When people have been stuck on an issue for some time they can come to an obvious conclusion – that they’ve tried everything. No doubt they’ve tried a lot, but there can be a fine line between resting on a sob story and being diligently open to answers. I’ve come across a lot of people who have struggled with health for many years and are now closed off to anything new, because they’ve ‘tried everything.’ Sometimes, those things they’ve ‘tried’ they didn’t do right. Perhaps their unconscious hampered them, because it loves the hard luck story. Sure we can be dismayed if we put forth an honest effort or intention and we come up with nothing, but it’s important to remain true to our dream or goal.
- People run stories in their minds. Some stories are about hard luck.
- Part of the human condition is to pass blame. If we had nothing standing in our way, we’d have to take full responsibility for ourselves.
- There is an old saying (well, it’s from Star Wars): “Do or do not, there is no try.”
- Sometimes we don’t actually want to heal or succeed, we want it to look like we did everything possible, but fell short.
- No one ever solved a problem by focusing on the problem. They focused on the solution. Without a guiding star, an overarching dream that compels us, we will never move forward. If we spend our time focusing on and obsessing over our problems, ‘trying everything,’ we will continue to ‘try everything.’
The following premise applies to everything in life:
Be dedicated to the process, but unattached to the outcome.
How do we achieve this?
- Acknowledge where we are.
- Observe it, with no emotional attachment.
- Determine our overarching dream.
- Figure out what’s wrong.
- Make a plan of action.
- Forget about what’s wrong.
- Dedicate to the process, forget about the outcome.
- Work diligently and joyfully toward the dream, with the intention of serving a higher purpose, not ourselves.
The old expression ‘journey over destination,’ rings especially true. The point of life isn’t to ‘have’ everything we ‘want,’ but what we learn, and how we grow. If we lie to ourselves (‘try everything’) we will be fraught with frustration, anger, sadness, despair. If we are honest in our thoughts, motives and actions, we will always be fulfilled, no matter the circumstances. We usually end up with what we wanted anyway, because we gave up wanting.
When we want something, we can affirm our lack of it, and push it away from us.
People make ‘getting better’ (from a health condition), losing weight, making more money or finding a partner their raison d’etre. They focus only on having what they want, with no reason to have it. Want more money? Great! Why? What are you going to put into the world, in order to have that in return? What are you going to do with that once you have it? If you don’t know, you probably won’t have it. You’ll ‘try everything’ in order to get there, but never get there. Want to lose weight, cure a parasite or yeast infection or recover from chronic fatigue? Great! Why? What are you going to do with that health once you have it? If you don’t know, you won’t have it. What are you going to put into the world in order to receive it? Nothing? You don’t have the energy to output? The world owes you something? Well then, enjoy ‘trying everything.’
Something I learned from Paul Chek is the importance of establishing a dream. If you don’t know what your dream is, think of your nightmare or worst case scenario, and go in the opposite direction of that. A tip: all ancient texts speak of giving to give, not giving to get. The action is the same, but the intention, and result (karma), are night and day.
Tom.
