Have you ever wanting to change something about yourself that you didn’t like, but keep on failing? This has to do with what I call comfort zones, or personal barriers.
Comfort zones can be extremely powerful and cause resistance to positive and constructive growth.
As a child we create an internal map of reality, and we do so in a way that we feel the greatest amount of safety (comfort) in our family situation.
In your map you might, for instance, suppress certain feelings because it wasn’t safe to express while you were a child. As an adult though, you might find this doesn’t serve you as well and your situation is different.
The inability to express certain feelings or emotions might keep you from getting the job you want, or a good relationship etc, which ultimately keeps you from feeling fulfilled.
So to deal with the problem, you begin doing some kind of personal growth work like learning Kung Fu or Tai Chi(both very good things to do),which begin to break up the old maps of reality to be replaced with more functional maps.
Training in Kung Fu or Tai Chi or any martial art for that fact, is one way to break through personal barriers as it brings awareness, as a result you start to realize that certain things don’t work as well as they did. Here’s where the fun starts.
When we seek change and personal growth, that part of us(usually unconscious) that holds the old map of reality, resists, even though we consciously want change.
When self awareness starts to expand, making excuses like, I’m too busy, I’m too tired etc., are signs that there is resistance to changes you are making. Consciously, your are saying “Yes I want this change”, but part of you, on the unconscious level says “What? Are you kidding? Change that? No way, this is what has kept me safe all these years” So you hang on, you resist – at least on the unconscious level (and sometimes consciously, too).
It is critical to know these vulnerable moments and have a plan to overcome them. Persisting through down periods, pushing through resistance, you experience breakthroughs which manifest positively in many many levels of life.
The times when you least feel like doing your Kung Fu or Tai Chi training will give you the greatest rewards. Stick with it, the returns you experience are profound!
Remember, success is not a straight line upwards, change occurs in stages of setbacks and improvements, be prepared to overcome them. How? One powerful way is to have a clear focus, write down what you want to experience and read it everyday.
Breakthrough Your Barriers
