Fail

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When I begin each semester at Saint Francis University, one of my favorite questions to ask students is "What is your greatest fear?". About 80% of the time their answers have something to do with being afraid of failing somehow. This fear can be so paralyzing that students will often choose a career path that is "easier" even though they really aren't passionate about it.


I am interested to know:
"Can you identify something in your life (something that you really want)
that would you do if you "knew" you could not fail?".
What is it?

Leave your comment below..

The Transformation of Fear

Mandala Art by Stephanie Smith

The Transformation of Fear
by Jim Donovan

Just like all energy, your fears can be transformed and used. They can be re-focused and re-directed. You have the choice about whether you spend your energy in fear of something, or if you invest that energy into understanding, overcoming and transforming it.

Understand that the energy exists either way and it's our thoughts that charge it. The more you decide to live, act, and speak in a way that serves the highest good of all, the less afraid you will become. The more you engage in the service of others, the more you will understand our innate connection with each other, with nature, and with all that is.

It is possible to work for the betterment of yourself and enhancing the life of people around you by aligning yourself with purpose. Resist spending hours in the mundane and instead invest that time into things that feed your spirit.

Now is the time to decide to be in charge of how you frame your beliefs. Decide which of your beliefs serve your higher good and which ones hold you back. Be conscious and aware of how fear drives your day to day decision making processes.


Remember the words of Mahatama Gandhi ..."When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall — think of it, always."


Evolution and Progression

Photo of Summer Rhythm Renewal : Congolese Dance Workshop

Evolution and Progression by Jim Donovan

The process of uncovering layers of accumulated learned behaviors and finding our true self IS evolution.  We sometimes get tricked into believing that in order to evolve, we need to become someone different than who we really are.  Evolution isn't about reaching outside ourselves, it's about moving inward and evolving through the process of de-layering- of removing bad habits and old patterns that no longer serve us or our higher good. That's how we are able to progress, transform, and ultimately evolve.   

As we move along our own paths- as we evolve, our progression affects everyone around us because these people have no choice but to witness our transformation. By consistently modeling progressive minded behavior, family, friends, and acquaintances will be affected by our actions and our ways of being. For example- when you spend time with people, it's easy to assimilate another's energies.  We can take on a persons mannerisms, their way of speaking, and if we resonate strongly with their ideas, we often assimilate those as well- eventually making those ideas our own.

The process of personal evolution is work.  It's your work.  As you face life's challenges along the path to transformation, stop and think about your last day on this planet. Think about what would be most important to you in your last hours as you reflect on the life you've lived. In times of frustration, try to take yourself to that place - the things you hold most important at the end of it all.  What things created joy in your heart? What things would you regret? Who did you lift up?

The purpose of this reflection is to remind you that you are responsible for giving yourself perspective. You are in charge of making sure that you are living the live that YOU want. We can encourage others, and we ourselves can be inspired over and over again.  But as inspiration fades, we still need to stay strong and continue to move forward.

In your heart, if you feel that there are changes to be made, that there are things to be let go of, that there are parts of you to still be transformed, now is the time to do that. Now is the time.

And now is only the beginning...

Framing your experiences with other people

The drive to grow is what keeps you progressing. If you desire progress, this drive will never stop for you, and you'll always want to share what you discover with those you love. While you can definitely have an effect on someone, you will rarely be able to put your hands on someone and twist them into what you want them to be.

A significant challenge in a relationship is to see someone you love that you know could benefit and grow from what you personally know, but the person is either uninterested or unwilling to "go there". Dealing with this kind of frustration, while unnerving, can also be viewed as a gift. It gives you one more part of yourself to come to terms with. This part has to do with just allowing life to unfold as it does.

Whenever you can reduce the emotional charge of your frustration at someone else's lack of growth, you will have grown as a result. This is a way to change the frame of how you view your closest relationships. You have the choice to view them in terms of how much they aggravate you, or you can view them in terms of how much they can help you to understand yourself.