I love my work.
In fact, I love what I do so much it seems completely off the mark to consider it work.
What a privilege it is to do what I love and love what I do. So few get to live that way, not because they can’t, but because they choose not to.
My privileges don’t end there. I never lose sight of what a privilege it is to not only be given the natural abilities I have, but to be given the opportunity to put those gifts to good use. Can there be anything more wasteful and sorrowful, than natural ability unexplored, undeveloped, and unexpressed?
I don’t think so.
The greatest privilege of all is the opportunity to live life in order to enlighten oneself.
The second greatest privilege of all is to be gifted with the awareness to see that truth.
The third greatest privilege of all is to be given the opportunity to be a source of enlightenment in others, so they too can self-actualise and lead far more successful lives.
Such is the magnitude of my privileges.
Privilege comes with significant responsibility. As a highly conscious teacher shared many moons ago:
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked”.
My primary responsibility is to my Self – to choose who I want to be, to be who I choose to be and be the best version of that I can be.
My second responsibility is to be the best version of who I choose to be to those closest to me.
My third responsibility is to be the best version of who I chose to be to those I serve professionally.
If I’m not bringing light to my own darkness, how I can I expect to ask it of others?
If I’m not elevating my own consciousness, how am I qualified to help others do the same?
If I’m not improving who I am, what gives me the right to challenge others to do the same?
There are many people in my industry who think they’re qualified to help others live more successfully because they’ve acquired some skills, tools and resources and have a certificate hanging on their office wall.
They do little, if anything, to elevate their own consciousness. They don’t invest in a coach, they don’t invest in mentors, they hardly invest in improving themselves at all, yet hypocritically expect others to by investing in their products or services.
For me, they’re the worst kind of charlatan there is – willfully negligent at both a personal and professional level.
“Physician, heal thyself”.
I’m a flawed man. I have shortcomings. I’m burdened by unconscious baggage. I’m on the journey to enlightenment like the rest of us (even though most of our kind aren’t aware they are).
I may be further down the pavement and more consciousness than most, but I’d be grossly negligent to rest on my laurels – negligent as a human being, negligent as a father, negligent as a husband, and negligent as a leader in the lives of other people.
After a break of nearly a year and a half, I’m returning to psychotherapy.
Believe me, I need it and I’m grateful to have the awareness to know I need it.
Self-awareness is the cornerstone of a successful life. It comes at a price. That price is paid through self-observation. Self-observation is the witnessing of oneself in any given moment, as if a fly on the wall.
Recently I’ve witnessed myself in a couple of situations where I’ve not shown up in the manner I choose to show up in life. In those moments, I didn’t represent the person I know myself to be.
What was it that Shakespeare said?
“This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man”.
My self observation witnessed nothing major but I know, from bitter experience, such lessons are ignored at my peril.
I’ve ignored the warning signs before, not knowing any better, and there’s a horrible price to pay for not owning and resolving deep-seated issues. If I can catch myself not being at my best in a couple of instances, I can guarantee I’ve not been at my best at other times when I’ve been none the wiser.
I’m not willing to live like that.
I’m not willing to turn a blind eye.
I’m not willing to allow others to suffer for the shortcomings I’ve not had the courage, or awareness, or both, to resolve.
Much has come to pass in the 16 months since I last engaged in psychotherapy. My father’s terminal illness and eventual passing, and dealing with the ignorance of the ignorants he’d closely associated with. None of it passes without implication.
We human beings are remarkably resilient. We’re also remarkably ignorant. We carry unresolved emotional trauma like a sack of rocks on our backs and we don’t even know it. We continue to function in life…until our functioning becomes increasingly dysfunctional.
Make no mistake, whatever we’re not willing to face, own and resolve will have its say. It will not lie dormant. On the contrary, it will increasingly piss out of us in all directions as time marches on.
Our demons won’t be denied. They will be heard. And they’ll not stop until they’re dealt with. This is how the unconscious “offers it up” in order to bring healing.
Unknown wounds know no healing.
I’m no guru. I’ve never claimed to be and never will. The greatest teaching I offer the world is the manner by which I face my own demons, and my willingness to deal with them.
In exemplifying the act of making the unconscious conscious in my own life, I help others do the same.
That’s why, once again, I’m returning to the process by which I can dig deep.
Christian Simpson is the UK’s leading coach and mentor to business owners and entrepreneurs. For COMPLIMENTARY ACCESS to tried, tested and proven entrepreneurial success strategies, click here
