The purpose of life is to grow. – Maharishi
This may seem like an innocuous saying, but boy can it pack a punch. After all how hard can it be? Well let me ask you how many people do you know who stay in terrible relationships or jobs because they are afraid to change. The fact is we will stay stuck in the most horrible of situations because we know exactly what we’re getting. That’s how afraid of the unknown we are, we’d rather be miserable than risk it. What’s even scarier is that we can spend our entire lives staying safe. The problem is everything we do requires a sacrifice in some way or another, refusing to change in order to keep the status quo requires the biggest sacrifice of all, our joy. If we understand this going in we may have the courage to make different decisions.
Yes, it is painful to grow, there is no doubt about that. We have to let go of what we know, and move into uncomfortable situations. This can leave us feeling shipwrecked at times, perhaps we have to spend some time on the desolate island of in-between. But this is only temporary. Remember nothing stays the same, even the pain. So when we are confronted with an impossible task we are really being asked to take another step in the direction of our dreams. Call it lucky if you find it easy to do, mostly it’s scary and we resist. Learning to navigate what’s difficult with greater finesse is the trick to growth.
And we need to grow, it’s much more painful to stay stuck. It’s easy to spot someone who has refused this call because their unhappiness with life circles around them and drives everyone away. They are mad at the world, complain that their life sucks, live with dissatisfaction and encourage others to suck it up and do the same. In trying to avoid the pain that inevitably comes with growth they unwittingly invite it to stay day after day, year after year. Trying to avoid all that we don’t want doesn’t keep painful situations away, the pain comes just the same.
The good news is there comes a day when we just can’t do it anymore and all of a sudden we change. The choice is finally made from the inside. It’s also easy to spot someone who has listened to what they really need, they suddenly leave the situation that’s been oppressing them. To the outsider it may look crazy, someone leaves a high paying job or a long-term relationship, but from the inside it makes perfect sense. The question that needs answering is whether what we are doing feeds our soul. Decisions always get made, we either make our choices or they get made for us. It may be messy and painful either way, but when we own who we are and what we want we are actively creating our authentic life and that makes all the difference.
Facing the impossible means looking honestly at what we really want in our lives and choosing to grow towards it. Will things fall apart from the choices we make and the growth that happens, of course it will. But the truth is if it isn’t right for us it’s going to fall apart one way or the other. Isn’t it better to have our eyes wide open instead of pretending?
kb
