.
It is in the
surrender to something beyond what we can see, feel or touch that all we had
hoped for will manifest.
Kathleen
Gage works with spiritually aware speakers , authors, coaches and consultants
who are ready to turn their knowledge in to money-making products and services
designed to positively impact the lives of their clients. Learn Kathleen’s #1 Secret to Making
Money with the Knowledge you Already Have - $97 Value Yours FREE http://www.vipclub1.com
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