190. Ability vs Worth

I want to take a moment to open up on an idea.  The idea of your ability and your worth.  When you say "I can do this...I can do that...I am able to complete this or that" without actually doing it...you're talking in fantasy.  Listing off a variable of qualities is different than owning what you are actually worth. 

Worth comes down to knowing what you bring to the table, knowing your gifts and knowing what you have.  It's a person that doesn't have to list off and convince you of who they are, because they already know who they are.  It's the person that doesn't have to sing their own praises because they're too busy singing to someone elses, it's the person that doesn't hide behind the "what if" and "maybe" of things. 

I believe ability has it's place.  It allows us to acknowledge and aim...allows us to consider and be open.  Worth is solid...it's a knowing and active using of your gifts and worth.  Don't think about jumping....just jump.

189. Time to look stupid

The most powerful tool we posses as humans is our capacity to love.  Period.  I don’t care how much money you make or how brilliant you are.  If you don’t love big, you are small.  Think about the people that affected you the most in your life.  Your family, parents, siblings, teachers, coaches, mentors, friends?  Their love for you is what grabbed your spine.  You’ve changed because of their love.  It’s what made you want to be better.  We die for love.  It’s been this way since the beginning of time, before social pressure and fear of looking stupid.
  
We know this kind of love is valuable because when we lose it, nothing matters.  Nothing.  Your problems, accomplishments, dreams, are meaningless.  You lack focus and those things become a tiny blur.  If you’re recently mourning a death or an expired relationship, you know what I’m talking about.  Love is lost and it’s crushing.  Without love, we are puppets.  But here’s the thing.  We have the ability to love over and over again, deeper and deeper.  I believe we under use this ability.  You know how people say we only use like 10 percent of our brain?  I believe it’s the same with our hearts.  Fear prevents us from loving fully.   Many have been burned so bad, they turn that faucet off.  I understand that.  But then you’re not living your full potential.  You are in fight or flight mode, protecting yourself instead of living your truth.  You are hiding.  Not living.  To live means to love.  That’s what living means, uniquely exercising the greatest power we have.  Maybe you’re not happy because you are not choosing to exercise that muscle.

You can’t love fully without being transparent and vulnerable.  Although we all have the ability to love, NO ONE on this planet can love the way you love.  Our love is unique, each person loves differently and that’s what makes us beautiful.  So if you’re going to love, fucking love.  Love with everything you’ve got.  Love fearlessly.  Yes, you may get hurt.  Chances are, you will.  But if you don’t fully commit, you will never know your potential and the affect you can have on another.  Many don’t love because they are angry. They have resentment.  They hold grudges.  Then it’s time to forgive.  Because the act of forgiving is actually loving.
  
I try to practice love in every aspect of my life, with my clients, friends, family, the barista at Starbucks, and it’s difficult.  Fear creeps up.  I feel stupid.  But I will not allow something stupid as me feeling stupid to prevent the greatest power I posses.  You’re on this planet once.    What’s stupid is you allowing your insecurities / ego block your greatest gift.
  
Love until you feel stupid.

Then push past that.

And love until you feel powerful.

Because if you do, you will.

And it will change everything.

188. Holding you back

I came upon this and it made me stop.  Many times we are faced with something that causes a great amount of anxiety and stress.  It can be something as strong as a broken relationship to something like stepping in gum or an upcoming test in school.  Anxiety forces us to stop.  It forces us to feel like running and hiding...an avoiding of "IT" ...we become afraid of "IT".

This is normal though.  we are wired to want to run away from anxiety and run away from things that create fear. The problem with stress is that we then grow to fear it.  Instead of facing our anxiety and stress...we become afraid of it...so afraid of it that we instead compromise our truth, ourselves and our souls in order to avoid it.  We let fear scare us.  We do not change, we do not move, we do not grow.  Fear stunts you.  We do whatever it takes to avoid it even if it means lying to ourselves or others.  

I believe therefore, like Stephen King, that honesty and belief in self is then the opposite of fear.  To then face fear, I believe you must be willing to change.  You must be willing to face that which scares you...that which evokes fear....you cannot stop fear...but you can use it to help you grow.