The Mute One and The Deaf One

I honestly can’t tell you how the idea for this blog came to me exactly. It feels like it came from my friend James because we were talking about some deep and interesting things last night, but in reality I can’t say. As soon as the idea came into my head, it felt right. So here it is:

The Mute one and the Deaf one:

For a moment, I’d like you to think about your thoughts. What are they really? Well, we can be sure that sometimes they’re words, sometimes they’re pictures, and sometimes they’re feelings. Well for the sake of this blog, lets think of them just as words. In order for there to be words, there must be a speaker. And in order for there to be one who speaks, there must also be one who listens. Right?

So pretend there are two people in your head, sitting next to each other in equal sized chairs. Only the Deaf one has the ability to talk. So all the “spoken” thoughts you have can be attributed to the deaf one. It does all the talking. The Mute one on the other hand, can’t talk at all. Listening is its greatest skill. As the Deaf one rambles on and on, the Mute one listens intently. So intently in fact that it always hears exactly what the deaf one means, as opposed to what it actually says. “I’m so unhappy right now! I just want this thing I have to do to go away. Ahhhhh!!!!” the Deaf one may say. In which case the Mutes one actually hears, “I am resisting the present situation right now because I’m afraid of uncertainty.” Upon hearing this, it knows that this turmoil could be put to rest if the Deaf one would only embrace uncertainty. For it also knows that only out of uncertainty can creativity thrive. It knows that every painting ever made started with a blank canvas. And yet, there is no way for the Mute one to help the Deaf one. Without the ability to speak, what can there be done?

And so this process goes on, for our entire lives. Then one day, the Deaf one notices the Mute one is there, and voices it, “Wait a minute, you’ve been here all along? You’ve been listening this whole entire time?!? Wow, you must have all the answers to my questions… Do you? Oh gosh I hope you do. I’ve been struggling for so long, everyday in fact. I just want to know the answers to my questions!!! Please can you help me? What do I need to do? Can you answer all my questions for me?” In response, the Mute one smiles from ear to ear, and simply says nothing.

A thick silence lingers, like after a heavy rain. And for the first time the Deaf one stops speaking and starts listening. Being Deaf, how could it ever have thought to listen to silence? But there, in that moment, it finally hears what the Mute one has been saying all along. As if telepathically, the Deaf one all at once understands the answer to all of its questions. The whole time, the one place it never looked was behind the question itself. The way to answer all the unanswerable questions is to never ask the question in the first place. For the first time, they sit in peace, together. Over time, they form a stronger bond, learning to communicate despite their disabilities. Soon they realize they are partners in this life and begin working together. When stress arises, they tackle it together. When negativity creeps in, they work to turn it into positive and therefore neutralize it. And when wonderful, beautiful things happen, together they revel in the silence.

THE TAKEAWAY: I wrote this blog this way to illustrate the relationships between the thoughts we have and how to make sense of them. Everyone thinks differently, but in essence, we all have had the experiences of these internal battles. Often we don’t even recognize that they are happening. And so we have no idea why we feel the way we do. It has been said that traveling can be a catalyst for understanding these battles. “In losing yourself, you find your self.” Well the “self” that you lose is the Deaf one. When we are traveling in a new place, we are in utter awe of everything we see. We can’t apply labels to everything and assume it is something we already know. Everything is so new we are speechless. And so we are forced to listen and observe. This is the “self” that is found. This is the Mute one. However, upon returning from that trip, we often lose sight of what we’ve found. We go back to our routines, complain, and find fault in ourselves and others. The Deaf one turns up the chatter and the more talking we do, the less room there is for listening. We get so caught up in what we’re doing that we forget about  being.

Remember, we are human beings, not human doings.
So be it.

Life is the Class, Love is the Lesson

Now this is going to sound kinda corny but I saw a bumper sticker this morning that inspired me to write about it. It read, “Life’s the class, love is the lesson.” Sitting there at that red light for two minutes I all of a sudden felt like waving to the person in their mirror to tell them I agreed. Mind you, I am usually not a big fan of bumper stickers. I often try my hardest NOT to read them actually. So by the time I had gathered the courage to actually get their attention, the light was green and we were moving again. Feeling like I had missed a clear signal from the Universe telling me to make that person’s day, I instead thought that I would write a little anecdote about it here: 

