# 40 - Will You Shrink Your Life or Grow Your Self?

Episode 40

[00:00:00] : Well, hello again. My listening friend. This is Rick Lewis with Episode 40 over the follow through Formula Podcast. Well, I don't know what's in store today. I sit down, I open up the microphone and kind of wait to see what shows up. I've been doing this for 40 days straight now a daily podcast and speaking to you as authentically and transparently as I'm able about my process and what's involved with showing up consistently for something that matters most. And this conversation about how human beings actually take action on what matters most to them remains something I feel like I could speak about all day long every day. I still don't know why it is so important to me to see other people doing what they are essentially made to do or born to do. And I guess it's arguable. You could say, Well, how do we know that we're born to do something or made to do something? Maybe it was just my upbringing or my training. Or maybe it's my genetics. Maybe it's my psychology. Maybe it's my any a gram type. We could come up with all sorts of reasons to back up or explain why we feel moved or compelled toward a certain activity we'd never get to the bottom of it. There's no way of knowing exactly what drives us to do what we really feel like doing or to contribute in a way that we feel moved to contribute. But what I do know is that so many people are in a kind of tug of war internally, with the desire to move towards something that both excites and scares them. And that fear winds out much of the time. And regardless of what the reasons or motivations are that we might want to try something trying activity or contribute in a certain way or even just be seen in a certain way, be heard or acknowledged for a part of ourselves. We've never shown whatever the motivation is when we allow our fear to stop us from making ourselves visible from allowing ourselves to be seen or from making an attempt or an effort to contribute in the way we're dreaming off. When we allow fear to win out, we get stuck. We're not just stuck in our minds because what we're doing is we're putting the brakes on a literally cellular and chemical process that already wants to occur in our bodies. We want to move. We want to express ourselves. We want to take action. And when we put the brakes on that impulse, we're working at cross purposes internally in our own bodies. And that form of that way of pitting ourselves against ourselves creates illness because it creates a form of tension and stress that were not designed to stew in all the time. Tension and stress are natural, but they're designed to arise. Inform us about the decisions we make. But then that stress is designed to pass because I believe that baked into the mix of how the process is supposed to work for us is we're supposed to take some form of action. So when we have particular thoughts and feelings and creative impulses, the design is that we do something with that, that that energy that arises within us has some channel to flow into. It's got to go somewhere, and if we block it entirely and push it down, which is suppression or repression, it's already been proven that that is not good for us. That causes an internal stress that results in dis ease. There are so many diseases that our associate ID with high levels of stress and that doesn't mean we shouldn't have stress in our lives. We make the mistake of thinking, oh, stresses bad. Therefore, if I feel stressed, I should avoid whatever it is that's creating that feeling of stress in me. But there are two ways to resolve the presence of stress. One is to try and avoid the thoughts, the activities, the impulses, the ideas that make you feel stressed. And the second way to resolve stress and get past it is to actually move toward the thing that you're thinking might or might not work because then you find out. Then you discover what is so And if what you discover is Ah, wow, I thought that I could make a living as a writer, but actually, what I'm getting back is I'm I'm OK, but I'm not great at that. So probably that's not gonna work. Yes, we'll be disappointed. Yes, will feel sad that it's not gonna work to do that thing. I mean, being a writer is probably a bad example because there are so many people that could make a living as a writer. It's the kind of thing you can practice and get really good at if you love it. And that's true of many things. If you stick with it and you're persistent, you improve and you can actually do the thing that you love. Whatever it is you're imagining with desire, that desire is designed to get you to explore that avenue. Its energy that's built in to move you forward because that's exactly how evolution protects its own future is by creating these chemical, neurological physiological impulses inside of human beings, which they are supposed to take action on in some form of exploration. And when you start to explore, you discover things, and even if you don't discover that you can complete the path, you imagine yourself walking down. The process of moving along that avenue opens up other possibilities, and you discover other things. That's the appropriate application of stress. Energy is to enter into a phase of discovery, exploration, experimentation, trying things. And, of course, the risk is whatever it is you try, however, you expose yourself whatever you say you love or I want to do this, it might not work. In fact, it probably won't work the first time or the 10th time, or maybe the 100th time. Some things require a lot of practice and a lot of persistence and repeat application. But if we sit back because we're afraid that we're gonna find out we're not good at something right away or that ultimately it's not gonna work out or because we're afraid someone will criticize our initial attempts at something. If we let these fears stop us from taking action and instead we say, Okay, that doesn't feel good. That feels very stressful and uncomfortable. I'm afraid. I think I'll watch TV. I think I'll get a snack. I think I'll criticize someone else who's trying that thing ahead of me. I think I'll go to sleep and we come up with a alternative to that brave step that in the moment provides us with the illusion that we have taken care of that stress. But my experience is that these impulses, especially if they're creative and they've got a sense of life in them, they don't go away. We may be able to temporarily distract ourselves, but the body is still in motion. It still wants to move toward this essential activity this essential exploration. And you can't erase that. You can ignore it. But your cells are still singing this song the Onley way to fully reduce and channel the energy that is showing up as that initial stress, which tells you okay, you're about to do something that matters. You're about to do something that could be important. When your body is giving you that signal, there has to be some form of follow through some form of actually moving toward that impulse in order for the stress to be integrated, digested