Those who lie to you want you to work for them. Do you want to work for them or for you? We’re all good judges of character. But so many of us are caught up in the chaos of our own lives and allow our insecurities to convince us that some decisions are better left to others. But any decision that impacts your life or your community is always best left to yourself.
The path to awareness takes courage. Systems of deception have been perfected over years, decades and centuries. You won’t be the first who thought to leave them behind and be your own authority. And if you turn back, you won’t be the last either. There’s danger, fear, risk – you will make mistakes, you may even be ostracized to some degree. You will gain the admiration of some and the jealousy of others, for striking out off the path of obedience and ignorance and toward the path of awareness and authenticity. And there’s a new community waiting for you there.
You’ll no longer need to please anyone else to be worth something or to have done a good job. In fact, trying to please anyone else instead of yourself is the ONLY way you can fail.
Hate, anger, fear, guilt, self-doubt, deception: these emotions will trick you. They’ll try to convince you that to succeed on your own terms is really to fail and that to fail yourself is to succeed. Fostering regular awareness of your emotions and motivations will help you recognize these evils until it becomes as natural as breathing. Who’s calling the shots? Is it your ambitions and confidence, or your fear and insecurities? This, by the way, is not about throwing caution to the wind. It’s about employing caution from a position of strength (and not, from a position of weakness, grasping at perceived bones that someone else has thrown you).
Once you plant the seed of awareness and tend to it daily, it will grow and spread like a weed. But this weed is special and will fertilize your garden and empower you to grow anything you want. With awareness, you’ll know exactly what you want and not be confused by what you’re “supposed” to want. You’ll start to see that words like “supposed to” and “should” are words of oppression. When you trade a piece of your heart for what someone else says is right is when you lose power and the ability to be happy and fulfilled.