Perfection

Power vs Force

Lessons From a Puzzle

It is a tradition on our home to put together a jigsaw puzzle each holiday season.  This year was no different.  I wanted to be sure the puzzle we did this year was extra special, not just something we picked up at Wal Mart.  I went online and found a puzzle by an artist names James Christensen named Share Your Light.  I would love to have an original piece of his work but it is very expensive so I decided to settle for a puzzle that we could glue together and frame.  

 I knew it was going to be difficult and take some time.  It was 1500 pieces and the size of a poster.  Big puzzle.  One of the most difficult things with this puzzle was that it was very easy to get a piece in the wrong place.  It was hard enough to find pieces to fit at all and then very frustrating to find that what you thought was a correct piece was actually not.  After spending four hours on the puzzle I was ready to quit and throw it away.  If I hadn’t been so determined to have it hang in my office I might have done just that.

By the second day I found myself reluctant to put in any pieces because I was afraid I might be wrong.  That slowed the progress on the puzzled even more.  Thank heaven after a couple of days I became more relaxed and figured that even if I put a wrong piece in it was certainly easy enough to change.  Why did it have to be such a big deal?  

I realized this experience with the puzzle is a perfect analogy of what so many of us do in life.  We are so afraid of making mistakes that we don’t do anything.  The fear paralyzes us.  Most of the time those mistakes can be our best teaching moments and propel us further ahead.  In addition, even if you make a mistake, it is usually easier to fix than you think it might be.  Next time you find yourself not doing something out of fear, think about the puzzle and take the chance.  Who knows, you may have the right piece after all.    

Holding Back versus Holding On

You've probably heard many times about how harmful it is to hold on to negative things in your life like anger and resentments.  I heard a statement once that said holding onto anger toward someone is like taking poison and expecting them to get sick.  It just doesn't make sense.  The negative things will just eat you up.  Energy work is a wonderful way to release those things and get moving on with your life.  However, that's not what I really want to talk about today.  I want to talk about the effects of Holding Back.

Honestly, I'd never really thought about holding back until recently.  I was attending a seminar by Kirk Duncan where he told us that in order to really allow all the good stuff in we needed to open up our arms as wide as we could and open up our fingers and spread them wide and feel our hearts open up and accept all the wonderful into our lives. FYI, Kirk can really be over the top and frankly, when he told us to do this I brushed it off as unnecessary.  I'm open enough, I thought.  I don't need to do this silly exercise.  I show my passion in much quieter ways.  I'm fine.

Then, in working with my mentor, she told me that I needed to find some really upbeat songs, turn them up loud and just sing my heart out to them, feeling all the wonderful energy.  Oh, no. I thought.  I don't need to do that.  I'm just more reserved than that.  I show my emotions in a quieter way and that's just fine.  

Well, it was after this appointment with my mentor that I realized I was holding back in life.  There is a natural energetic flow in life and when we hold back with what we are willing to put into that flow, we don't get a lot back.  For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  it's a law!  You don't give much, you don't get much.  No wonder I felt kind of stuck.  Well, that was not acceptable to me.  I cleared that idea right out and it was like I opened the flood gates.  Bright energy rushed into me.  It was the most amazing experience that words really cannot express.  

Now, opening up my arms and singing as loud as I can is not a problem.  It brings me incredible joy--the joy I've been wanting for a long time.  My phone is also ringing a lot more with new clients.  I made more money this month that I have for a long time.  The block I had to allowing all that wonderful stuff in is gone.  It will only continue to get better.  All I can say is DON'T HOLD BACK.  Give life all you've got.  If you also feel a block to letting it out, call me and we'll get that taken care of in a jiff.  Until later, have a wonderful day.