and no longer be trying to push us from the inside toward ah, courageous direction. So there's no way out off being human in this respect of being human and having the prompt to fully live to fully be who you are, which is the collection off all of your physicality, your intellectual ability, your creative spirit, your perceptiveness, your wisdom, your joy, your delight. You're playfulness. All those parts of you you can't get rid of. You're born with that. So we have to learn how to cooperate with these energies and explore them and bear and tolerate the sometimes difficult, disappointing results off things, not turning out the way we hoped. But at the same time, even as we're being disappointed or disillusioned as we move toward our best case scenario or in some cases our outright fantasy, we're going to be given back and opening off some kind. We're going to be shown a way to move forward out of our own willingness to engage. There'll be another pathway we didn't see another small, tiny, hidden door that will just become visible now that we've taken, Ah, few steps forward and we're like, Oh, well, that big, shiny, beautiful door I wanted to walk through is locked. But what is this over here? What is this little ragged entryway? What's behind that door that I didn't even see before I took a step? We are obligated to move forward, and if we refuse, it will show up as some form of tension that if we refused to resolve that, tension will build over time in a way that it's not designed to. And it will begin to affect our body, mind and spirit in ways that can be irreparable that are not good for us that do not have a good result. We've all seen the sad faces of individuals who have never escaped this dynamic in their lives and grow into elders who live with the chronic disappointment, bitterness and stress of never having pursued the blueprint that they were given for how toe unfold their own lives. And if we refer two television about how to resolve this circumstance, we're gonna wind up purchasing some form of clothing, perfume, a car, some kind of food, some form of technology or new phone. There's a very limited set of solutions that commercial interests have enough financial backing to throw at us as a repetitive narrative about how we solve this problem. It's a very limited set of suggestions for how we can heal in this way. But every one of those options fall into the category of what we consume, and the act of fully being human is not a process off consumption. It's a process of contribution. It's a generative process, not a consumptive process. We may have to consume things along the way to sustain ourselves so we can generate and contribute what we're meant to contribute. But that's different then, getting the idea planted in our mind that a process of consuming can create meaning, fulfillment and satisfaction for us as a human being. So my question for you is what is your way forward? What's right in front of you when you look desire in the face, when you really look at what your body is, the song your body is singing, what brings it to life what it wants to do, what your heart mind body complex feels lined up to pursue. How will you engage that? How will you find the courage and the bravery to take at least a little step in that direction? That's what every single episode of this podcast is about to support you. To do that, to support you, to start that journey and continue that journey in a consistent way for the rest of your life because you can't escape it. That fact is either going to raise you up and move you toward a life of joy and service. Or it's going to grip you like a vice and crush your energy and your vitality in a way that's going to cause you to start asking What's wrong. Something's the matter. What is wrong with me? Why don't I feel good? Why am I not happy? Why am I not thriving? Which creates a kind of panic and in desperation, we look around for what we congrats on to, and what surrounds us is cultural solutions that Onley lead further away from the source of your healing. One way to reverse this unhelpful narrative that's built into most of our cultural transactions and most of media and much of our interactions with other members of our society. One way to start to reverse this process and begin to examine yourself on the inside for clues and hints as to what direction you ought to move is this guide I created called How to Find Your Hidden Purpose. And you might be saying right now well, here we go, another sales job. He's just trying to sell us something else. There's no question I want to make my living helping people this way. I would love to make my living just having this conversation and guiding other people toward the rial person they are to follow through on the rial you. That's what I want to dio. I would absolutely just be in heavenly joy to make my living doing nothing but this, which is why I'm doing these podcasts. So when I offer this guide that I've created, it's a process that I've actually used experientially to get myself unstuck. So this how to find your hidden purpose guide is a Siris of questions you can ask yourself that will help you determine what initial focus you can have and what small actions you can take that will just get you moving forward. And there's no ultimate answer to what is my purpose, because that changes as we move. As we explore and discover and continue to be curious and try new things, we're going to find new avenues, new doors, new pathways, new relationships that will continually open us up to the next right step for ourselves the next perfect form of service for that moment. But you have to get started. You have to get unstuck, and the hidden purpose guide is for the purpose of helping you get unstuck. I'm including a link in the show notes toe where you can go and download this guide. I want you to get it. If you've listened this far and what I'm saying is resonating for you. You owe it to yourself to just get the guide. It's free. Take it and use it. It will help you solve this human problem, which is either we have to move forward and evolve, or we have to shrink in some way. If we don't move forward, we're voting for our own diminishment. The integrity of our health in all respects will be undermined by not moving forward. Go be You go, Do you? That's what everybody wants. That's what your friends want. Your family wants that your kids want that for you. There's nobody who doesn't want you to just fully be you. They might be jealous on the surface or critical or judgmental, but that's only because they're afraid to be them underneath. We all want each other to win at the game of being human. Be an example. Be a model, be courageous, be bold and go forward. And if you need help or support or a listening ear or someone to just cheer you on, I'm here. Good luck to you today. Good luck to me. Good luck, toe All of us human beings working so hard to just line up with what is simple and right and true. Hugs and best wishes. This is Rick Lewis. Episode 40 of the follow through Formula Podcast Mhm and I'll be back tomorrow.