Now imagine you are in a classroom. Sitting there in a chair that’s a little uncomfortable, you look around at the walls and see art projects and pictures hanging everywhere. In the front of the classroom there’s a chalkboard virtually covered in chalk dust, yet with no distinguishable marks. On your desk in front of you is a notebook, and in that notebook everything you have ever thought about your “self” is written down. It contains every want you ever expressed, every personality trait you thought you had, everything you’ve ever gotten mad at yourself for… all of it. Now underneath that notebook is your desk. It has a wooden feel to it, and it’s almost as if has been there forever like the trees from which it came. As you look closer, you notice it is scratched up around the edges, clearly showing its age. Inside the desk are all the things you tried to hold onto in your life, all your attachments. Every teddy bear, dog, or gold watch you ever owned is in there. Even some of your friends, people you dated, and past bosses are in there. All the things you have ever worked hard to keep close to you are stored inside that desk.

**Knock Knock** “Uh oh, time to sit up straight! The Professor is here,” you hear someone say behind you as shhhhhh’s fill the air. Slowly the Professor prepares for class by carefully placing everything on the podium. The first thing out of the bag is a rubber chicken, the second, a soft red pillow in the shape of a heart, and the third, a rubber ball. After they are neatly positioned on the podium, the Professor speaks:

“As I’m suuurrreeeee you all remember Class, our last lesson was about humor, represented here by this rubber chicken.  And next week’s lesson is to be about play, as represented here by this ball. Now for today’s lesson, I brought this heart pillow. And rather than let you all keep guessing for an eternity, I’ll be gracious and just tell you exactly why I brought it today.” You begin to fixate on the pillow, admiring its texture, as the Professor drones on for a bit. The surface of the pillow has a soft yet welcoming sheen to it. It almost seems as if you could see your reflection in it if you really got up close. And then, just as your day dream seems to get interesting, the Professor tosses the heart shape pillow right at you. It bounces off your chest and onto the ground beside you. Then the Professor speaks again, “Did you hear anything I just said young one? Or were you distracted by the love pillow’s shiny surface? You see, today’s lesson is love. From a far, it will always appear shiny and inviting. But its true value is experienced when you embrace it. Here you go. Give it a squeeze. Can you see how it makes you want to hug it, tighter and tighter? It almost seems as if the harder you squeeze, the more love you feel. Right? Well, that’s the thing about love. All that love you feel for others is also inside you. In order for another to love you back, you must have love to first give them. Love is recognizing that that which is in you is also within them. That’s all for today’s lesson.” The Professor paused for a moment after finishing, as if something was missing. Then, instead gathered everything up again and exited through the rear of the classroom.

After the Professor is gone, you glance down at the notebook before you. For some reason looking back through its pages, those thoughts of “you” don’t seem to carry the same weight anymore. Those things inside your desk? Do they seem different too?

 

THE TAKEAWAY: So I wrote this sort of abstract anecdote as a way of taking a situation we are all familiar with and throwing in some philosophy. I hope you enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts you’d like to share please do!

We All Know Nothing is Perfect, but….

You have a project your supposed to do and you spend HOURS AND HOURS on it. You continue to revise, improve, fix, and slave over it. When its “done” you step away and all of a sudden realize 14 other things about it that still need to be fixed. Ever been in this situation? I sure have, and when ever I have been faced with it I usually settle down and remind myself, “Hey, nothings perfect.” Well, that is precisely the wisdom I would like to expand upon today.

If you have the desire to be perfect (or near it) in whatever you do, and you know that nothing is perfect, then why not be nothing? Maybe that seems strange to think about or for some reason it doesn’t click right away. But when you think about it, it is actually quite simple. If you’re anything like me, a bit of a perfectionist sometimes, then its likely that when you set out to accomplish a goal or task, you structure your action so that you can finish as close to “perfect” as possible. So in your mind, you believe that creating a perfect outcome will then project onto who you are. However, if I followed that logic, it would seem that because I am able to write these blogs about complex things, I must be perfect in how I execute them in my life. Well I hate to break it to you, that’s actually dead wrong.

Which leads me to the crux of this topic: That very discrepancy, between the things I write here and how I apply them in my life, is actually a manifestation of the “nothing” mindset. To reiterate, I saw that no matter how well I can put advice into words, I still make those very same mistakes, even after the fact. Earlier in my life, I wanted to be perfect at everything I did – and failed at it relentlessly. In essence, wanting to be perfect is equivalent to living in constant failure. So why not do the opposite? If you want to be ________ (read: nothing) then there is no failure. And if there is no failure then all that remains is success.

