Moving through blocks
Blocks. We all experience them. You want something, and something comes up and makes it seem impossible. That something can be real or imagined.
The want comes from deep within you. Desire for something; it’s the knowledge that you came to this reality to Do Something Big. Part of the process is moving beyond whatever is holding you in the space you currently reside.
Maybe you want to be a successful author. You imagine what the critics might say. It stops you.
Maybe you want to be thinner, but you imagine all of the diets that have never worked.
Maybe you want to own your dream home, but you cannot see how that could ever happen to a person like you.
Or maybe you’re really trying to write that book, but it’s not flowing. Or maybe it flows, but you have a friend read your first draft, and you get a disappointing review.
Maybe you’re trying to complete a project, but you can’t find the right subcontractor to help you finish the last bit of work. Or maybe the subcontractor you thought would do a great job messes up the job beyond repair.
Maybe you can’t get funding no matter where you look for the non-profit close to your heart.
Or maybe you just don’t know what is happening or why, but you just feel stuck. And that desire and knowledge of what you came here to do is just not going away.
Worse, maybe there’s actually someone out there who is out to get you and undermine your success any way he can. Someone who might be acting insidiously with the rage of fire and brimstone to ensure you are never able to do be successful with it. It has happened.
Even if you’ve got the cards stacked against you and a small army of detractors against you, it is no match whatsoever against the creative power of your flow. It is no match for the creative energy within you. Your work will stand on its own merit and attract those who want to hear what you have to say.
Of course, you could become embroiled in the discord. You could allow a war of words to become the most important part of your reality. You could allow the war of fear inside of you to become more powerful than your own creative flow.
When you allow the critics — inside and out — to have that much power over you, then you lose your voice. Spirit moves to a more open and pliable channel. And you become the biggest loser.
“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love, and to be greater than our suffering.” —Ben Okri
You may suffer, but you also have the power to be greater than that suffering. Commitment to the idea, the spirit, and the energy that flows through you is the power that is greater than anything that comes your way.
So how do you get beyond it?
There are quite a few tricks I’ve learned. You see, I’ve had a little of all of the above happen to me to some degree or another during my lifetime. Some things have been even worse than the maybe’s above.
If you’re stuck in a place of non-movement, here are some tips to get beyond your blocks.
Get moving. Sometimes when you’re stuck, the best thing to do is get moving. On something, anything. If you can’t move on your project, go for a walk. Don’t bring the iPod, let silence guide you to the still voice within yourself. If you can’t move mentally, sometimes the best thing to do is send a message to your mind that you are ready to move by moving your body.
Change the scenery. You can also get a change of scenery… go to a place different than where you are. Pick a place at random a few hours from where you are. If you have kids, pack them and a lunch and just go. Find a place where you can easily walk or hike in nature. Movement in a place far away from your usual stomping grounds creates a new perspective and movement within your spirit that will break you from a rut or block.
Turn off the internet. The internet browser is a great place to meet people and make connections, but it can also be a giant procrastination time suck and distraction away from the things that block you. Download an alternative browser (firefox, chrome, etc). Use one browser for productive work and research, use another for play. If you have two computers, use one as your work computer and another as your production computer. Set yourself a time and a time limit for play online, but the rest of your day is dedicated to production. Don’t check Facebook every 20 minutes.
Do something around the house. Sweep the floor, organize a file. Sometimes just clearing some clutter is enough to get you moving and feeling productive. That productive feeling then can be transferred towards your creative flow.
Feeling more energized? Feel like you might be able to do something now? Are you still churning on something that’s bothering you? If you’re getting some hardcore emotional things coming up that physical movement isn’t helping to clear, then you may need to turn your attention to your emotions.
If you’re angry, it may have helped to channel that angry energy into physical activity. I’ve found anger and anxiety are especially remedied by organizing and cleaning.
Chunk it down. Once you’re ready to do something, do something small but important. Don’t add to your stress by taking on a massive project and attempting to do it all at once. Break it down into workable steps. Make a list, and prioritize the action items. Do one thing that you know you can do, that you know is important.
Ask for help. Whether you ask your higher self, a guide, a friend, a relative, or a mentor, help is available to you. You are never as alone as you think you are, even in your darkest hour. Be persistent in seeking the help you need.
Above all, be patient. If you were delayed on a trip, and that delay meant you missed an opportunity for an accident, you’d be grateful for the delay… if only you knew. Sometimes a setback is happening for a reason you cannot understand or comprehend. A delay or block might be exactly what you need in order for other events to line up in a more perfect manner.
Persistence pays off. Some people advocate looking for the easiest way to do something. Sometimes the hardest way pays off more. The more blocks you can break through, the more fears you can dissipate, and the more challenges you can meet, the more you will succeed where others have given up.
I was watching my daughter learn how to jump on to our bed last night. It’s too tall for her… but she kept at it. She failed a LOT more times than she succeeded in the beginning. I helped her a few times. And then, something clicked for her and she made it up quite a few times in a row on her own. Her persistence paid off. From her perspective, she had many blocks to achieving this seemingly small feat, including her very valid fear of falling.
While achieving your goals of expressing your highest ideal is a reward, you’ll find a greater reward in confronting and overcoming any block that appears to stand in your way. Whether real or imagined, they’re part of the illusion we’re playing in.
My Subliminal Clearing: Z+ Advanced Ho’oponopono program talks about these illusions. It’s helped many people move past blocks and discover their power from a higher level. I’ll have more information on clearing blocks using the latest state-of-the-art techniques soon.
Mark
Its ironic how I was contemplating something today that applies to what you’ve said. I used to have this friend who reminds me of how most go through life. All or nothing, and like chickens racing around with their heads cut off. No focus or discipline to speak of. It’s understandable considering all the distractions we have in our society.
Going back to my friend as an example. He wined about having to loose weight. Tried everything under the sun just like millions of others who buy into the hype with the quick fix solution’s that never work. I tried setting the example but he was so blinded by the snake oil salesman that he just couldn’t see it.
I’ve been weight training since I was 18, and I’m 54 now. I may get off track but one of the things I never gave much thought to until recently became a part of my life. Even my sensei asked me how I train. At the time I couldn’t answer him, but I can now. Simple put one foot in front of the other. Very basic stuff, over and over again, until I mastered it and then I’d go right back to the basics once more, lol.
I’ve been wanting a career change these past few years. I love art and photography, always have, and I’m applying the same principals and staying focused on the basics, with one step at a time.
Thomas, thanks for sharing your perspective. I’ve found lots of inspiration in physical movement and activity that applies to so many other parts of life. Our bodies and our minds are not that far apart!
The only quick solution is through the mind, when that one decision is made that makes any other choice impossible. That decision point is the fulcrum of power, from which all action happens most easily. My work has been helping people find and leverage that fulcrum. In finding it ourselves, we often have to meander through beliefs and attitudes. Doing so using movement helps create a different vantage point… the same vantage point another person can provide.
The problem, as you encountered with your friend, is that most people aren’t always open to hearing different viewpoints and vantage points from other people. They think they can figure it out themselves.
Once we find that point of power, we still have to do the work. Physical reflection of new beliefs takes time. There is no “easy button,” but unraveling beliefs and attitudes certainly removes many obstacles towards that end.
Thanks again.
Mark
Great read.
Hope all is well.
It makes me think of the hardest Ho’oponopono concept to grasp is taking personal responsibility for everything that happens to you. We have all dealt with, well lack of a better term, assholes who make it hard to think we brought them to ourselves. It’s easy to blame them and stay mad instead of taking responsibility and getting over it.
As men, I think it’s even harder to blame ourselves sometimes when we KNOW its the other guys fault!!