Following our conversation about Brilliance Inside, Mariette Fourmeaux had a sidebar discussion with me about having the courage to walk the path, and I enjoyed it so much, I wanted to share it as a bonus.
There is no quick fix. No simple red pill that lets you face the harsh realities of your life with extraordinary ease and effortlessness. The deeper path in life takes effort and determination, especially when the destination is uncertain. The results are most certainly worth it, but it takes courage upfront to walk that path and let go of your expectations.
Our life is a continuous journey, and there are so many messages about who and what we should be, what we should stand for, and what we should believe in… many of these messages are handed down from generation to generation, or enshrined by society’s ideals… but that does not make them correct, or the truest representation of who we are.
Standing up to these takes courage. Even uncovering our truths takes courage.
When you have a goal in mind, you start forming expectations of what results of what you want. This is useful in setting a direction to achieve your goal… but quite often these expectations are blinders that cause more misery because things unfold over time in ways outside of our control. (That is, we don’t always get what we want.)
The universe has an odd habit of letting things unfold in unexpected ways. And accepting this can be challenging, especially when we pretend to be masters of our own destiny.
Albert Einstein once said, “The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.” If you view the universe as hostile, then you tend to take these unexpected outcomes with tension and resentment. But by accepting it as friendly, and trusting that the universe is giving you exactly what you need in every moment, it can dramatically alter how you adapt to life’s ups and downs.
Social change is about forging new paths for humanity and solving sticky problems which are frequently difficult to talk about. Quite often, change is hard, takes a long time, and doesn’t turn out how we expect.
To make it even more complicated, sometimes the work we must do to change the world is work we must do on ourselves. Having the guts to change yourself with honesty and willingness is tough. I know, because I’m far from perfect, and the work I do on myself is the most gut-wrenching of all the social impact work I engage in. Everything else is the icing on the cake.
Enjoy this bonus episode, and let me know in the comments if you enjoyed it!