 

THE TAKEAWAY: This may be hard to wrap your head around, and it obviously has been for me since it has taken me my entire life thus far to put into words, let alone practice. But it really is as simple as this: if we view thoughts as tools, then having the thought “I am nothing” can function as a way of creating the resulting mindset of permanent and constant success. Think about the person who runs a dog rehabilitation clinic in a small town and loves every minute of it. They probably don’t have the money to travel freely, drive nice cars, motivate masses of people, or experience success in the traditional sense of the word. And yet, because they realize they don’t have to be any of those things (in other words, nothing) they are free to see themselves in their current situation as successful. Success and failure are really one in the same. Steve Jobs will be viewed of by most as a success for his contributions to the technological world. And yet, he will be view by a lesser number of people as a failure for silent conversations at restaurants – iPhones in hand, or for not taking care of his family (he had a daughter out of wedlock with whom he spent very little time with), and the list could go on forever. So I ask that today, throw out your traditional thoughts about being successful. Stop trying to be something you’re not – in fact, stop trying to be something at all. Try being nothing for a change. After all, you really can’t fail? So what do you have to lose?

 

 

Related articles

• Perfectionism – Are You Protecting Yourself from Success? (openingoureyes.net)
• How to learn from failure and make content from it! (howtomakecontent.com)
• Back Up Plan = Failure? (soulxmind.wordpress.com)
• The REAL Path to a Happy Life (chadvice.wordpress.com)
• Failure. (beingabeautifulmess.wordpress.com)

 

Your Life is a Reflection of You

Dear you,

As a young boy, I was extremely curious. Everything about the world around me facinated me because there seemed to be a reason for everything. There was a reason for the stop sign on the corner just the way there was a reason for the expiration date on the milk carton. For some reason or another, that made me so excited that I believe, even then, I set out to find all the reasons – the reason for everything.

Fittingly so, I learned to ask a lot of questions. I loved that behind every question, there was an answer too! How cool! All I had to do was connect the dots. And so I set out on my life’s adventure trying to connect all the dots. Well… a few days ago, I finally stopped trying; not out of exhaustion or frustration, but out of peace. That peace, is what I wanted to give you today.

Everything happens for a reason… right?

Not really.

Everything happens for many reasons. Which reason you see depends on you.

Every event in our lives thus far has had many many reasons for why it happened. I got into a car accident when I was 17 in which my younger brother and I could easily have died. I still remember the resistance of the steering wheel as it was spinning out of control. I can even remember trying to keep the car on a straight enough path to crash into the divider instead of rolling down the freeway. The car that hit us drove off. Why? Maybe the driver was taking his wife to the hospital and wasn’t thinking. Maybe he had just ended a 30 year marriage, couldn’t stand to deal with another traumatic thing, and so made the choice to drive off. Or, to pose another question, why did I survive? Maybe it’s so that I could meet my current girlfriend and one day have a child who is going to be the first president of the moon. Maybe its so that some child somewhere could see me playing basketball and decide to spend their life playing it too. Or maybe I survived so that the next day, when the man who hit us checked the newspaper, he would see that no one had actually died and he could go on living a life of service to others. One person survives, another serves…..

THE TAKEAWAY:

There are literally millions of reasons I survived – one of which you are reading right now. So which one is the real reason? Well, the answer is they all are. The only thing that is different is the person looking at the reason. We see whatever we want to see. And since wants come from inside of us, all we ever see is a reflection of what is already there. Although that may be scary or overwhelming at times, as long as that wisdom is inside you, you will always have all the answers you ever need. To those of you who read this, thank you for reading these blogs and listening to me. In doing so you have helped me to see into myself. You have helped me to see who I really am.

With great appreciation,

Chad

If we can only see what is already within us, the more you have inside of you the more you can see in others.

The REAL Path to a Happy Life

Earlier today, I was asked by someone, “How are you so happy?” I thought about this for a minute, but something just didn’t feel right about the question. It’s like saying, “How are you full?” “Well, I ate.” So to answer the first question in a similar way, “How am I happy? Well, I had good things happen to me that made me happy. So really, I’m just reacting to those things that happened in a positive way.”

This leads me to the point I wanted to make today: The real path to a happy life is actually not through happiness, but through appreciation. 

