Rise Beyond Fear, Self-Doubt and Limitation and Become All You Were Created to Be
“And the day came when the risk to stay tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anais Nin
Why do some people find themselves easily able to manifest and attract their highest good, while others seem to struggle and strive their entire lives to create and realise the life they desire?
It’s a question that came up while I was recently facilitating a new series of personal growth classes, and one that I simply felt compelled to explore and write more about in this latest article.
Why? Because, as a facilitator, coach, healer and intuitive, I’ve personally now had the blessing of working with hundreds of people over the last 20 years who at some level of their being found themselves feeling held back, limited or separated from their true purpose, presence and potential.
In many ways as we journey through life we often accumulate conditioning, false belief systems, limiting decisions and outdated soul contracts and agreements that tend to hold back the expression of true authentic nature. Over time these patterns and conditioning become like the solid build-up of grime on a kitchen sink that has not been cleaned, and they can often become very hard to clear. The challenge however with building walls and placing limitations on our own potential is that we often end up creating walls of inner-resistance, that while keeping us safe and comfortable, stop or limit the true expression of our being that is wanting to arise from within.
So how can we break-free of old patterns of conditioning?
How can we create deeper states of personal transformation and growth?
And how can we arise from fear, self-doubt and self-limitation to become all that we can be?
Breaking through Limitations
On our personal and spiritual paths of evolution and growth we will often find ourselves reaching a peak or limit to what we believe we is possible or even plausible.
Its in these moments we are being called to go within and to connect with an even greater level of spiritual, mental and emotional ‘potentiality’. In the same way in which it might be comfortable for a rose to remain in the bud, we know that the day will come when it can no longer hold onto the old and must transcend its boundaries and allow ourselves to expand into the full presence and potentiality of ‘who we really are’.
According to psychologist, author and transformational teacher Gay Hendricks, there are often 4 primary reasons that most of us would prefer to play small and retreat to a place of comfort, rather than fully expand into our highest good:
A feeling within that we are somehow flawed: And therefore by perceiving ourselves as lacking the necessary skills, abilities or potential, we by default settle for the status quo, never fully believing that we can amount to more than we already are.
Fear of abandoning the tribe: One of the greatest fundamental needs of human beings, is the need to belong. We long for the acceptance of others, and most of all the love and belonging of our own tribe. The challenge however with this is that unconsciously we believe that following the path of our own soul will mean we’ll have to leave others behind. Which by the way is not always true.
A belief that success will bring a greater burden: I once worked with a client who ran a massage therapy business who was so afraid of marketing and promoting herself, because she believed she would get so busy and not be able to meet the expectations of so many clients. And therefore by default, she chose to play small rather than rise to be all she could be.
The fear of outshining others: As author Marianne Williamson so perfectly wrote in he book a ‘A Return to Love’. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. Often what can hold us back the most from truly expressing our soul and personal potential, is the fear that we might ‘look better than others’ and ‘outshine’ them.
So, are any of these belief systems and stories holding you back from stepping beyond the comfort zone and playing a bigger game in your world?
Cracking the Walnut
So how do we transcend these limiting patterns? How can we set ourselves free from the conditioning, comfort and safety of the past?
Recently in one of transformational course programs I was impressed by my own higher-guidance to bring a bag of walnuts (still in their shells) for each of the students. Why walnuts? Because it was a metaphor for the way in which the human soul and spirit so desperately holds on to the walls and barriers of protection that we often believe will keep us safe. Often these patterns form energetic walls and shields around our hearts, holding back the true essence of love, light and infinite presence that is within ourselves, and has always been within ourselves to shine.
Our primary role therefore, if we are longing to experience greater levels of personal power, presence and freedom is to learn to become the ‘nutcracker’.
To become the person that is capable of holding a space of healing, love and transformation for our deepest most personal wounds to be recognised, understood and released for the highest good of ourselves, and others.
How can we do this in our own lives?
How can we access higher states of consciousness and potentiality?
How can we create a quantum leap in our own thinking, consciousness and thought?
