Why Nothing Ever Works Out For Us…Ever!

So you come across this highly exalted teacher. Call him or her a guru, lifestyle therapist, influencer, thinker – whatever they may be, you like what they have to say.

You feel that their insights will be helpful to you. It may change your life, get you through stressful times, move you towards attracting love and prosperity – anything to get you out of this monotony you call life.

ABUNDANT SOURCES OF HELP…AND STRESS

Our world is full of these people. Some have genuinely useful and helpful ideas that inspire positive change in those that utilize them to full effect. Others are a tad sinister with their own goals and agendas hoping for a piece of controlled masses to create cult like societies.

This is not to mean that these individuals don’t have useful information to share. Sometimes they are at the forefront of innovation with regards to spiritual, physical and mental enhancement. There is a lot to learn from them even if you stay on the fringes and don’t fester into their cult-like environments.

Once we have decided on a teacher we dive into what they have to say. We may purchase a book or two, download a video clip, and subscribe to their blog. We become involved in the community, share ideas and thoughts, learn a few tidbits that we apply to our daily lifestyles. We have initiated a process of change.

JUMPING SHIP

As soon as we decide on some teacher/teaching, we start to become restless. We want more and we want it faster. We begin to feel that the “teacher” is not inspiring change in us quickly enough. Our relentless need for instant gratification takes over. We go over to another “teacher” who’s advertised to be bigger, better, faster and more inspiring.

People talk about this individual in awe and swear by their teachings and methods. We become a believer out of sheer external stimuli. The pattern repeats itself. We buy a few books, subscribe to a class or retreat with our “new teacher” and soon become an advocate.

After some time learning our restless mind decides that change still cannot come fast enough. We look for errors in our new “teachers” ways. We go out seeking criticism and negative reviews and justify to ourselves why we are not seeing the change promised. It’s has become inadequate – this teacher we had once praised is no longer highly exalted in our minds. The books become useless, we stop learning and participating. We start looking for someone else.

JUMPING SHIP, AGAIN

There will always be (in our minds) someone bigger and better. Someone we feel can provide us with the answers we are looking for, and provide it instantly. When we are discontent with what we are currently doing to improve and better ourselves, we go out seeking for something or someone that promises more.

The truth is we will always be discontent. We all have extreme desires that need to be fulfilled and very seldom are. We look up to those whom we feel have the answers. We follow them – for a while, until we decide we are not getting what we want. Then we look to another, then another and another.

STUCK IN A RUT

So after many wasted years of seeking we find that we are no better off than we were before. We realize that nothing has changed. We still have the same habits that keep us stuck. We are still unhealthy, wedged in poverty and persisting with bad relationships. Nothing has changed expect for wasted time and money.

This is the reason why nothing ever works out for us. We don’t stick with something long enough for the positive changes to take place and apply it into our lives. We jump ship at the first sign of something bigger and better.

We have to realize that change and more specifically change that is meant to make us better people is a slow, time consuming and dedicated process. We have to be committed to seeing it through till the end.

THE IMPORTANCE OF LONG TERM COMMITMENT

What I mean is, once you decide who you want to learn from, there are steps to undergo – these include exercises, meditations, affirmations, habit changing rituals and much more. There will be practical and theoretical aspects that must be adhered to. When done diligently and sustained over a period of time then will we start to see the changes expounded by that particular teacher.

Our problem is we want change immediately. The “self-help” movement is also so blame because they promise sweeping changes from the moment you open the books or put on the tape. This false advertising leads to a psyche where we demand what we were promised and demand it immediately.

We cannot blame the consumers or the authors in as much as we can point the finger at shady marketing executives at publishing houses whom profit it the only priority. Immediate change in self-help work is non-existent. Anyone who says” it’s possible, just purchase this book” is lying.

UNDERSTANDING PERSONAL CHANGE

Change is never instant. Real change must come from a deep realigning of our internal psychology that will change our outward behaviors and habits that will in turn change the circumstances around you and get you to where you want to be.

So when you get on a path to self-improvement find someone whose ideas and teachings resonate with you. This maybe a successful businessman, a stellar athlete or someone in the self-help sphere. There is an abundance of information out there to help you, the key is to stick to just one.

CHOOSING YOUR ONE (AND ONLY) PATH

Once you decide on what and (whose) course to follow, stick to the work ethic outlined in the writings, tapes and videos. Don’t go seeking. Don’t feel that there is something better out there. Follow your own plan and make sure it’s the only plan. Re-read the teachings, apply the exercises and just do the work.

Make the little investment it takes to gather all the information and then dedicate yourself to seeing it through till the end. Have the audacity not to get sidelined.

Most of the information out there is just pretty rehashed packages with overly promissory headlines filled with useless “fluff” to make it seem bigger, better and more authoritative. A lot of the information contained therein is more or less that same.  Don’t buy into it. It’s just clever marketing that seeks to keep you in a cycle of consumption without any spiritual, physical or mental advancement.

THE BENEFITS OF LONG TERM COMMITMENT

Stick to your plan, the one you feel resonates and works for you the most and practice it daily with determined commitment and effort.

Gradual lifestyle changes become lasting lifetime habits,

Once you start (and stick) with a coherent practice you will gradually start to see the changes as promised. When this single, focused practice becomes part of your daily lifestyle you will look back and see how drastically your life has changed.

You are now a different person. You have reached the goals you set prior to starting the practice, you have achieved both physical, material and spiritual success. It is really a most fulfilling feeling to look back on your life and see that the initiatives that you took to transform yourself actually worked. There really is no better feeling of accomplishment.