GRAPH: If we recognize that happiness is positive, and despair/ sadness are negative, then appreciation would be the zero line. Appreciation isn’t necessarily good nor bad- positive nor negative. It is simply a perspective on life that views everything that happens as a lesson or, even better, a gift. And as we all know, gifts are a sign of love.

What I try to do is: In everyday situations, no matter what emotion I feel, I try to find my way back to appreciation. For example, if I’m walking into the grocery store to get some eggs and at the door I see a sign that says, “Eggs SOLD OUT,” naturally I would be disappointed or angry. But if I can choose to see that this life event (eggs being sold out) is actually a small assignment given to me by Professor Life in which I have to convert my emotions back into appreciation, then in that way I can learn something from every assignment the Professor gives me. Maybe this assignment was meant to help me appreciate the time and effort someone put into making the sign and placing it at the front of the store so as to save people like me time; Their time in exchange for mine. And what if there were no sign? Well, then the absence of eggs in the back of this grocery store, on this particular day, was meant to help me learn that having expectations only sets one up for pain – disappointment when it doesn’t happen or decreased elation when it does. And in that way, I can appreciate it.

THE TAKEAWAY: More and more these days we hear about the pursuit of happiness and all its glories. And if we’re watching the news, we only hear about the extreme successes or the extreme failures. So we go on living life thinking that this pursuit is riddled with successes and failures – dragons and maidens. We live our lives as if they are filled with epic battles against Giants and yet, the only real battle going on is inside our “selves.” The way we define our “self” affects the way we define our life. And in order to define something, we must use judgmental labels - This day is good. That person was bad. So we keep track of our stories on Facebook and tell our friends. Yet, the plot of the story has already been laid out for us – all we ever need these life events for is to challenge us to learn how to get back to appreciation. Once we learn that, we no longer have to fight those daily battles – we need only enjoy the ride.

~Buckle up, my friends~

Just Breath it Out

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  Click the picture to see the video!

   

   

  It’s not rocket science, it’s just my perspective on perhaps the most ancient of all human knowledge. I decided to do this weeks blog a little bit differently. This one is a video. Let me know what you think!

  THE TAKEAWAY: Enjoy.

The State of Wanting

In many religious stories and contexts, the theme of desire leading to suffering is quite common. In fact, Yoda himself even advocates such a philosophy. After watching Star Wars for the first time, I can still remember trying to wrap my little eight year old mind around his words. “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” It really wasn’t until recently that I truly understood those words.

Want and You’re Gone: A want is born at the moment we hear about something that we do not have, but would like. As soon as we hear about a place worth traveling to, a good deal on something, or the newest version of the iPad (maybe that’s last one is just me), many of us begin to start thinking about having them. The problem with this, however, is that it immediately takes us out of the moment. Rather than being present, we are now thinking about how we can acquire that thing. Thus, simply by acknowledging a want that we have, we create a distance between us and the moment.

The Other Side of the Coin: The other downside to wanting is that once we have the thing we wished to acquire (could be a new flat screen or a promotion at work), it inevitably creates attachment. In essence, wanting something while you already have it is attachment. Therefore, because you wanted a flat screen you went out to buy it. And now since you still want it but already have it, that makes losing it that much more painful.

Avoiding Pain: By nature, we avoid pain as much as we can. Therefore, if losing something you have can cause pain, then fear will help motivate us to protect ourselves against it. That fear will lead to us getting very angry at someone who takes it from us; it may even lead to hate. And hate leads to suffffffferrringggggg **Yoda voice*

THE TAKEAWAY: 

Want leads to attachment. 

Attachment leads to fear. 

Fear leads to hate….

...you know the rest.

 

 

 

 

So when you find yourself fantasizing about the next thing you’re going to buy or longingly gazing a picture of some far off land, remember that in doing so you are building the foundation for suffering. But rather than worry about what to do, simply being more aware of your wants, in time, will help you to find your own path out of suffering. Just remember that you are the captain of your ship. Bon voyage!

Are YOU a Writer?

It has been quite some time since I wrote my last blog here and having had such a long absence has taught me one very valuable thing I’d like to share with you all: YOU NEED TO START WRITING. 

Believe me, I know all the ways you could talk yourself out of starting a blog. ”It’s too hard. I don’t know how to run it. I don’t have enough time. No one is going to read it anyway. I have more important things to do. Yadda yadda yadda…” So before I go into refuting those statements with you today, let me give you a couple examples to illustrate my point.

