3 Keys to Embracing Where You Are Along the Way to Your Breathtaking Future
Through all of your past hurts, challenges, and difficulties, you have arrived here — in this golden moment of now.
You are alive, you are aware. You have the gift of your eyesight and the mental capacity to read these words.
Whatever is happening in your life right now, whether within your psyche or amidst the crevices of daily routines, consider that it is exactly where you were meant to be.
Your present situation is the platform from which you can leap to your grandest vision of your life.
Here are 3 key reasons why embracing your beautiful self and making peace with what is will help you navigate to your bright future even faster:
1) ACCEPTANCE IS THE GATEWAY TO CHANGE
Acceptance is the gateway to change. When you embrace what is, who you are, and where you are — without judgement — you start breaking the very chains that are keeping you stuck.
Resistance to what is is the ultimate cause of disappointment. Your reality, at this present moment, is what it is. Judging or condemning what is does nothing to change it. Every time you lament that you should be somewhere else, you are using precious mental resources that could’ve been spent on taking steps towards a brighter vision. You can’t simultaneously use your mental energy on blame, shame, or guilt AND on changing the situation at the same time.
If you are driving a car in first gear but want to shift to fifth gear, it does you no good to be mad about being in first gear. You accept the fact that every gear has a purpose. You know there is a method of shifting from one gear to the next. You use that knowledge and instinctively start shifting gears to get you to your desired destination.
When you accept yourself as you are, you start keeping your promises to yourself. Not out of a sense of obligation, but out of a sense of love. When your heart opens wide enough to accept the possibility of feeling pain, you realize you have nothing to lose. If you weren’t strong enough to move past difficulties before, would you still be here now? Your present existence is the very evidence of your courage, resilience and resolve. Whatever “IT” is, you’ve got this!
“Instead of lamenting your fate, create your world.” — Hazrat Inayat Khan.
2) YOUR FUTURE IS BEYOND THE LIMITS OF YOUR THOUGHTS
We often spend our mental focus on worrying about might happen. This lack of trust in the process of life is a form of resistance to the natural flow of things. As long as we are all human beings, it is natural to feel the desire to ensure that our future is trouble-free and peaceful. We are, after all, biologically wired in a way that ensures our survival.
Your brain is always on alert for potential threats. To identify the “threats,” your brain can only use data from your past (experiences or knowledge). There is a neurological link between every painful emotion and its correlating experience.
Emotionally potent memories leave a stronger imprint in your brain. Your brain creates shortcuts to these emotions so it’s easier to access them when similar situations arise.
Even if you are safe in the present moment, your thoughts about the potential danger of not being safe in the future trigger the chemical reactions you feel as fear or stress.
Naturally, you felt fear the last time you found yourself without all the resources you thought you needed. (But remember, you made it through!) The problem is that you may have gotten so used to this feeling that you are literally looking right past the resources that you currently DO have.
Embracing where you are helps your brain move past the loop of past fears and worries. You now start becoming more aware of the opportunities and possibilities that you didn’t notice before.
These are where your future lies. While your brain can draw on past experiences to imagine worst-case scenarios, it has no way of seeing the unlimited potential of your future. There is literally no data that it can draw on because you have not yet physically experienced the deliciousness of all the dreams that you are bringing to life.
Your future is beyond the limits of your conditioning and your present paradigm.
The moment you detach yourself from your past pain and own the present moment, you open yourself up to the freshness of what lies ahead. You move from a place of fear and blame to a place of empowerment and self-responsibility.
“Trust the wait. Embrace the uncertainty. Enjoy the beauty of becoming. When nothing is certain, anything is possible.” — Mandy Hale
3) OTHER PIECES OF THE PUZZLE ARE FALLING INTO PLACE
You are the center of your own universe. Your feelings about reality arise from your perception of it. You are not an independent unit, however. We are all part of an interdependent web of life — as humanity and as a part of nature. As a result, you will never be able to fully control the outer circumstances of your life.
Wherever you find yourself right now is the perfect place for you to be. While you are carrying on doing what needs to be done at this moment, other pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. Connections are being made, new people are coming into your life, ideas are forming in your brain — all of this must happen on its own pace behind the scenes.
When each component has become ripe and you are in the right mental space to be able to use it most efficiently, it will naturally come into your life.
This moment offers you opportunities to master the lessons you’ve been wanting to master — whether that is patience, kindness, faith, or any other positive traits you want to strengthen. The faster you master the lessons, the faster the right pieces of the puzzle can be drawn to you.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” - Steve Jobs
Take a moment now to reflect on what it feels like to be right where you are. Beautifully human, beautifully growing, beautifully alive.
Perhaps we’ve only made ourselves forget our own potential so that we can stare at ourselves in utter amazement once we again realize it.
You are magnificent — just as you are. So be it.