FROM EXCUSES TO AWARENESS

Breaking old habits requires noticing that you’re creating impediments in your life, and that these impediments have become excuses for so-called limitations. For example, if you’re averse to risk taking and tend to choose the safe or easy path, this has caused you to erect mental barriers. Such barriers are what I’m calling “excuses,” and they give you a way out. So when it’s time to try something new—or to take a step that might result in failing, becoming the butt of criticism, losing a contest or competition, or anything at all that puts you on the path toward becoming a stronger and more self-reliant person—you come up with the same old excuse and avoid the risk. This is all an exercise that starts and ends in your mind: it’s habituated thinking you rationalize by saying that it was inherited, or foisted on you by well-meaning (albeit cautious) parents.

Simply being cognizant of your excuse making will open you up to vast arenas of new possibilities. You can begin this process by paying attention to the false part of yourself that believes in limitations. Simply observe the thoughts in your mind and the feelings in your body and note when they don’t resonate with your authentic self. Yet you don’t have to change or fix those thoughts and feelings. By becoming aware of your true being, you only need to pay uncritical attention to the ego self, and it will recede gradually and naturally in the light of your awareness. Remember, you’re not just the temporary shell that you call your “body”— you’re a Divine essence who is limitless, formless, and infinite.

When you notice your ego’s chatter, you discover the ability to overcome long-established habits, and you
begin to see all that you’ve been blinded to by excuse making. Awareness leads to your highest self; ego leads to your earthbound self. When you let the Divine grow within you, awareness will be what you bring to all aspects of your life.