What's Blocking You?

Stepping Into The Unknown

Sometimes you feel stuck. Sometimes it’s hard to move forward, especially when you don’t even know which way forward is. 

As you go about our life, you hit up against these walls of resistance. If you aren’t paying attention, you will probably back away from the edge unconsciously and continue within the boundaries that are comfortable. It’s been referred to as your comfort zone, and I call it your familiar zone. 

I recently received a note from my good friend John Morton that said: “you have enough material for your book.” His message was to the point, and it was also true. This last year of newsletters alone is enough for a book, and if you add in podcast transcripts, and other manuscripts that are in various stages of being written, I have a lot more than enough!

If I didn’t hit up against some invisible wall, I’d already have put out a book. I have at least four books at different stages of incomplete.  

When John wrote that to me, and I looked at my material and realized I had more than enough, I decided to look at what it is that has blocked me from moving forward. 

So I listened to my inner dialogue to reveal my reasons for getting stuck.

Here’s a sampling: 

“I need help.” 

“I have lots of material, but I don’t know how to organize it in a way that would make for a good book.” 

“I need someone to compile it together for me.”

“I don’t know how to do this.”

Et cetera.

Ad infinitum. 

Ad nauseum. 

Maybe that dialogue sounds familiar to you? Perhaps there’s a project that you could do but you have a list of reasons why you can’t move forward?

The reasons that stop us will always be believable. They are good reasons. We are masters at reasoning our aspirations away. So I needed to look deeper. How could I do it this time without those reasons getting in my way? My willpower alone hasn’t worked, so what do I do to overcome this area where I’m stuck?

I’ve been writing a workshop that I’ll be presenting here in Puerto Rico close to Thanksgiving, as an invitation-only event. The workshop just so happens to be directly related to moving beyond the obstacles where we are feeling stuck, into an experience of more flow and grace. Perfect for me to take! Lol.

As I was working on the script, I decided to use this area of being stuck to test one of the processes I created. 

Wow. It’s a really good process. It worked for me.

I thought this was just about my above inner dialogue. As I went through this process, I realized my resistance had many layers, some of which needed to be healed, involving a trait of perfectionism I have used since childhood as a coping mechanism to control my world so I can feel safe. I did the full process, and it was amazing to me how deep this went, and how much I could let go, and the awareness of what was needed to move forward.

The positive focus for me was “trust”.

When you are taking a step into the unknown, you don’t know the outcome. It is a risk. Taking risks requires trust and faith.

I’ve recently taken a number of risks, and almost all of them didn’t work out how I wanted. That is the whole idea of “risk.” It means that it might not work out how you want it to. You have to embrace the possibility of failure in order to fully commit and take that step into the unknown. That is a bigger trust. 

It is a trust that, regardless of the outcome, in the bigger sense you will be okay. Even if you aren’t okay, you will still be okay. I know that sounds like double talk, but perhaps you’ve had that experience and know what I’m saying. 

There is a part of you that is okay no matter what has happened or what will happen. There is something greater than the body, mind, emotions, and personality. In essence, you are trusting that you are that greater one, that you are the Soul. It becomes a process of faith, and faith is just trust put into action.

Practically, you’ve got to work your personality levels. You’ve got to deal with the ego, and the hurts, judgements, and limitations that are blocking you from greater expansion in your life. You have to forgive, let go, expand, and heal. Those blocks are really just your opportunities to experience and learn your life’s lesson, and once you realize that, they become your stepping stones to a fuller expression of the greatness inside you.

So, my trust is taking the next step with getting a book out there. And now that I’ve written this, I’ve got to get off my ‘buts’, sit on my actual butt, stop being a lazy boots, and keep taking the next steps until I have completion.

Nat teaching a course in Sydney, Australia