“The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar rises in your heart. The roar of freedom.” – Osho
KEY #1: Redefine the Story of Your Life
One of the interesting things about human behaviour is that we often find it difficult to change our unconscious behaviour, thoughts and patterns which are responsible for a good 90% of our lives. If you don’t believe me, then the next time you have shower try drying yourself with the towel backwards – starting from where you normally finish and working your way back to the start!
In order to experience any form of transformation in our lives we first must be willing to let go of all that we have been, in order to discover more of who we really are. i.e. we need to let go of the old stories, paradigms and patterns that have often kept us stuck and contained in mediocrity. The moment we are willing to let go of the ordinary, in order for the extraordinary to emerge – then miracles happen.
So how do we let go of the shell of protection that often surrounds our hearts? That often keeps us safe and protects us from feeling and experiencing fear, failure and hurt?
By choosing to redefine the inner-stories that we choose to tell ourselves.
The reality is that in our lives, nothing actually has any real meaning other than the meaning we give it. Two people may witness or experience the same car crash, yet one will view it as a catastrophe while the other will see it as a complete blessing that may have saved them from experiencing some other life altering event.
In each moment we are the ones that choose to give the events of our lives meaning – and if that is the case, we also have the power within us to change ‘how we perceive’ those events and to break free and define a new story for our lives.
Endurance runner Turia Pitt was severely burned during a 100km ultramarathon in the Australian outback, yet has turned that experience and story into a powerful message of hope, courage, resilience and the power of the human spirit that moves and inspires thousands today.
While Victor Frankl an Austrian psychiatrist who was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II found such great meaning and purpose in his experience that even when presented with an opportunity to escape is incarceration, he chose to stay so he could help his fellow man
So what story are you choosing to tell today about your circumstances? And how might that story be different if you allowed yourself to discover your true power, stand in your light and to be the hero or heroine that you were uniquely crafted to be?
KEY #2: Create Visionary Goals
There is something exciting and sexy about setting a big, inspiring and audacious goal for our lives. Because in the moment of our visionary awakening something greater gets ignited within us, a force, an energy and a potential that we may have never known or experienced before.
It is often said that true transformation and greatness is often found at the very edge of chaos and order. So, is it any wonder that the Elon Musk's, the Bill Gates and the Mother Teresa's of our world arrived at this time in history to shake things up and to challenge humanity to seek a higher and greater level of potential?
Thankfully the one and only tool and gift that is needed to craft an extraordinary life (the same inner-energy that is available to an Elon Musk, a Steve Jobs or Oprah Winfrey) is also within us right now. And best of all the key to awakening this potential is very simply found in our ability to dream. But not ordinary, small dreams. But dreams that literally bring us alive and breathe new hope, magic and purpose back into our lives.
Whenever we set a new vision for something that is beyond the reality of our current level of consciousness, we stretch the boundaries of what is possible and also may experience new levels of resistance and inertia. But just as a rocket that is hurtling into space must develop enough momentum to break the Earths energy field, so to we must find within ourselves the new levels of courage, strength and resilience to pursue what our soul most longs to create and manifest.
So, if you could expand your vision today and dream of creating and receiving far more than you had previously thought yourself worthy of receiving, what would you dare to dream? What heavenly vision would you bring into being for the benefit of yourself, your family, your loved ones and humanity?
KEY #3: Release the Opinions, Beliefs and Fears of Others
As mystical teacher Osho so eloquently expresses in the quote earlier in this article, the moment we free ourselves from the belief systems, opinions of others, is the moment that we break-free towards finding our own courage to roar like a lion.
Our deepest need as human beings is often the need to feel like we belong, and especially within our tribe, family or community. However, the moment we step onto a spirited path we will literally be pushed to go within and find our own path, a path that will call on us to march to the sound of our own beat, rather than to settle for less than we are worth in a way that looks to meet the needs of others.
Is it any wonder that reality television shows such as Masterchef are filled with people who have had enough of following what their parents and society expected of them, and instead found the courage to take the next step towards fulfilling their own dreams? However, what have found with the majority of my coaching clients over the years is that learning to discern the voice of your own soul and spirit, from the voice and expectations of others is often harder than we think.
