Are We BLOCKING Our Own Success & Fulfillment??
6/10/23
What if we don’t need to have it ALL figured out to become the artist we want to be? In fact, what if there’s more power in letting the process happen rather than us trying to force the future to bend to our will? Sometimes when we’re pressuring ourselves in that way, it ends up feeling like the more we do, the more we give ourselves to do…and the more we end up getting overwhelmed.
Now that the smoke is starting to clear here on the East Coast, I realize that this clarity is something that often comes at the end of a disaster. After each failure, there is a lesson, after each rock bottom comes an upward path. So how do we know if the smoke is clearing within us?
Something that I’ve been practicing now is the power of intention and when that intention is set, our energy can align with it. There’s a multitude of ways to showcase this, but with creating it can be as simple as waking up and having the intention of being open to ideas.
When I opened the computer today, I had no ideas for this blog post. In the past that may have worried me into thinking, what am I going to write about? I’m not even prepared, I’m just going to waste my time. I should’ve had an idea before I sat down to write…and so on and so on. But once I opened that blank document, I merely stepped away, got some water, and believed that an idea would come to me.
I set that intention of being open for something to write about that would bring value to other creatives and let that intention be answered with some time.
I was a habitual white-knuckler in my early days of creating…thinking that purely putting time into something would ALWAYS yield results. And if I managed to keep putting time into things and not give up, those results would ultimately come to accomplishments and fulfillment. These were beliefs that I formed.
Do you have similar ones?
I’m learning now that these rigorous beliefs can be changed, that I am actually in control over what I believe…and that I can make the choice on how to act based on these beliefs. When it comes to creating, I think the most powerful belief to have is the confidence that what’s to come will be perfect…and that we just need to start taking action to allow for that future to come.
10 years ago, I was playing bass in a band [WARPARK] with my high school friends and gigging around New York City. Not even 21 yet, just rolling into clubs and getting my hands marked, all to have a chance to perform on stage and share music with total strangers. I loved being able to play our tunes live, but from that, I learned that I had a deeper desire to start writing my own tunes.
That desire was my first inkling to start my own creative ventures outside of being in a band. That was the birth of being a knucklehead…and just shooting for the stars. I modeled other folks for learning how to play guitar, sing, write, and even with performing. Everyone that I liked, I wanted to do my own thing like they were doing.
That snowball carries me to where I am now. Still trying new things that I see others doing. Thinking, “Hey, I like what they’re doing, I want to do that! How can I do something like that?” or “Maybe I could be good at that!”
Shortly after the KNUCKLËHEAD punk band was formed, albums were going out, and over the years I expanded into podcasting, blogging, streaming…and all that is happening now through this website. But here’s the thing:
I was not actively thinking how I was going to make it, or how I could make a living doing that…it was just monkey see monkey do.
Though things started out as fun and experimental, over time I started developing expectations…or desired results. I committed myself to doing as much as I can with these outlets and hoping for the universe to reward me for my efforts.
But here’s what I learned:
If we put our heads down and just concentrate on “working as hard as possible” in order to feel worthy of an abundant and fulfilling future, we are living for THAT outcome and ignoring ourselves in the present. We can instead visualize what our desired future is to embody that feeling, bring gratitude into our lives now as if it were real, and begin to feel familiar with it. Almost like emotionally preparing for those outcomes by allowing them to come rather than generating resistance by using our incessant desire motivation.
This is another way of monkey see monkey do…but rather than doing EXTERNALLY, it’s INTERNALLY feeling into that state we are working toward.
Once I started doing this, it opened a whole new identity for me, believing in myself as an artist rather than just hoping good things will come. Once that domino falls, it’s onto having confidence and pride that we are aligned with our purpose as well as our passion.
Frequently I meditate on the question, what is the ideal situation?
I visualize my life in a way that breaks through these stress blocks and resistance that has been coming from the ‘work hard’ mentality. Bringing the sensation of peace and gratitude for feeling I am in that situation now. Using that emotion in the present to feel as if those things exist for me right now.
What can you visualize for yourself?
We can use that visualization, that emotion, to help us push our snowball off the mountain. For me, it started with wanting to write songs…and now I am here working on many content outlets and developing my own business.
Is visualizing just another way to live in delusion?
When visualizing turns into delusion, it is usually from a lack of taking action. If we spend our time focused on the imagery and emotions from visualizing our future, but we don’t properly shift into embodying that identity with actions, we can end up just being lost in fantasy. The idea here is to use these thoughts and emotions to inspire proper actions that would come from having this identity in the present.
We don’t need to know every step of the plan to start taking action.
But we do need to be aware of what our beliefs are and if they’re blocking us from being worthy of our fulfillment and success. Instead of the combative motivation coming from stress, we can choose to motivate ourselves with positivity and trust in the future to provide us with what will be absolutely perfect.
Giving up our control for trust comes down to our beliefs. From that, we can start taking action right now, by believing in our identity and pushing that first snowball off to bring that identity into reality. It comes down to set that intention, becoming that new version of us by taking action, and consistently engaging to form those new habits our identity embodies.
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Stay creative! 💜💛
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