Emerson said: "We change whether we like it or not."

If you are a truly focused individual and go for your dreams with absolute conviction, you may run into a couple of challenging areas (these are challenges that I've personally experienced). The first challenge is not allowing yourself to feel the feeling of certain disempowering emotions and negative feelings. And, two, not taking the time to reevaluate the direction you are going if you feel you are at a crossroads.

Here are two important goal achieving messages:

#1. It is okay to feel so-called negative emotions.
And
#2. If you don't know where you want to go, that's okay.

Let's delve deeper into these messages.

If you are anything like me, you may attempt to "dismiss" negative emotions with the belief that they will rob you of your energy or hold you back from getting to where you desire to be. In reality by not allowing yourself to experience these feelings; whether they be feelings of pressure, anxiety, stress or fear; you are not getting in touch with the deeper meaning nor are you getting in touch with the cause. Perhaps there is a "message" in these feelings. What if the feeling of anxiety is coming from a place of "dis-connect"?

What if what you're doing is not what you truly long to be doing? Maybe you're on a path that isn't the most beneficial.

In Neale Donald Walsh's great book Friendship With God, Neale talks about resisting emotions and he sums it up nicely with the phrase: "what you resist persists". And, follows through with "what you look at disappears". I suspect he is referring to precisely what I'm talking about in this article - getting in touch with ALL of your feelings (empowering AND the disempowering)and not ignoring them or trying to sweep them under the table.

Many years ago I heard the analogy of taking your negative emotions and when you don't deal with these emotions it is equivalent to throwing them in a garbage can and leaving them there. Well, let's say we put garbage in a can and leave it there for a long time.

What if we left that garbage for several years? What happens on the day we remove the lid? Whew! That is one unpleasant experience.

My advice is to be with your feelings - all of them! And, while you are "with" those feelings evaluate where that feeling is coming from. If the feeling is fear, what is behind that fear? Maybe the feeling could be converted to "caution" and it is a message to simply "be careful". Or, maybe you need to step forward and stretch yourself (remember that is where you experience the most amount of growth). Or, maybe you need to just experience the feeling and move through it.

What about not knowing where you want to go with your life?

When you are in a state of not-knowing what to do next or where to go, let that feeling be fully experienced. Stay with it as long as you need to in order to determine your next step. There is an age old saying that says: "If you don't know where you are going any road will take you there."

At the time of writing this newsletter I am reading Robin Sharma's new (and wonderful) book: The Saint The Surfer and The CEO and here is an excerpt from his book that fits perfectly with the message of this article:

"I know you're at a crossroads in your life right now. While this might seem like a
difficult time, as you seek the answers to your largest questions, know that it's also a wonderful time. Human beings are most alive when living in the unknown, for it's in this place where anything and everything is possible. You're opening up to the world, and so the world will now begin to open up for you." Excerpt from The Saint The Surfer and the CEO by Robin Sharma

Read the wisdom in the previous paragraph. When I read that it struck me with it's profoundness. To think that "human beings are most alive when living in the unknown"?

It makes perfect sense. Please don't misunderstand me, if you do know where you are, where you are going, there is perfection in that too, but if you don't, recognize that you are most alive, so BE alive. Robin also suggests to "seek for the answers to your largest questions". In Robin's book he speaks of three large questions (and you'll have to get the book to find out what they are (smile)), but what if that question is to determine where you want to go next? Know the world is your oyster, and as Robin stated in his new book "anything and everything is possible.... You're opening up to the world, and so the world will now begin to open up for you."