“What do you want? What do you want?” he repeated to himself. “What do I want? To live and not to suffer,” he answered. And again he listened with such concentrated attention that even his pain did not distract him. “To live? How?” asked his inner voice. “Why, to live as I used to—well and pleasantly.” “As you lived before, well and pleasantly?” the voice repeated. And in imagination, he began to recall the best moments of his pleasant life.”
― Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich
What do you want? It is an original question. It carries a significant level of responsibility and requires an intrinsical state of clarity when it comes to responding to its daring power.
We all have our dreams and goals, some of us dream of writing a book, of moving to Hawaii, some of us dream of hiking the Himalayas, or even living by the ocean while enjoying the success of our foreign profitable business.
These are all very motivating dreams, and in fact, they can all be attainable.
What is that powerful force that stops you from accomplishing them? DOUBT.
When Leonardo DaVinci past away, his last words were: “I have offended mankind because my work did not reach the quality that it should have” – Unbelievable! Don’t you think?
Mr. DaVinci himself had doubts as well. The difference between DaVinci’s mind and the minds of the ones who doubt is that he never stopped creating. He probably enjoyed his work immensely and cultivated passion in it.
There is a difference between finding your passion and cultivating one. A lot of people have difficulties finding their “true” calling, and sadly most of them never find it and continue living a life of frustrated dreams.
The main reason for this is because passion can never be found, it can only be created and cultivated based on individual qualities. Qualities that every single one of us possesses.
The only distance that separates our passion from our dreams and goals is the distance of doubt. Unfortunately, for most of the people, doubt is easier to be brought up to the surface of their minds than their dreams and goals.
A very disturbing fact of doubt is that it pretends to keep you safe. Although psychologically feeling safe is a good thing, it might not be productive in the creation of a better reality for yourself.
It is a fact that man is the only animal that “knows that he knows” and that is what makes him human and also vulnerable to adverse influence which is typically picked up during childhood.
Doubts don’t keep you safe; instead, they keep you fooled and steal your potential of becoming a much better and successful human being.
Awareness is the perfect weapon to catch your mind when it is telling you lies about what and who you are and to stop the inherent potential to succeed that you already possess in your brain and mind.
Be alert and next time you are listening to the thoughts in your mind and feeling that they are not in cooperation with your desired state, act immediately and do the very best to move towards a better mental space .
A very simple way to counteract the effect of negative thinking is by asking yourself where is this thought coming from? Where did I learn that this is true? Did I experience the memory of this view?
Most likely, all these thoughts and views will be a bunch of self-defeating beliefs that somehow got deep into your subconscious and made you believe that they are valid even if you never experienced them.
What are your goals and dreams? Can you make them happen?