Growth: Break Through to Your Potential
April 2004



Growth
Reaching down to the depths of the soul, growth challenges us to expand. Perhaps it is the leap of faith for a new career opportunity, home, city or relationship. Perhaps it is the closing of one door and the opening of another. Growth stretches us to our limits, at times more than we feel capable. Growth can be exciting, scary, painful, uplifting or sad. It can appear as loss or as a powerful addition to your life.
Spring is a natural time for growth for obvious reasons. There is something to be said for increased light prompting new blossoms and a desire to come forth more fully into one’s life. We, like strong little plants, find our way toward the sun, beginning a new growth cycle that may bring us closer to reaching our fullest, brightest potential.

Resistance
There is a funny thing about growth, especially the “challenging” kind. Resistance tends to want “in” on the action; meaning we create lots of reasons not to do the thing we know we need to do. We have lots of reasons to stay where we are, be it a comfortable routine, not wanting to complicate life, being too busy to make the effort, not wanting to feel the accompanying emotion be it fear, discomfort, sadness or huge happiness for that matter. (Ever actually been afraid of success?)

Listening to Yourself
Likely, we all are facing opportunities to grow in one way or another—professionally, personally, spiritually. Chances are that on occasion you get an “inside tip” from yourself- your gut, your heart. This tip is real. You may choose to ignore it, in which case I promise it will recycle, larger, until you acknowledge it, or it forces change or growth (i.e. you stay in a job you are miserable at and one day you are fired. Oops. Growth finds a way- initially we have choice, if ignored, in comes “force”.)

There is no one who can give you the advice you need like you can. No one knows you better. Learn to listen to you. See what happens when you begin to listen to and follow your inside tips rather than postponing.

The Right Way to Grow
Ha! If only. You may feel your path has more twists & turns than you’d choose, and is taking too long to get to where you want to be. This path is thick with lessons. Rather than labeling these lessons as failures, wasted time, mistakes or poor decisions, embrace the lessons. Like in college, you learn the lesson, take the test, complete the class, and move on to the next level until you graduate. Keep learning, keep growing, do the homework, don’t procrastinate. Just like college, you either eventually have to take the test or remain a freshman.

Trust
Ahh, this is a tough one, especially in our culture where we have learned to be suspicious of others, and to independently handle everything ourselves. However, do you think the strong little plant hems and haws, “Should I come up this year? This was a nice, quiet winter, I am comfortable down here. And what if there’s a drought again and I shrivel up? That would be terrible!”

Nature just is. Growth happens. It grows because that is what it is meant to do. It must burst up through the ground, despite great risk.

We too must allow ourselves to burst through barriers and allow ourselves to grow. We must trust the process, knowing that growth is part of breaking through to our potential.

With Enthusiasm
Although we may have learned to look at potential risk and the possible things that “could go wrong”, I encourage you to dream big. Reclaim your thoughts and choose to focus on those which inspire you. Imagine your growth bringing you into new, amazing situations. Picture yourself completing the task with ease and relishing in the long-term benefits of the comparatively short-term challenge. Imagine yourself in the job you love, enjoying the comforts of a new home, or feeling peace within a fabulous relationship. Not to say it will all be smooth sailing, but the more positive your frame of mind, the less fear, and the more likely a positive outcome.

Allow yourself to dwell in possibilities with enthusiasm.
Trust that with growth, the best is yet to come.

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