Therefore, my encouragement is to simply take a moment to do an inner-audit of your own needs, desires and wants. Reflect back over your last month or your last year and write down the main activities that you undertook. It could have been writing a book, looking after the children, contributing to your local church, or helping a friend in crisis. Then simply identify those activities that were a) important to you and b) that brought your love and happiness. These are your inner-gems, while what remains on your list out of ‘having to do it’, ‘obligation’, ‘guilt’ or ‘desperation’ are often being fuelled by false beliefs, paradigms and commitments. So release them now, and focus on what really matters!
KEY #4: Access Your Higher Consciousness and Inspiration
We can often tell genuine passion and inspiration when we see it in someone, because it lights them up from the inside-out. Recently I was in a presentation with a spiritual student who was literally brought alive by the energy and inspiration of her vision. It was like 1000 light globes had all been illuminated at once. Inspiration is addictive and is far more enduring than needing to be ‘motivated’ towards change.
However, for many people tapping into this energy can be a little like those sliding block puzzles where you can only move one piece at a time up or down, left or right, in order to complete the final picture. So how can you tell if your motivation and energy has truly tapped into a greater and higher consciousness, or from a lower vibration that requires you to strive, struggle and push yourself to break-free to new levels of being?
Take a moment to simply tune in and contemplate the energy of these words and you will discover why:
Fear
Duty
Love
Desire
Inspiration
Can you see where they fit on the scale of vibrational resonance and what drives each of these forms of ‘motivation’?
If you’ve ever had to complete your tax return a day before it was due then you’ve probably been motivated by fear of the consequence of not submitting.
If you’ve ever desired an overseas vacation or a new job, then you’ll realise that while desire is powerful without action it is often meaningless.
If you ever felt that you needed to stay in a relationship or partnership out of a sense of ‘duty’, then you’ll realise that duty often call on us to let go of what ‘we really want’ in place of what we ‘believe’ is a higher good.
But if you’ve ever been moved by love or inspiration you’ll realise that it has no limits, it is free-flowing, it moves from a place of expansion and often without fear. It’s inspiration that fuels young children to aspire to develop their singing and audition on The Voice. Its love that guided a young Elvis Presley to hire his own group of gospel singers on-demand so that he could call them at 3am in the morning to sing when he felt moved to sing and write music.
So if we truly want to fuel our passions and light up the energy for a new life, we must first be willing to let go of what we do through duty, guilt, obligation and fear (all low vibrations), and elevate our consciousness to allow and channel a new, more empowering and engaging energy of ‘loving inspiration’.
Transforming Your Life through Higher Consciousness
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.” – Martha Graham
So, why are some people able to manifest and attract their highest good, while others seem to struggle? Because …
They realise that ‘struggle is a choice’, and therefore choose to create a different reality.
They know that the true nature of their soul and spirit is unlimited and infinite, and therefore they choose to create what they want from a place of expansion – not limitation.
They realise that every thought and feeling contains within it a vibration that is creative by nature. Therefore, they choose to place their intention on bigger visions that stretch them.
They ultimately know that all that really matters is the next step or action forward, so rather than focus on an unattainable dream, they take small inspired and loving steps in the direction of their hearts calling each day.
Setting Your Soul and Spirit Free
In reflecting on the words of American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, our job on this planet is recognise where our energy and life force expands each day, to learn to set ourselves free from limitations and fears that would seek to keep us trapped and stuck in the comfort of the cocoon of life, and to instead ‘crack the walnut’ and release the barriers that keep us from allowing our true authentic spirit and life force to shine on this planet.
And when we do, we will literally light-up our world!
Les Price is a transformational coach, author, speaker and intuitive who has been working in the field of personal, business and spiritual development for over 20 years.
If you’re at a place where you’re ready to breakthrough your own limitations to discover new levels of personal freedom, fulfillment and purpose in your life, but don’t quite know how what is holding you back or keeping you stuck, then make sure to contact Les today to learn more about our transformational programs, coaching, intuitive guidance and breakthrough sessions.