Hello Everyone! Here is to another week of deep inner healing and self-love!
Last week, we saw our authentic selves and got a glimpse of what our lives might look like if we truly followed our passion. How did you feel? Were you excited, elated, and happy? Maybe a little bit scared? You might have also experienced doubts and imposter syndrome creeping up almost immediately.
For those of you who are wondering what imposter syndrome is, they are the thoughts and feelings that make you say "Who am I to do this?" You doubt your expertise and the uniqueness of your experience and that is usually enough for us to not take that giant step forward to making our dream come true. Sounds familiar? Yes, most of us have that.
A while back, I saw a YouTube Video of an avid young gardener showing how he grew an apple tree from the seed of an apple he ate. He proudly showed a large jar of seeds and said how he keeps the seeds from all the fruits he had eaten and later plants them in the backyard. Out of the 40 to 50 apple seeds he had kept, 4 or 5 became a successful seedling. From there, he picked the best one and planted it in his backyard. The tree grew and in two years it started bearing fruits.
This was a random YouTube video I watched out of simple curiosity, but it stuck with me and what he said about the apple tree made me think of how we approach our life. We are so afraid of failure that we often don't even plant 40 to 50 seeds! We try one thing, get frustrated with the first sign of "failure", and stop trying. We then use that as an excuse to stop trying anything new again! What if we can let that go?
So this leads to this week's journal topic:
What if you let go of the fear of failure and just keep planting seeds? What if you gave yourself full permission to "fail" if it happens and become a little more playful about trying new things? What do you think would happen if you gave your life a shot by planting 40 to 50 seeds?
As you answer the prompt in your journal, you might want to think about what it means to you to "fail." How do you define failure? More importantly, where did you get the idea that failure is a bad thing? What was the consequence of failure when you were a child?
Most of us are raised to be afraid of failure because failure means we are punished for not being good enough. But if you look at society and history, those who kept trying new things despite "failures" are the ones who achieved amazing innovations or became inspiring figures. Do you see the irony here? It's like we've been taught not to achieve something great!
Can we give ourselves permission to mess up and be able to smile because you tried something we've been wanting to try? Can we look at our life as a big adventure and try as many new things as we can and have fun with the experiences? I bet if we start looking at our life like an apple tree and planting 40-50 seeds, we won't even worry about imposter syndrome.
We totally owe it to ourselves to live a life fully in each and every moment. Let's not ruin it by worrying about things not going "perfect" all the time because life is always perfect in its messed up, imperfect ways. In its messy imperfection, we learn and grow. So enjoy the zest and spice that the "imperfection" of life gives us. Take it easy, have fun, and keep planting those seeds. One day, one will become a big apple tree.
Happy journaling,
Noriko
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