Jump!
I was told a great story a couple of years ago about a group of firefighters on the ground trying to coax a woman above them to jump out the window into their waiting net. As the story goes, the firefighters kept yelling “Jump!” and she replied “I can’t, I’m scared”. And one of the firefighters …yelled back “Then jump scared!”
I love this story because it completely debunks the myth that “we can’t take action if we’re scared”. Was it true that the woman was physically unable to jump? NO. She simply believed that her fear was a valid reason not to. And we all buy into that one sometimes.
This story is coming back to me now sitting in front of the blank spot where my very first blog post is supposed to be. I was SO excited when I signed up for my blog account that I was practically tingling all over! And for days now I’ve kept a running list of all the possible things to write future blog posts about that keep running through my head.
But of course now, when it’s time to actually put fingers to keyboard, nothin’ doin’. My resistance has had some time to think about this and has clearly decided to put the brakes on. So it’s using all the means it can muster to talk me out of it. Like this “blah” feeling and general lack of excitement at the prospect of writing, which of course makes me say “Well I don’t want to write the first post feeling so uninspired!” Or the conjured up reasons like “I don’t have time today”, when I really know I do.
That’s exactly what our resistance is betting on – that we’ll wait until we don’t feel scared or until we’re more inspired and THEN we’ll do something. Because of course it will come out so much better LATER!
What’s the favorite reasoning of your resistance? Where might you be believing it’s story that you can’t “jump scared” or that later will be better?
It’s incredibly ironic to be writing and speaking and coaching on the topics of resistance and self-sabotage and still facing my own resistance every single step of the way.
Fortunately, I’ve had the benefit of lots of astounding teaching and a community in which to practice it. So I know what my resistance is up to and how to deal with it and it doesn’t stand in my way nearly as much as it used to.
And that’s what I hope this blog can be – a place where we can learn and share what works and a community of practice that allows us to open a compassionate dialogue with the voice of our own hearts as well as the voice of our resistance, to experience real transformation as we transform our obstacles into food and fuel for our journey.
I do hope you’ll join in the discussion and share your thoughts and comments and experiences. Our dialogue will be all the richer for it.
Welcome to The Heart’s Voice and thanks for sharing the journey with me!
