Its amazing how we fool ourselves... while at the same time believing we are doing whats best.
Let me give you an example. I overheard a guy telling a group of friends, over drinks, how he had become fed-up with work. Guys being guys, they immediately started to come up with options to fix the problem ideas like changing company and changing jobs. That was when the guy got all logical
Yeah, but I need to pay the mortgage and my kids education and weve got a holiday planned for the Bahamas and
I interrupted. How much do you need?
A hundred grand a year, he replied.
Whats more important, I asked, your happiness or the money?
Of course he said happiness. Then he got all logical again. But I cant be happy unless I can pay the mortgage and give my kids the best and have great holidays.
How many hours do you work?
Around fifty.
And how do you feel when you get home?
Tired.
What would your kids prefer, a father who is worn out for forty eight weeks of the year but has four weeks to entertain them per year or a dad who is a real Dad all year round?
The conversation went on, me questioning, him justifying what he perceived as logic.
Yet its not logic, is it? Its not logic to deny your hearts desire to change life when its hurting you. The mortgage, the kids education, the holidays are just stuff. And, like most people find after a heart attack or a divorce or an accident, is that this stuff is not that important. Whats important is something else
Life!
The problem is we got Conditioned Logic logic transferred to us by society: friends, family, schools, college, the media, religion etc. We took it all on and felt we had to behave in a conditioned way. The repetition of that conditioning is fine for a while, but when we end up doing something we dont love, each time we do it takes a little of the soul away. Let me put it another way.
What gives you the power to succeed is what you perceive to be logic. Real power is not necessarily doing what society dictates. Real power is often something else. It is that knowing that comes from nowhere to tell you, you must do something different.
It might seem logical to have the house, the car, the private education, the holiday, but is it powerful. What is powerful is, to say I am not happy and things must change; Im not killing myself for forty-eight weeks just for four weeks of pleasure; Im not excited by my work and Im willing to live in a smaller home if it means I can have more peace, less stress and fall back in love with my partner.
Its not all about the stuff, is it? Its about happiness and love; happiness and love of your partner; happiness and love of your children and family; happiness and love of your work. If you have that then you have it all.
Now thats the power to succeed!
Does your current way of living support that?
Best wishes
Neil
Inspiration and thoughts that are often mind-bending can be found at Neil Millars website http://www.neilmillar.net - you can also sign-up to his Life Purpose newsletter with Unstoppable Life and obtain a copy of one of his books FREE.