Swallow a giraffe whole

If you're in transiton in your career, or considering what course to take in the next chapter of your education, it makes sense to review your priorities, your finances and also your values. It's also in your interest to remain optimistic about the future. Collecting information and reflecting honestly will help you transform your conditions into new commercial or other opportunities. On this note, its been said that 'to swallow a giraffe whole,' would be like reaching beyond what you think is possible.  Perhaps its time to to stick your neck out further like a gutsy giraffe?

1) Should you pursue a career you think you'll love at any cost? Every experience is a warning of what is to come, so you're better off not doing what isn't necessary. If you're only option is to borrow money to pursue further education, or to set up a business and you already have big debts, your future will be constrained, even if you think you'll enjoy what you plan to do. When it comes to expanding on education, more people are choosing to work days and take night courses to obtain credentials gradually, with less stress and less debt. Decisions about business ventures or other risks are best pursued only if you believe in you and can afford to lose if you fail. Each person has to make the decision that works for particular circumstances.

2) Where would you place more emphasis; on school, work, marriage, family?The choices you make are those which you will have to live with, along with any ensuing stress or emotional strain you do or don't learn to handle.  If your decisions will affect the lives of other people financially or emotionally, its wise to sit down together and evaluate the pros and cons of significant decisions. Your former choices aren't necessarily bad choices, but you need to reassess what would work or not work based on your newly revised priorities.

3) What part does an income play in your career choices? Whatever you do, you will benefit from exploring you interests and committing to pursuits you connect with. No amount of income will be enough if you haven't learned how to live responsibly. No void can be filled by hard work if you don't enjoy what you do either. I've met professionals who pursed careers and realized they're unhappy, but often chose not to change paths because of financial debts, being unwilling to admit mistakes, false pride, or confusion about options. Only you can know how influential money is in your career choices, and only you can decide whether you will choose to accept your present reality or leave it for another path. Each decision has its own consequences. What makes you feel good about yourself and your future?

4) How can a person take wise risks?If you had a choice to take a co-op program and didn't have to obtain a loan, taking the work grant might contrain you to work for the sponsor for a few years.  Yet, if you ran up huge debt during that period paying for school yourself, you'd constrain yourself for at least that time, working to pay it back. So much of life depends on what you'd consider responsible at a given time. No matter which phase of life you're in, whether you've been laid off, fired, or seek a new position, what works or doesn't work for you will be measured against your goals and expectations. Taking wise risks would not imply saying you desire one thing and choosing to pursue others. Heighten your awareness about what you do/did, how you can impact desirable outcomes, and make more informed choices.

Shake yourself senseless

To expand on your perception is to realize how limited your basic senses are; eyes, ears, touch, smell, taste. These senses add depth to your perceived world. What we see is interpreted by our minds and shapes reality according to our beliefs. You may have heard people see what they wish to see or, justify what they choose.

Yet, what about things that are invisible? In this existence, people will experience connectedness, mystery, and immeasurable points of view that defy description. If we pay attention to both the perceived and invisible worlds, our beliefs will create a more complete picture. We will grasp we're a part of everything. This can help you see beyond your ego, that may periodically control you.

On top of that, do you realize your values change along with your perception? They both change as your desires evolve, and the life you envision emerges. If you desire or covet things that appear to belong to other people, and you focus enough energy and will in this direction, you may justify what future you imagine and why you act to take it away from others. As you reflect on your life honestly, you may have done this before. It may have been the case of someone else's girlfriend, toy, candy, dessert, opportunity or another source of perceived happiness. What does your jealousy, rivalry and desire to steal that away tell you about yourself?

The concept of what is “wrong” may defy human senses. The word refers to where a person is “mistaken” or when a person is “immoral.” An action is mistaken (doesn't work) if you don't get your desired result. Whether an action can be described as ‘immoral’ is trickier, because social codes and laws vary widely, and what you think is 'right' or 'okay' changes based on you. You may say, "that person doesn't deserve to be happy as much as I do," or, "that girl is not good enough for him, and I'm better," or, "that person has more than enough, I'll take some for me," or, "I'm entitled to do whatever I want." You may have a selective (or absent) conscience.

What is all this implying? Perhaps its time you shake yourself senseless in order to determine your reasons for behavior that should make you feel uncomfortable. Why would you feel it necessary to take away from others what you don't have? What you've done is past. Yet, you can grow to better understand why you have been hurtful, unethical, insensitive, self-centered, under-handed or immoral. You have opportunitites to make amends with yourself and others, to learn lessons and plan differently in similar circumstances next time. It's never to late to change, or forgive. Jealousy has many causes. It tends to grow if left untamed. As you identify causes, controlling it will get easier. No one can change your life except for you.

