Thursday 5 November 2009

The elephant on the unicycle


Have you ever seen an elephant on a unicycle? I don't imagine there are many out there! The elephant is too big and the unicycle is too delicate - it's not really a marriage made in heaven.

So where am I going with this? Excellent question! Glad I asked it!!

The real point of this blog is our emotions... We live life as if we were the unicycle and the elephant is our emotions. Our emotions are huge, powerful creatures, but they squash us simply because we don't know how to work with them. We allow them to drive us, rather than choosing to create with them.

Our emotions are our inner guidance systems. They can lead us to the fullest, most magnificent version of ourselves. When we experience joy, love, appreciation, delight and a host of other positive emotions it is because we are in harmony with our core selves, the deepest expression of who we are. Those are the moments we experience the life we are meant to live.

This in-built SATNAV is constantly pointing us in the direction of our best lives, our deepest dreams… our greatest selves. But we don’t listen to it. Instead, we spend most of our lives living as a unicycle under the weight of disheartening emotions that crush us.

When we feel pain, rejection, apathy, anger, frustration and other negative emotions, it's a sure sign that we are on the wrong track. We are not living from our magnificence but from the mundane. And the mundane is often the projections and desires of others; their needs, their wants, their desire to control and feel safe.

The massive power of the elephant is at our disposal, willing us to charge to the most fun waterholes, the greenest tress and the coolest mud baths, if only we are willing to follow that inner signal.

Every single time we can remember to follow the fun, laughter or happiness, we are running with the elephants, side by side. Every time we forget and we follow our negative emotions (most frequently our responses to others' needs, wants and fears) we become the crushed unicycle, overwhelmed and under-performing.

So, I invite us to seize the little pleasures and joys in life. Consider running with the elephants, not under them! We were never born to be unicycles, to live in pain and suffering. That's an outmoded, out-dated vision of life.

Our challenge is to become pioneers, to create new ways of living that are based on our joys, our strengths and our passions, and to release the old path that no longer serves.

Worry is simply negative imagination - why waste the immense sparkle of imagination on that?! Why not build a store of memories, jokes and inspirations to lift us up when we slip into unicycle mode? Why not challenge ourselves to notice the moments of joy, the laughter, the sense of connection with others, the feelings of satisfaction? Why not imagine living life on immense, spectacular terms?

Now, I’m off to find the muddiest water hole for a fabulous tumble!

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