22 May 2012

Fearful Furniture - Is your fear folding you back from doing something truly amazing?

After living in a house for 4 years, I decided to move my dining room setting out of the middle of a walkway - strange idea, I know - so that I didn't have to pull a ninja move in my sleep deprived stupor every morning on my way to the coffee machine. Problem is, after having it in one place for so long, I still pull the same strange manoeuvre every morning because, in my head, it's still there.

Determined to rid this act from my morning routine, I decided to take action and forcibly remove the setting from my mental image of the room. After about 2 weeks of some very harsh words with myself and retracing my steps, I managed to pull it off. Mental image erased.

What I realised after this exercise is that it's actually not that dissimilar to how the mind responds to fear. If you have it in some place in your mind, it will continue to alter your course of action, causing you to swerve in a different direction than you originally would have taken.

When you are afraid you put in place safe guards, you don't take risks, you withdraw from the situation and perform a mental ninja move instead of taking a straight path.

You may be afraid to make the commitment, change jobs, jump out of a plane (Do it! It's fun.), make a business altering decision or assert yourself to get what you want.

What I wonder is what you're missing out on every time you fail to take the straight path. What does fear prevent you from doing? Is the potential consequence of a misstep as treacherous as you believe it to be?

Here is my challenge for you. Retrace your steps, shift the mental furniture and find out what is causing your mental ninja move.

Is your fear folding you back from doing something truly amazing?