Challenges as catalysts? Have your cake and eat it too!!

"A smooth sea never makes a skilled sailor." an African Proverb was quoted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the challenges he faced during the 1930's. He became president in 1933 four years after the infamous financial catastrophe and subsequent financial crisis created by Wall Street taking a swan dive on October 28th 1929. He and his administration orchestrated a set of programs and projects aimed at creating more jobs and solutions to a country full of problems called the New Deal. This was the kind of can do attitude he was famous for even when he was paralyzed from the waist down after contracting polio in 1921.  But here is where I say that every difficulty is relative to each and every person. Many of us will not relate to the same ideas or inspirations that formed the person that was Franklin D. Roosevelt.  And even though it is inspiring to know that these people have been in our past and have done great things we must find our own way through our challenges and find our own New Deal solutions no matter how insignificant our problems may seem. To us they are significant and need our attention and compassion. 

But all too often our process is to look at famous people and their success and either feel inspired to do the exact same thing or defeated by what they have done thinking we can never do what they have done. The path inspiration creates may yield some success with someone else's ideas but at some point we need to make changes and adjustments until it begins to become our own version of that idea. If however we continue to ignore our own impulses and doggedly do the exact same thing we will not succeed simply because we are different from the person we took the idea from in the first place.

This is often the hardest lesson because when we compare ourselves to other successful people and see ourselves as failures if it does not look exactly like the other person's version we can feel defeated  This is where I take to heart the words of Tama Kieves the author of Inspired and Unstoppable a book about creating success in finding solutions for ourselves in the midst of so many experts and professionals telling us how, where and what to do. She says "Ignore the changing reality of statistics and chase awakening joy. Cherish your own signals and trajectory. Why listen to an 'expert' instead of a genius? Oh you want to do it 'right'. Well, I'm shooting higher. I want you to be the cat who swallows the moon." Even in her funny quirky way she is granting us permission to just be ourselves! Simply put so many people do what they are told by an authority or expert even if it feels completely foreign to them. We have become a society that only values other people's advice instead of our own. We ask our parents or our friends or spouses or priests or therapists or the bar tender of our local watering hole. Anyone but our inner selves!  When we do this we might have limited or no success because ultimately it was not based on our own specific needs and it was based on someone else's ideas. 

So what do we do with all the professional, expert and familial advice being given? We listen and then check in with our inner selves, our gut, to see if it 'resonates'.  What exactly does that mean?  For me it is a resounding sense of aha! or sometimes a quiet relief of yes that feels good.  It will be different for you as you are not me. So begin to connect the dots of when you felt and went with your gut and it turned out well for you.  Think back into your past and remember what it felt like to connect with your inner barometer. Sometimes this has not happened since we were little but we remember a specific time when we recognized the feeling of 'rightness' about how we were feeling.  That 'rightness' is our guide and the light shining for us to follow and seek the solutions that we can create!  The more you do this the more you will become familiar with the process and relate more to your inner self rather than the outer so called experts or family know-it-all's.  

This is not to say that we will be successful every time we set out to do something!  It means we will have more success in finding the right stepping stones across the river of challenges. It means that when we listen to the voice or gut feeling and move towards what it is telling us we will find our way and success will find us.  And especially if someone tells you that you will never be successful with how you want to do something I would remind them that the light bulb was invented and we also landed on the moon. And back when these ideas were new they seemed not only silly to most 'experts' at the time but most people laughed and said it could never be done. So what would happen if every person with a unique idea stopped because someone said 'That is a dumb idea, it will never work!'? We would be so much less advanced than we are today, thankfully all those people did not take the advice of a naysayer! 

And for you my dear friend, what challenges you at this moment? And listening to your inner self what do you think you should do?  I find with my clients they always know the solution but often doubt it's veracity. But with encouragement and listening I seem to always help them see that the idea that came to them is probably going to be the best one yet!  And it usually is. If you don't believe me I have a few people who will talk to you about the truth that they found inside just waiting to chat with them and how it helped them find the light and the path that fit them perfectly.  

It really isn't about perfection or success the way anyone else does it, it is about what success looks like to you and how if feels.  If you want to do something quiet, meaningful and one on one vs. having a million followers then do that! If you want to shout it from the roof tops and speak to a room filled with thousands of people, do it!  And if you are not sure how, just close your eyes and wait for your Spirit to show you, tell you, bump you into the right person or send you an unknown caller that just might be the person you need to speak to that has the answer you are seeking. Obviously listening to what worked for other people can be helpful if you listen and see how it feels. If someone's way does not feel right for you listen to someone else and ultimately you will find your way perhaps using pieces of a few peoples ideas.  In very simple words, create your own thing! Not everybody likes to make the exact same chocolate cake just look it up on youtube and you will find a million versions of chocolate cake.  Find you own version of the cake that fits you perfectly. Maybe yours has cayenne in it or coffee? 

Anyway you slice it make sure it is your own version and to your liking!  And just know that I believe in you and see your challenges fading like a great sunset at the end of a beautiful day.  And as always I am here for you no matter what so if you need a leg up on that horse, I am here to stand with you as you launch onto that saddle!

Blessings,
Annapurna Devi
Awakening to Harmony