We already talked about our connections to old ideas in Phase One. We talked about our introductions to fear and shame-based thinking. But this isn’t Phase One anymore. This isn’t about thinking or thought based strategies. No,
this is Phase Two. This is about action. This is about the ability to change our direction. This is about movement and the methods it takes to create the change in our world. This is more than about showing up.
No, this is about the heroic action it takes to save your own life on a daily basis. As well, this is about the honesty it takes to do this. I agree – there are times when this sounds or may seem exhausting. It is exhausting. But this doesn’t mean that, in the end, it’s not worth it because it is worth it. You’re worth it. And so am I –
We are worth every step it takes to adapt and overcome. Besides, we already know all there is to know about personal and social intimidations. We know about the bumps and bruises of emotional damage.
We know about humiliation. We know about failure or what it means to come so close, only to recognize that we’re still so far away.
We know all about the ideas that come with imposter syndrome. These are the thoughts which suggest that somehow we’re only a fraud or that sooner or later, someone is going to pull our covers and reveal our secrets. When they do, this will expose how little we know and how truly ineffective we are. We’re afraid to lose our spot or to be seen as worthless and, essentially, this is why we try to cover ourselves because no one wants to be rejected or to lose their place on the team.
No one wants to be the one who was picked last or not at all. No, everybody wants to be valued and included. Trust me. We know all about this.
We know all about the five fingers of rejective thinking which are blame, shame, guilt, fault and regret. We know about the competitiveness of comparisons, especially when if comes to the unfair comparisons and races we have in the mind; whether the comparisons are fair or harsh or if we have ourselves in a constant state of disadvantage; we know all about self-defeat. We know about losing the race before we reach the starting line.
We know all about self-defeat and the limitations of our body and our mind.
If this is so, how do we overcome?
Isn’t that the real question?
The only answer is to move. We have to fight back. We have to resist this thinking and look for an out or an opening which can lead us to a clearing and keep us from those internal dungeons or prisons that we’ve built in our head.
We know all about what it means to beat ourselves up over the choices or the decisions we’ve made. We know all about failure and the intimidations this brings. This is due to an attachment in the mind.
This is all thinking based errors; hence, these can all be resolved by action-based solutions. This can be improved by action-based options and, again, this is where we’re at in Phase Two.
This is all about taking action.
This is about movement, even if we think we can’t move an inch or twitch a finger.
This is about defying the physical parameters of pain or the emotional constraints of doubt and confusion.
We understand all about the propensities of failing or of falling down, which is we keep ourselves from trying or daring, or risking ourselves to improve. But in the face of shame, the only thing to do is move. The only thing we can do is create an outlet that can redeem our failures with a great sense of recovery.
This is what champions do.
By the way, champions lose all the time.
But they can never be defeated.
We have to be willing to move, to go, to be and to do.
We hear this all the time.
“You have to want it.”
“You have to get up.”
“You have to make a choice!”
“You have to stand up in the face of your adversity and dig down deep, so you can overcome it!”
But what do we do when or if it seems like we can’t move?
What do we do when we are convinced that we’ve already lost and that there is no hope?
None, whatsoever.
What if the pain hurts too much?
What if we are so physically tired that it seems as if we just don’t have the fight anymore?
What if it’s so bad that we want to quit or hang up the phone (so-to-speak) or what do we do if we know what we “have” to do, but just in case we are at this spot and feeling so lowly or desperate, tired or otherwise hopeless, what do we do when it seems like we don’t know how to dig deep?
The first question I would ask is where is your willingness?
Where is your desire to overcome?
Are you so beaten?
If so, then what would you like to see happen?
What do you want to take place? If you can answer this, then how would you like this to happen?
What angles can you see?
Look for them because, in the face of despair, this is a victory too.
I don’t know what anyone else’s pain feels like. I don’t know if I have what it takes to overcome anyone else’s dilemmas. Sometimes, I’m not always sure I have what it takes to overcome my own dilemmas. All I have is the ability to move.
All I have is my ability to look for an angle and to look for the sweep so that if my back is against the wall or flat on the ground, all I know is that I have to keep moving until I look for an out.
Otherwise, I will have submitted once more and resigned or surrendered.