On the evening of December 30th, 2012, I laid awake in my bed reflecting on the year that had passed. I thought of how I had spent most of it in a foreign place, learning about people and life. Then I thought about all the hoopla surrounding my birthday (12/21) and how it really wasn’t the end of the world (big surprise!). Then, I decided to pull out my iPhone and read some of my old blogs. Here are a couple excerpts:

• 2012: If the World Ends… written 1/1/2012: “Now of course, until my next birthday (which happens to be 12.21.2012), no one will know for sure if the world isn’t going to end. But in the meantime, why not use this thought to motivate us to do the things that we have always wanted to do. Let it help us get off the couch, walk over to that person we haven’t apologized to in years, and say what needs to be said. Let it motivate us to pursue more intensely than ever a purpose driven life. Honestly… why not?” ……. “So I felt it pertinent to say that I am going live this year to the fullest, and I hope that you all do the same. In this upcoming year I will be spending eight months of it here in Korea. During that time I will have six months with my girlfriend, whom I have missed dearly. We are going to Thailand together in a few weeks. I plan on speaking Korean somewhat fluently before I return home. I will Skype with my family and friends as much as possible and make sure that those close to my heart know that I love them. I will learn to eliminate stress in my life by rising above the things that have held me down my entire life and live in the now. I will reread all of my old blogs to remember how far I have come in this past year, what I have learned, and what I hope to one day teach others. And above all, I will give love in some way to everyone I meet.”
  

After reading this, tears began to well up in my eyes because I realized that all of those goals were fulfilled. In being able to read my own words from a year ago, I realized the profound truth that if you set your intent to do something in life, it will get done time.

• Passion Really Does Pay Off written 4/12/2012: “The bell rang and I simply waved goodbye. Slowly they shuffled their way out of the classroom. After all of them had left, I had started cleaning up and pushing chairs in when one of the girls, who had been listening the whole time, came back into the room. Even before she spoke I could feel the determination behind her words. Her grammar wasn’t very good but I could tell what she meant simply by the order of her words. If her English were perfect, what she said would have gone a little like this:“Teacher, I want to say thank you. Before today, I chose a dream just because when I was growing up, adults always told me I had to know my dream. But now, I know that it’s okay if I don’t know what I want to do. If I don’t get into the best university in Korea, that’s okay. Now I know that what I learn is more important that where I learn it.”

  Then, she did something that is very strange in Korean culture… She reached out and gave me a quick, awkward hug, as if she had never given one before, and walked away. As soon as she had turned the corner to leave, tears welled up in my eyes… I leaned my head against the nearest wall and cried tears of joy.”

THE TAKEAWAY: Rather than convince you to write, I would like you to imagine having the ability to go back and read stories from your life, check how well you’ve accomplished goals, and learn about the power of setting your intent. It really is easier than ever to start a blog these days. You don’t have to be in it for the money to be successful. By any monetary standard this blog is a massive failure, but thats not why I write it. I write it because it is my way of re-gifting the lessons life gives me in hopes that they will benefit others… including my future self. =) If you have any questions about starting your own blog, I would love to help! Here’s to the writer in you~ CHEERS!

The people around us make us the world we live in. Let’s make our world beautiful!

Reconcile the Reptile

Tens of thousands of years ago, our ancestors’ lives were very similar to any other animal. They spent most of their time grazing plains looking for food, hunting game, and watching out for things hunting them. When faced with danger, our natural defense mechanism, the limbic system, would send adrenaline to all the most necessary parts of our body so we could do one thing – STAY ALIVE! Most other living creatures on this planet also have this system. Fittingly, the part of the brain that controls the limbic system is commonly known as the reptilian brain.

Now, think for a second about the last lizard you saw. It was probably sitting on a rock somewhere, eyes wide, unmoving except for its breathing. If you’re anything like me and tried to get closer or even catch it, its likely that it ran away from you before you could even make up your mind to do so. This example highlights two interesting concepts – First, there’s no way to reason with the lizard and tell it you are only going to pet it. It just reacts. Second, the lizard responds so quickly that we hardly even have time to get close to it. This is because the reptilian brain, which we share, is specifically designed to get us moving and save our lives. Nothing else.

