Moving Forward

What’s Holding You Back?

There are some advantages of restraint and holding back. For example, you don’t want to end up saying something you will later regret, or acting violently out of anger so you pause and reconsider. However, there are times when holding back can create cause for suffering. In these instances you might hold back from telling someone you love them, or from making a decision you know might disappoint someone yet is in your best interest for moving forward in your life.

Suppressing your potential is also a form of holding back that directly effects how you live your life. It takes tremendous energy to suppress, repress, and deflect which can leave you feeling drained. Maybe even exhausted. Another form of being held up or held back is being caught up in the web of life or your own creations.

Sometimes it’s a form of authority that puts you on a tight leash. In other cases, it’s you or your beliefs that keep you stuck. It’s that noose around your neck that hangs you up in life. You may find yourself even holding your breath without realizing it. Give yourself room to breathe!

What is something you’ve been avoiding, turning a blind eye to, or simply ignoring hoping it will go away? This is important because if you don’t see what’s right in front of you, how do you expect to move forward?

Overriding Shame

There is something else too, that is deep seated and affects many of your decisions and ability to properly discern, and that’s shame. Chris Germer, a clinical psychologist and co-creator of the Mindful Self Compassion program explains that, “Shame feels permanent and all-encompassing, but it is transitory, like all emotions, and it is a burden carried by only part of who we are.”

I think he makes a very valid point in that while we can accept this a part of what is available to experience in our unconscious minds, it is not the totality of who we are. I love that he also states the wish to be loved is what drives the train of shame. Going deeper to see what is really beneath the emotion of shame or any other emotion for that matter, gets closer to what are true needs are, and how to fulfill them.

Having an honest look at what emotions are deeply hidden points to your hidden motivations for acting the way you do, or that holds you back from taking any action at all. This is essential because you don’t want to be blind-sighted by your own self-imposed limitations. Shining some light on those hidden elements can illuminate needs for growth and strengthen the ability to move beyond any suffering.

Restoring Energy

Opening up and sharing your truth frees up some of that energy. As you communicate your truth to yourself and others you find new energy and vitality emerging into your life. Direct the renewed energy to what your heart truly desires. This energy can propel you to make bold moves and even a leap forward in the direction of your dreams. Authenticity is your superpower!

Even if you feel uncertain about where you want to go or what your dreams even are anymore, that path becomes much clearer as you start stepping forward onto it.

Moving Forward

Taking action on the obstacles you thought about earlier, will give you back your power and free up your energy to focus on the things that keep you moving forward. Eliminating energy drains is one way to free up your energy and continue along your path. Another way is to acknowledge what fuels you.

All we need is love. L.O.V.E. can be an acronym for “lots of vital energy”. When you open to giving and receiving love, you open to all the blessings that can come into your life. You expand in ways you never thought possible. This can start from within. With self-love. With loving yourself enough to allow good things to come into your life, without attachments to first needing to feel worthy, knowledgeable enough, or deserving of the best life has to offer.

When you observe young children you may notice they always go for what they want. They go for the biggest and best of everything quite often. Where does that motivation come from? I suspect it comes from feeling free. Being unrestrained, and less conditioned to be obliging and meet the needs of expectations of others. Uncondition your mind to restore that place of innocence. Free your spirit to direct the life you were meant to live.

Taking Inspired Action

Align with your creative flow and let it inspire you to act on the stronger pull of what you love. This action is “in spirit” of your core essence and fuels your passion. Passion is the kind of energy you want to cultivate if you want a freer, happier, and more fulfilling life. This is what being “alive” is all about.