Grab Your Chisel and Get to Work

Inside of each of us is an incredible work of art, a beautiful statue waiting to be carved.  Yet, that unrealized potential goes to the grave with millions of people. . . what a shame.

Today’s wake up call for me was the realization of that key difference between those who actually realize their fullest potential and those who take their talents, dreams, and goals with them to the grave. This simple distinction is what separates those who get to live the life they desire and those who drag their feet through life, never getting ahead.

The artist can’t feel entitled to the statue! He has to WANT and DESIRE it. . . envision it, carve it, and bring it to life with the work of his hands.  He must learn the skills required and work until his fingers are raw. The artist “owns” the task of finding the statue within that block of stone.

The potential to create the life of our dreams already exists inside of all of us. It’s already there. . . it just needs to be chiseled out of what we already have. It’s scary to acknowledge this because, if we really, really saw the incredible potential that exists within us, we would feel obligated to “realize” it and DO something with it! Thus, most of us prefer to stay asleep – in denial that there is actually something special about us. We deny the innate gifts and talents we are given to work with. We look around us, at everyone else who is asleep, and use this as evidence that we are all stuck with the same shit-circumstances (job, economy, boss, education, etc).

The impact of this state of oblivion compounded over the years is tremendous.

By denying the talents and power within us, we limit our experience of life to the circumstances around us. We never rise above our circumstances and that work of art, the sculpture, is never realized. We are sad, depressed, unmotivated, and hurt. We feel as if life isn’t fair and we don’t even bother trying. We are irritated by the people around us and we find it impossible to be present and really enjoy life. We are constantly stressed out and have the feeling of “never getting ahead.”

Start with this: Take inventory of the things in your life that you wish were different.  Look at your relationships, finances, and problems.  Make a list of each and every point of frustration in your life and identify each circumstance.  Then, ask yourself what you would do about each of these things “if” you had the power to change them.  You may not feel like these things are within your control, and maybe they aren’t.  That’s not the point.  The point is that you consider “owning” them regardless.

Only once you “own” the stone, can you begin to carve the statue.  Only once you take full ownership of your circumstances, regardless of who’s at fault or what’s the cause, will you be able to shift out of victim-mode, where you constantly feel defeated, and into a place of personal power.

The circumstances we have to work with are a hell of a lot better than the cards dealt to billions of people less fortunate than ourselves. We have the basic necessities of life and luxuries and freedoms of which most can only dream. Yet, we make excuses every day and blame others because we don’t have what we want. Somehow it feels good to blame, to point fingers, and talk about our problems with our friends.

WAKE UP!

The only thing more pathetic than the billions who are forced to lie with their faces in the mud with the foot of oppression on their neck, keeping them in poverty, is the fact that there are billions of people in Western civilized countries who choose to lie with their faces in the mud, regardless of the fact that there is NO foot of oppression. Think about it. Are you accepting your circumstances as your reality? Are you accepting defeat?

The life you desire is waiting for you…  Are you going to start carving, today?

It starts with changing your mind and switching out of victim-mode and into artist-mode. Let go of your entitlements and stop feeling sorry for yourself. Get over it! Make the decision to “own the stone” you were dealt and start carving something you want.

All that separates you from the life you want is the work you need to do with a chisel.  The question you have to answer for yourself is this: “How badly do you want it?”