What is most interesting about this is that we no longer really “need” this brain to survive. Or at least, not nearly as much as our ancestors did. And yet, its still there in each of us – always watching out for danger, listening for overly loud noises and avoiding cliffs at all costs. Unless we really are in a life threatening situation and need to protect ourselves, the reptilian brain doesn’t have much to do. So instead it helps us to protect other things – children, friends, possessions, ego – from danger. It is responsible for the quick hands that catch your wobbling toddler and reminds you to keep your eyes on your wallet in a dangerous part of town. It’s always there watching out for us, which seems like a great thing. But what many of us often don’t realize is how overprotective it actually is.

Have you ever thought about starting something new, a project or company, only to talk yourself out of it before you start? Right now I’m in the process of building a company from the ground up and let me tell you, this happens almost everyday for me. But recently after watching this TED talk by Seth Godin, I realized that it wasn’t really “me” talking myself out those things. It was the reptilian brain watching out for me – steering me away from potential danger. “No Jeremy, you don’t need to learn how to use that new program. It will probably be too difficult and take too much time.” But, what the reptilian brain calls “danger” is really just risk. And if risk is a situation where it is possible to fail, then the reptilian brain only knows one way to help us – convince us to stop taking risks. For our ancestors, risk meant life or death. Today, risk means success or failure. So what is there to do?

THE TAKEAWAY: At first, I was a little angry at my reptile. I mean, how could it do that to me? Constantly knocking me down when I was so close to succeeding. Encouraging me to stay in my comfort zone where it could keep me safe. Well, now that I’ve wised up a bit, I’m not going to take it anymore. My reptile and I sat down recently to have a little talk, we laid everything out on the table and now, we understand each other quite well. He knows that I only need him to help with matters of life and death and that I can handle something as harmless as a little failure on my own. Have you and your reptile talked lately? If not, maybe it’s time you do. Trust me, in the end it will be less work for him anyway.

The Confidence Factory

Everyday, everywhere I go, I see the downward gazes, hunched shoulders, and hesitating mannerisms of people who greatly lack internal self confidence. If low self confidence were a disease, our world would be in a state of panic. But instead, we allow it to persist within ourselves and the society around us because the lower self confidence we have, the easier it is to sell us the next skin/ hair/ acne product.

But what if I told you there is a factory where confidence is made. And this isn’t just any ordinary Henry Ford style assembly line factory.This factory has the ability to create all the confidence one could ever need in seconds… yes seconds. So before you go search Amazon.com for “confidence in bulk,” let me explain. Deep down inside each of us, behind that little voice in our head that is our thoughts, lies our own little factory. And yet, as amazing as it is, most of us wait our entire lives to turn it on and start cranking out confidence. When I think of how many years I spent telling myself I was stupid, avoiding big challenges, and shying away from talking to girls I liked, it deeply saddens me. But, as all things are one, that sadness has motivated me to write this today in hopes that a few more factory lights may turn on.

Maybe you’ve always known about your factory, and just never used it. Maybe something someone said to you when you were young hurt you so bad you never found it again. Or maybe you have been using your factory your whole life, always confident in yourself, but forgot that other people don’t have the same access to it. Well to the ladder, I say it is time to help others do the same. And to the former, what are you waiting for? For a moment, I’d like you to close your eyes and remember a time when you felt very confident in yourself. What was going through your head? Why were you so confident? And, more importantly, how can you learn from that time and apply that lesson to today? When I think back to such a time, I remember that I felt an overwhelming sense of purpose – I knew I was supposed to be there. The voice in my head was saying encouraging things and I felt a surge of energy inside my chest. Now that I know that feeling, when I walk into a more uncertain situation, I remember to encourage myself, remember why I’m there, and just follow the path. What else is there to be done really?

THE TAKEAWAY: One’s success with getting their factory open depends solely on one thing: awareness. In order for us to change what the voice in our head is saying, and flip the factory lights on, we need to be very aware of what is going on inside our heads, especially in times of low self confidence. Here’s what I do: whenever I catch myself feeling low, I have taught myself to use that as a cue to get the factory up and running at full speed.  As soon as I hear, “Oh man, I don’t know if I can do that… It probably won’t work out just don’t do it,” I immediately remember that confidence is self-made and I’ll be honest, every time that low feeling goes away. If you give this a try and it works for you, that’s great! If it doesn’t however, maybe you think differently than I do, and that’s okay. But the fact remains that your confidence is self-made too and just because you have to find your factory on your own doesn’t make it any less powerful. Awareness is the key that opens the door, after that, its all up to you. Do you think you can do it?