majokmindfuleating

I stumble through life in the literal sense and give my family plenty of opportunity for laughter.  And while the falling down is sometimes quite painful, thank goodness, I pay attention and learn how to lesson the potential for falls in the future.

 Number 1 – Accept I am not a candidate for downhill skiing     –    and  . . .

 Walk slowly     –     Stay focused       –    And most importantly, laugh when it happens

 The point in all this self-disclosure is that, most assuredly, as you experience life, you will fall down too.  Maybe not in the physical sense, but rather a fall in the psychological sense.  You will try something and it won’t go as expected.  We’ll call it a mistake, failure, fiasco or catastrophe.  I’ll talk more about labeling.

 You all know that unless one falls off a cliff into an abyss, we are likely to recover from a physical fall.  But the psychological fall????  Well that’s a little more challenging to bounce back from.   

 A blow to the ego can cause a lifetime of suffering and prevent you from ever trying again.

 I accept that I will continue to make mistakes, so over the years I developed techniques to overcome the possible devastation, embarrassment, chagrin and paralyzing fear that could accompany a psychological fall.   I am absolutely not immune to those feelings creeping back, but I am much more resilient and I don’t let a failure prevent me from trying again.   To overcome the hesitation and fear of putting myself out there – I developed a brave heart.

 Increasing my bravado was done in increments.   When I was a younger woman, I never did anything spirited.  I never did anything that I wasn’t good at and since I didn’t think I was good at anything, well you get the idea.  I never put myself in a position to suffer public embarrassment.  I never laughed when I fell down.  I just wanted to crawl in a hole and never come out. 

 So, how did I transform from a shy, never take a chance because you are such a failure at everything kind of girl into a woman who says she has a brave heart?  I’ll tell you how I got it and you can have one too.  Just think about the word B-R-A-V-E and change the internal label.

 Next post: How to begin the journey