But to me, I want more for my life.
It has been said that if you’re not willing to try and fail then you are not willing to try and succeed either. This means we have to overcome the ideas of right and wrong. There’s no more good or bad or levels of success. There’s only movement and the understanding that our movement is in fact an achievement. This is our body’s defense of the mindset that nothing can change or that we cannot make it.
Our movement is our rebellion to our thought patterns that have held us back or defied our best interest. So, go.
Get out there.
And move.
We have to resist the urge to quit and to judge ourselves. We have to remove the banter and the back and forth arguments with wasteful people.
We have to stop holding on to the outcome-based topics because now, we are here to focus on the effort-based decisions which are the movements we make.
We need to be inspired. We need to understand our “Why” because as we learned in Phase One about the reasons why we experience shame, Phase Two is action.
Phase Two is about understanding the reasons why we look to overcome. This is about change. This is about our reasons why we want to transform ourselves and, essentially, this is where we have to compile these ideas as a means of tiny successes and add them up to a tally of achievements.
How can we create our best sense of self-discovery to evolve unless we take the risks and show the willingness to dare or to try?
Even if we are unsure or even if we are frightened to fail and even if we take strides and fall flat on our backs, or if we run as hard and as fast as we can and, essentially, we move nowhere, then so be it because at least we tried.
At least we resisted the temptation to give in. At least we did something even if this wasn’t our best, then fine. We still made a move.
We still tried even if we only tried halfheartedly, then fine. Besides, who knows what’s to come next. Who knows if this can open us up to a moment of awareness and drive us to the desire that pushes us a little harder next time.
I have heard people tell me they can’t beat their thoughts or stop them from happening. They think that when people say to try and clear their mind and if they can’t, I have heard people tell me that they think they’re doing something wrong. But they’re not.
The mind is full and always working. Therefore, in the case of emptying the toxic thoughts, this is only the mind presenting its challenges.
These are the thoughts that we are competing with and this is why we struggle. This is why we come to an opinion of ourselves and persecute us with judgments of pass or fail. Usually; it’s on a failing basis.
But Phase Two isn’t about judgment of good or bad; but instead, this is our status and where we are at the moment.
More than the obstacles is the victory of the fact that we tried and we dared.
This is bravery.
This is where we find our self esteem. This is where we build from the inside out and where we repair the damages to our spirit.
This is where we define our boundaries to protect ourselves and where we draw the line between us and the adversary within.
Once we do this, this is when we find out how strong we are and recognize that we are more capable than we allowed ourselves to believe.
This is when we realize that we are far more capable. Hence, we are able to adapt and overcome because once we recognize our worth, we realize that we have everything we need to create our own success.
This is when we uncover our value like an old treasure of ours that we buried a long time ago. We thought we almost forgot about this.
We buried this away somewhere. Now that we’re here in the sense of rediscovery and we have uncovered our truths, which is our most valuable treasure, we can now find the source that comes to us from within.
Now we can find the drive it takes to create action.
Now we can pull the trigger.
We can switch on the machines in our heads and rev the engines in our mind because, finally, we’re ready to make a move.
The action is to remove judgment based thinking or the harshness of an amplified voice of self-criticism. We are moving now. Slow, at first, and perhaps this might seem meaningless. But it’s not.
As it is with any change or path of realization, changes come with time.
So do the great stories of victory and recovery.
So does the understanding of miracles that have come to us because whether we are at day one or counting the hours its taken for us to become an expert in our craft; the fact that we looked for an option means that we are champions at heart.
The fact that we tried or looked for a moment of success and showed effort, this means that we did not fail.
This means that darkness did not prevail because if it did, we wouldn’t have the wherewithal to think about redemption or recovering our losses.
We would not have the light inside of ourselves to compare the contrast between the darkness. No, if this were the case, we would only be blind.
See?
The fact that we can see this, no matter how dim the times might be, is proof that our spirit is still alive. Else, we would have quit worse than we have. If this was the case, then you and I wouldn’t be speaking the way we are speaking right now.
Find the spark. Let this light the way.
Go. Be. Do.
Aside from, “I love you,”
these are the best three words in the world.
The Written Addiction 