Sometimes the best advice you give to someone else is the best advice you can give yourself… if you will listen.
Recently, my son started a new job and it’s coming with its own set of challenges. He wanted new challenges and yet we never know what that means until we are in the situation dealing with them.
As I listened to him, I thought about what might be holding him back. He said he and others on his new team would be asked to do a presention in front of at least sixty people. This worried him because he said he doesn’t feel comfortable presenting in front of that many people.
I started thinking about devices you can use to get beyond that – there must be a ton of books written on this subject. But as I listened more closely it was something deeper. I’m thinking it’s our own fear and anxiety that holds us back. It could be more about overcoming the idea that we may not be the expert in our field. There’s always someone who knows more. But is that a legitimate idea or feeling?
We all have something unique to add to the story – from our own experience – that’s well worth listening to. Being relaxed in front of an audience, whether they are strangers or people we know, is more about having faith in what you are bringing to the group. It’s unique from our own perspective. Why not be relaxed? No one else can provide your personal point of view. You ARE the expert in that.
To apply this to my own life is another story, because I have less faith in myself than in my son to get the job done! The other day I was reading a book that a friend gave me when my daughter died, titled ‘Waking up to this Day.’ There was so much to take from the author’s anecdotes and her difficult life experences. Then, two words came into my mind: dream big.
Why not dream big and see what happens? Not to be tethered to the physical realm like a kite on a string, but to be able to see all the possibilities. Why not dream of a trip to Italy or France? Why not dream of seeing the Dolomite mountains? Why not dream of having everything I could want as long as it’s not out of greed but out of love.
Love continues to be the answer. Go back to all the wisest people and read what they say…. Buddha, Jesus, Rumi, and on and on. It all comes back to love.
I saw a psychic and she was able to read me like a book! She said I tend to think from my heart, as much as I want to be logical it generally comes from my heart. She pulled Tarot cards that I gave her numbers for and she read into them about me. Her advice was to cellebrate life, to enjoy life. This is where I have to repeat the words ‘Dream Big’ to myself on a regular basis and to remember that anything can be possible. Why not be open to all the possibilities?
Waking up to this Day by Paula D’Arcy