I have to be honest with you. Growth is uncomfortable. The fear, confusion, and even pain can just outright suck. Have you ever heard the acronym for fear? I once heard Dr. Wayne Dyer say fear is short for “fuck everything and run.” Have you ever felt that before? (Hint: My hand is up.) Growth is facing your fears, which can get extremely uncomfortable.
Throughout my life, just like you, I’ve had to face fear, in order to grow. I am the person I am today because I made conscious decisions that aligned with my faith in God, the universe, and my soul. I had to rely on faith and love to inspire action to get to the next point of my journey.
We come to this earth as a soul with lessons to learn so that we can ascend to higher spiritual plans and eventually guide other souls. If you’ve never read Many Lives Many Masters by Brian Weiss, I suggest that you check it out. In it, he recounts the story of a patient who he treated with hypnosis, only to be shocked that this patient would have past life memories during hypnosis and communicate with master spirit guides. It rocked his world and changed his life from a scientific psychiatrist to a spiritual leader who teaches how your soul’s past experiences directly relates to who we are in the present life. Maybe that sounds a little kookie to you, but I’m willing to bet, that at the very least you look to your soul or that inner voice when times get tough.
Lessons are learned the quickest when we go through the emotions that lead us to the motions. That’s one of the greatest advantages of being human; we get to feel and experience relationships, which lead to lessons. Remember, things don’t happen to you, they happen for you.
One of the best examples is heartbreak. Let’s say you are searching for your soul mate, but you continuously have your heart broken. Take a deep look at what’s going on there. Look at the people you’re dating and see if you notice a pattern in their behavior or personalities. Is dysfunction comfortable to you? This may sound a little backwards, but being in a healthy relationship, no matter how many times I said I wanted one, was extremely uncomfortable so I continued to choose the fixer-uppers. It wasn’t until I made this realization that I was able to do the work to open myself up to a good partner and I’m happy to say that I’m now married to my soul mate.
Growing as a person and growing spiritually is tough. You have to be willing to face that deepest, ugliest part of yourself to understand the lesson you’re supposed to learn. There is no other way to learn it. Sometimes life makes you tremendously uncomfortable so that you have no choice but to face it and grow from it. Fear is awesome.
Embrace your growing pains. What are some lessons you learned from pain? What fear or uncomfortable reality are you ready to face so that you may begin to live the life of your dreams? I shared one of mine and I’d love to hear yours.
PS: If you want to learn how to face your fear and make the change, check out my free “Release It” workshops.