You're Never Going Anywhere If You Don't Take That First Small Step
We all have egos.
Our egos protect us, but they also keep us playing small if we don't work with them. Ego can also stop us from taking that first meaningful step. We are likely to play small rather than take the first step to real success that is meaningful to us.
You may have a very different definition of the word "ego" but for now, let's work with the idea that our egos are the absence of love. Ego means considering oneself separate from God. Yikes. The idea of being "in flow" means that our vibration is high and we are in flow with God (or call this creator Source, Spirit, Universe, Higher Power or whatever it is that meets your value set so that you can get the most out of your life).
Enlightened beings tell us that we are all one. The more we separate ourselves, the more we strive and hustle and work hard and rely on our own steam to create success. The more we do the things that help us get into flow, the easier we will find that it is to thrive.
The ego means that we live in the world of our 5 senses and not in connection with the divinity within each of us. The ego is associated with the mind, body and the intellect, the ways we as humans think we can control our world. Spiritual practice reduces our reliance on ego and then we can access our spiritual nature more easily. We stop being attached to the results and AMAZING things happen. We surrender.
Our ego does not mean us harm even though the ego is the lack of love. The ego emerges to protect us because we lose faith in the power greater than all of us. The more we rely on the ego, the further we distance ourselves from the Universe and the magic in the Universe. What if you worked with that power? What if you raised your vibration and got more into the flow of love?
Your egos wants you to think that you already know how every situation will turn out. You live your life therefore based on assumptions rather than growing. Living in a growth mindset, a mindset that anything is possible if I'm in flow with the Universe means that incredible things will happen.
Our egos make us not begin anything new or different because we don’t know what will happen. We are fearful. We rely on the past and on subconscious limiting beliefs. I've sure done that. I still do it today. But I do it a whole lot less. It took almost no time to start seeing things change as I saw my deep fears and recognized that they were hurting me and the people I loved the most.
Our egos are FEAR. Is that how you want to live? Do you want to live in fear? Most of us would say an emphatic "NO" to that question. However, it is human nature to have fears and to let those fears drive our decisions, our goals and even, sometimes, to allow us to stay in darkness deep enough that we live unhappy and desperate lives.
I'm not telling you to go play chicken in the middle of a busy interstate or do something dumb just to show that you are not afraid. That is not the type of fear I'm talking about nor is that the way to walk through fear.
Far from that. I am asking that you start working with your ego and moving towards a deeper connection with God. (If the word God bothers you, substitute whatever word you like, just don't let my using it take you out.) We are working on being in alignment with how we really are. We are striving to be our true selves, unhindered by ego and free. At our core, we are all love.
Every journey begins with a step. That step might be a tiny one but it is critical to take it.
Take a step. It can be any kind of step, but take it to start gathering momentum.
Waiting to take these small steps means waiting for your life to REALLY begin.
You will falter, stall and maybe even...gasp, fail. But it’s only a failure if you don’t learn from it and move on.
Read books. Find a mentor. Find a transformational coach (yep, like me). Meditate. Pray. Exercise. Get out in nature. But here is the most important part, do not think you need to do it all at once. That is precisely why I recommend finding some sort of way to invest in yourself by finding a coach or mentor.
You will gain momentum as you learn and adjust and find out what nourishes your body, mind, and soul. Your vibration will start to rise, and you will gain confidence. It all starts though with that first, sometimes extremely difficult, small step.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I’ve made a lot of bold leaps in my life, but it’s the small steps that add up to building a life I love. Those giant leaps only happened when I had gained enough momentum and trust and let go of ego to take the leap. I had to work with that ever-present fear/ego but not let it stop me. Instead, it too can become a guide and in some ways divine itself.
I’d put off some major decisions in our home for a year or more. Gasp, yes, these are major repairs and I have not taken action out of fear for a very long time. Some things I was determined to do myself to save money, so they didn’t get done. Some things I simply didn’t move on out of some sort of a belief that things had to continue the way they were. I had a belief that I deserved for my home to be less organized and beautiful than it can be. I didn't deserve the house to be nice and clean and beautiful. I also believed it would cost a fortune and we have two children in college. We like to travel. We had two Great Danes and they are expensive. They come first. I also believed that if I couldn't bring people into the house to fix things until I got certain things done. As soon as I let go of those beliefs and took that first small step in making changes, magic started happening. I surrendered my fear to the God of my understanding and took that first step and the next one followed and then the next one.
Time for me to slow down and start living my ENTIRE life with intention and trust. I needed to see my ego and thank it for helping through some dark times. However, if was time to see what needed to be done in order to live big! It was time to take the first steps to get these repairs done. I needed to love my house, "warts" and all. The same goes for my yard and gardens. I needed to love it, torn up muddy yard full of downed branches and overgrown gardens. There is an enormous amount to love about my home and yard. I had been missing the boat.
I've called and had a few things repaired already. I'm out picking up sticks in the yard as soon as I finish writing this ecause it is a GORGEOUS day today.
I've bought a whole bunch of new plants for my house. I don't have to wait for the warm weather to bring nature inside. I have seeds ready to start indoors to start for the summer garden as well as Spring bulbs to plant as soon as weather is ready.
I opened myself up to ask and to receive last year. This year I’m surrendering. What is your word or goal for the year?
That feels POWERFUL. I lost some of my footing along my way and that made me question my power. That created a lot of relying on ego rather than surrendering to love. No more. I took that first step and that led to the second step and so on. I'm step by step feeling my way back to that authentic power. I have a growth mindset. It feels amazing.
I don’t have to have the perfect body to go to the gym. Fear will not stop me from working out. I am willing to let go of my ego (fear) step by step improve my health, my functionality and I will look all that much better because of it. There is a lot of power in feeling strong and healthy. The body is a pathway to the Spirit.
I know there is a minimalist movement going on, and that’s great. I believe that I have a lot of work to do to let go of clutter even though I've worked on it now for years. I'm building momentum, one step at a time. I surrendered and took the first step.
Many of us make resolutions at the beginning of the year. That is great if you are ready to take it step by step and keep going when you falter. So MY "get in shape" season starts now and it starts slowly. I'll build momentum. I'm taking my bike to the shop and putting it on an indoor training machine. I have my old Spin bike. Actually, even on top of all the Beachbody programs and equipment at my disposal, I have a rather complete gym. I have ropes and a TRX and cones for agility. I have enough Pilates balls to teach a small group class.
Whatever. I'm only ready NOW. So my first small step to improve my fitness begins as soon as I finish this article. I have Beachbody on Demand so I don't have to wait even a second to begin.
Your job is to live YOUR best life as defined by what makes YOU happy, healthy and fulfilled. This takes thought and intentional action.
What do you want? What small steps can you take? What have you been putting off that you could do today? I urge you to take some sort of movement to break the inertia. The tiniest action can begin a movement!
Shine on! I'm off to break a good sweat!
Beth
