Intentional Choices > Familiar Patterns

I have come to believe that all of us are driven by our inner children.  The inner child is an emotional representation of the habits,  behaviours and response patterns we picked up as children. 

These driving patterns are also termed our egos. Our egos are the lens through which we perceive our world. It's also a means through which we have learned to definitively identify ourselves.

The inner child believes that the right now is finite.  It tries so hard to create meaning or make sense of things that show up in our lives. I realized that when I think deeply and try to control what's happening,  it creates anxiety and lowers my spirit. In my experience, the more I tried to make meaning of something, I got lost in the translation.

In the past week, I have been through some major shifts in my life.  This created anxiety in my body. While I was Journaling my experiences, I realized that I feared a loss of control.  And my anxiety sourced from this fear.

In my mind, I tried to control the things that hadn't happened yet. Including the way I thought I would respond to someone. I was not only trying to predict something that had not happened yet. I also imagine how that would feel. No wonder I felt so stressed and out of control.

We think we need to always have our life experiences figured out and have an answer for everything. What if we can let things be? -not controlling them, or moulding them as per our perception? Would it really be so bad?

This brought me to the point of a Progressive Mindset, and a Restrictive one.

A progressive mindset allows tiny steps forward. This includes a pause before the usual reaction, thinking before responding or taking a minute to think before expressing a conflicting emotion. This mindset commits to growth. To rise up no matter how many times you fall. It feels inspired and especially leads you through difficult circumstances.

A restrictive mindset dismisses. It creates judgment, blames or creates unnecessary competition where it's not needed. It feels threatened by the circumstance and chooses ego over humility. The need to be right over the need to grow beyond what you've known so far.

A progressive mindset teaches us to grow beyond what we know. It takes the path of being led by intentional choices over familiar behaviours. You must be willing to grow through the obstacles - a willingness to go through your hell. This is an act of trust and surrender.