How To Avoid The “Greatness Trap”
Have you ever felt like you were made for something greater? That you know you’re meant to do more? Sometimes this knowing makes us feel all-powerful, even invincible. Other times it can scare the shit out of us when we get too close to it. That feeling can be so overwhelming it can simply stop us from being who we truly are.
Today I’d like to share a little personal insight from my own experience. I’ve always known I was different, didn’t really fit in and that I didn’t think like other people. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that people didn’t like me, I just felt like they didn’t “get” me. I’ve known since I was little that I was meant for something greater in this world, that there was something special about me. But if we’re not careful, as we grow into our gifts and into a better knowing of who we are, we can easily fall into what I call “The Greatness Trap”. It’s like a mirage that we just can’t to get to…that greatness we know we’re meant for, but we can’t ever seem to reach. We put our hand out to touch it…it’s that close every time we stretch out to meet it…and when we are stretched as far out as we think we can go, our fingertips move in to feel the warmth and power that we imagined our Greatness would be. And when we feel the rush of our impending victory, our Greatness seems to disappear into a thick fog that blocks the vision to our path.
It’s a huge trap to fall into. Suddenly you feel lost, afraid to make the wrong decisions and always second guessing yourself. Your inner guidance system can’t seem to find True North anymore. You have the faith that you’ll get there, but now you feel paralyzed and you don’t know why. This has happened to me only recently. All the doors opened. They came in the way of disappointment, chaos and much loss. But I knew…I could see why it was all happening. I knew it wasn’t loss, it was purely perfect and I was so excited to feel free again. The pathway was now clear. I finally had the freedom to follow that path to my Greatness! My faith was strong, or so I thought.
Some of you out there know what I mean. You still see it. There it is. Right there in front of you…your future Greatness changing the world, saving lives and living the way you’ve always dreamed. And then you stop. You do nothing because all those feelings I spoke about earlier come flooding into the layers of your subconscious. I imagine these whispers sounding like the buzzing of flies on a hot summer day, circling all around me, buzzing words in my ears that bite relentlessly. They fly into my mind, planting seeds of doubt that always end up keeping me from growing.
So what exactly is the trap? It’s the illusion that you created that your Greatness is somewhere out there waiting for you to finally catch up and meet it and that everything will finally be perfect. It’s all the times you were taught or told you were never good enough, slowly seeping back into the forefront of your mind. It’s obsession…spending all of your energy to work so hard toward your Greatness that you don’t see that it’s right there, right now, in this moment and it is perfect.
Your Greatness is in this very moment. You are Great right now. So tap into it. How, you ask? By showing kindness, compassion and love…by sharing the gifts you have right now, with others…by connecting every day with the world, remembering we are all teachers and students…and by practicing presence. Presence is Power, so embrace it and with that your perception of Greatness will change how you see the world and in turn, how the world sees you.
Don’t allow “The Trap” to keep you from doing something now. What you do is not as important as why you do. So do something…do something right now, like I am in this very moment writing to you. It will open up so much more and one day you’ll realize you got everything you wanted and more, and you were Great the entire time.
Remember that Greatness comes in many forms and can sometimes be as simple as a compliment, a smile or a simple act of kindness. So go out and be Great…Someone out there needs you to be, so they can remember that they are Great too.
