Hello Everyone! Wow, can you believe it? This is our 10th week! Congratulations on making it this far!
This morning, I was working out using my favorite workout app, and the trainer talked about the importance of showing up, and appreciating being here as an important part of the journey instead of constantly measuring progress and results. I was in the middle of an intense HIIT workout huffing and puffing so it was one of those moments when he said exactly what I needed to hear to keep me going.
This made me pause and think about how we are so obsessed with tracking results and achieving something measurable. We need to know what we achieved, where we rank against others and our past, and how our current standing looks to others. We live in a society where results, achievements, and goal-setting are valued and celebrated, while a lack of outside validations automatically places us as failures.
Sometimes we focus so much on getting "there" quickly that we forget the importance of being on that journey. It's not about the destination. It's not about the speed or efficiency. It is about enjoying the journey, and sometimes being totally ok with just being on that path without making any measurable results that others can see and validate.
So, can we take this moment to create a safe place to provide total, complete validation of where we are? Not because we achieved something but just because we are here now?
And this leads to this week's journal topic:
Describe exactly where you are in your life. Be open and honest in your description, but don't place any judgement. After describing everything, write below some encouraging words celebrating where you are.
For example, you might have started a new business venture but haven't made enough money yet. In your head and from most people's perspective, at least breaking even might be your measurable goal so you may feel shame or embarrassment in the performance of your business venture. Go ahead and list that aspect of your business, including your feelings of shame and embarrassment, but don't judge it as good or bad. Then take a moment to see where you are, think of ways you can celebrate where you are, and leave some encouraging words for yourself. Maybe your sales are increasing and you are on your way to break even. Maybe you are still in the process of developing the business and you are enjoying the creative process of creating a whole new business. Maybe you feel like this venture really resonates with your heart and that alone outweighs the monetary results at this moment. Write them down. Be your own cheerleader.
We are raised to seek outside validations to measure our worthiness. As you continue this spiritual healing path and start carving out your unique path, you will inevitably encounter some who won't understand, accept, or honor where you are. So it becomes even more vitally important that you become your own cheerleader and hold a safe space to be unapologetically authentic. If what you do resonates with your heart, keep going no matter what anyone says or thinks.
As we accept ourselves as who we are, and where we stand today, we let go of the need to succeed or achieve in the eyes of others and stop judging our life as failure. There is no shame in not achieving what you or anyone else thought you should at this moment. We all are taking this journey called life, carving out our unique paths in our own ways. There is nothing to compare with anyone, no way to measure success or failure. Then the only thing left for us to measure our "success" becomes the way we feel about ourselves - are we happy?
Happiness is a choice: we can choose to feel happy at any moment, no matter what is happening to us. This exercise helps us to find joy in where we are and shifts our perspective to be happy. When we finally come to a place where we are happy being where we are, we can finally stop and smell the flowers. Give yourself permission to love where you are and enjoy the moment of now. It's worth it.
Happy journaling,
Noriko
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