20 Ways to Stay Safe in Life
And never grow into your full potential
“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
— E.E CUMMINGS
Have you ever launched yourself into the unknown, driven by an undeniable passion and belief in something, so significant that the fear of doing it pales in comparison with the potential regret of never trying?
You’re now thinking, “I thought this post was going to be about staying safe?”
Well, yes….and no…
Unless you’ve undertaken a daring endeavor you won’t have experienced the reaction from those around you, who with the best of intentions, are concerned about your safety and security.
Maybe the following will sound familiar…
Each time I’ve stepped up to something that I actually thought I couldn’t do, but still I couldn’t not try, I’ve been met with some support, but mostly fear…
…not mine, someone else’s shining a bright light on my own suppressed fears.
It’s what I call the “Be very afraid,” messages that hide behind good intentions and expressions of care.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
In any daring endeavor that I’ve taken in my life I’ve had well meaning people share not my excitement but their fear about the perceived risk I’m taking.
I clearly remember when I started my meeting planning business so many years ago, my mentor saying, “Are you sure you want to do this? You’ll be all by yourself. What if you fail?”
I was so surprised by his question that my reply came from a much deeper place than it would’ve had I thought about the answer.
“It never occurred to me that I would fail.” And it hadn’t.
I JUST KNEW IN EVERY CELL OF MY BODY THAT THIS WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
Since then I’ve experienced this over and over: people projecting their fears on me when they perceive that I’m doing something “risky”.
As any entrepreneur knows, we more often hear how our ideas are risky or how no one would support IT because it’s so crazy, or my favorite one, “It’s never been done before.”
I still hear my elementary school art teacher telling me to be neat and color inside the lines.
I hear my third grade teacher proclaiming me a bad writer.
I hear my old boss trying to convince me that mediocre was good enough.
I hear my mentor asking about failure.
(Yes, all of these happened.)
And the same response arises time and time again. “It never occurred to me that I would fail.”
It’s not because I’m SO smart that I would never fail.
Believe me, I’ve been humbled by failure many times.
It’s that failure is not the premise on which I manifest my ideas and dreams, or make my choices, or begin a new path.
My premise has always been growth; it isn’t even success.
EVERYTHING THAT TRULY INSPIRES YOU IS AN INVITATION TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOURSELF AND TO KEEP EVOLVING TO HIGHER STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND AWARENESS.
Every step you take can be in rhythm with the movement of your soul.
There is a compass inside you that points to your true north. I promise you it is there.
You don’t see it, or if you do, you don’t heed its direction.
The external world wants you to “stay in line,” to “be part of the in crowd,” “not to rock the boat,” or “don’t stand out,” or my favorite, “and who do you think you are to…”
There are so many demands on you to remain small and invisible. When you step into unknown territory, with the excitement of an explorer seeking gold, it shows others what they too might be capable of.
For many people it’s frightening to see someone else’s potential reflecting back their own unfulfilled potential. And so they unconsciously offer to the rebels, the mavericks, the innovators, their criticism, caution and fear instead of support and honest feedback.
“Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights. But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart’s knowledge. You would know in words that which you have always known in thought. You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams. ~ ”
— KAHLIL GIBRAN, ON SELF KNOWLEDGE, THE PROPHET
It all boils down to two things.
You have to know who you are and why you make any choice in your life.
The only ground you will find in a groundless world is the one that is always available inside yourself.
That is where you’ll find your compass.
You have to become conscious and self-aware to the point that you recognize “the sound of your heart’s knowledge.”
That voice has to break through all the noise, the images, and the stories that a collective society imposes upon you.
I can’t tell you how to be you. Only you know that.
I can, however, share what keeps you from being the fullest expression of your creative (and spiritual) potential.
Here are my…
20 WAYS TO STAY SAFE IN LIFE — AND NEVER GROW INTO YOUR FULL POTENTIAL
1 Listen and do what others tell you to do — always
2 Trust others rather than trusting yourself
3 Take your values from the outside rather than accepting and embracing what really matters to you regardless of others’ opinions
4 Never question your assumptions or beliefs
5 Play it safe always and never risk
6 Don’t listen to the music in your heart
7 Don’t dance to the rhythm of your soul
8 Live only in your mind and avoid visiting your body, heart or spirit
9 Don’t explore new experiences or unknown territory
10 Believe that there is only one reality or truth — and it’s out there
11 Never be curious about anyone or anything that you don’t already understand
12 Strive to fit in
13 Seek validation and self-worth from outside yourself
14 Accept compromise as a way of life
15 Believe only what you can touch, see and hear
16 Don’t ever try to learn something new if it causes any fear or anxiety
17 Believe that you don’t deserve the maximum goodness, wellbeing, peace and joy that you can attain
18 Consider desire, of any kind, a sin
19 Do what you’re told to do even if it’s crushing you because someone else knows best
20 Trade your personal power for love, acceptance and belonging
DO THESE 20 THINGS AND YOU WILL ALWAYS STAY SAFE.
But you will never grow into the human and spiritual being that you were meant to become.
If life is inviting you to greater things…that make your energy rise and heart beat faster…
SAY YES!
Dare to offer yourself to life, unabashedly and joyfully.
You’ll have few regrets and some pretty good stories to tell.