The ultimate sacrifice

Through writing, I sense I'm motivated to explore and invite people to reflect on cultural ideas of selfishness. It's fine to believe you aren't a selfish person yet, if you're not well-acquainted with yourself, your beliefs and ignorance, you may be deluding yourself. Closer examination would require you to define your view of selfish, and with respect to whom. You may not yet even be aware of what you're giving up, for whom or why. Would that matter?

Writing is a vehicle you can use to discover whether you're concerned primarily with your own interests, benefits, and welfare or, whether you sacrifice yourself, your dreams and priorities, even completely, for others, maybe without realizing it. Your ultimate sacrifice is defined by what you deem is required to make you a better person. Reading your expressed thoughts may lead you to become more tolerant, more compassionate and less self-serving, but does it make you feel wiser or better? Would making choices in your interest, that develop or heal you, always be wrong?

Perhaps experiencing true love enables you to assess the underlying reasons for surrender. As you decide what you're willing to do to change the reality of your life, you also reframe desirable goals or claims. Love has the power to draw your attention to your beliefs, and makes it okay to recognize flaws in what you previously thought was important. You realize its okay to let go of limiting beliefs, to become more receptive to uncertainty and new experiences.

Writing is like a window into yourself through which you can peer and recognize the folly of your illusions, and learn to laugh at yourself and your perspectives. Only clarity created by self-love will enable you to discern who you always have been and what characterizes who you are. If you're fortunate to know anyone who encourages you to face your fears, to embace your talents, and who supports you through uncertainty, then writing serves as an added bonus to encourage you to be more open with yourself. Mortality also reminds us to make the most of limited time.

Face the music

On some level, each individual dreams of being an artist with limitless creative energy. Yet, many people prevent themselves from discovering and expressing their energy. Rather than learn the laws of life and inner balance and make choices to promote a sense of completeness, many people make decisions that don't embrace the source of their energy. How many people do you know who permit themselves to openly express what they think and feel without prejudice?

One reason why people hesitate to take risks involved is because they would have to look deep within themselves and face the music. Each of us would have to be willing to confront whatever we have refused to admit or acknowledge, whatever difficult situations or memories we have been ignoring. Only be embracing all emotions you experience, and learning to understand them, will you learn to accept even hidden or dormant parts of yourself. By choosing to explore this process, you will begin to connect with your true essence. As you build courage, you realize why you wouldn't ultimately like to settle for devoting yourself to anything else.

I know a politician who has developed impressive magician skills during his spare time. Although he will rent out his services intermittently for children's birthday parties and other events, he has not yet developed the confidence or initiative to promote his talent further or to develop other avenues. He prefers to spend most of his spare time learning new magic tricks to deceive his friends in jest. He hasn't yet taken his creative juices seriously, so as to focus his energies where his heart is.

I know a businessman stuck in a rut in a tech industry, who is also a thrill-seeker and adventure sport enthusiast. Although he has an extrovert personality, and the practical potential to build a new outdoor business, he refuses to swallow his pride. His mindset perpetuates a vicious circle of deepening problems. He hasn't yet realized that transferable skills he has gained and lessons he could learn would be well-suited to establishing new goals and taking new risks.

I met a taxi driver who nurtures an interest in carpentry work, and has taken some of his products to weekend markets. Reception has been positive, but he is shy and lacks faith in his abilities. He often wonders what his life would like if he was able to focus only on the primary source of his creative inspiration. He doesn't realize his self-defeating attitude holds him back. He hasn't developed trust in himself to explore real demand for his skills in building industries or other places. Nonetheless, he designs new creations to nurture a dream whenever he awaits his next fare.

I know a woman who has the ability to sing beautifully, but her mathematics degree led her to pursue a predictable career in teaching. Although competent and comfortable in a classroom, her fear of standing in front of large audiences has convinced her she could never pursue a musical career. Her embarassment has relegated her to singing talent in the shower, in the car, in parks, in cemeteries or, wherever she feels convinced she is alone.

Such examples remind us all that changing the way we regard our perceived talents and attitude, can change the way we value ourselves and our potential. Each of us has the power to transform our lives and the world with what we can offer, providing we don't convince ourselves that we can't. Realize that less value is found in holding onto unfulfilling lives than in devoting yourself to realizing dreams. How do you feel?

Uncover the crux of bondage

What is it that prompts you to make the sacrifices you've long felt would be necessary to devote yourself to your passion? How is it that you came to be experiencing the path of surrender to your inner self? Who entered your life to support and encourage you in ways nobody had before? If you haven't yet taken a quantum leap into this unknown, you're more than ready.

For a long time, most people are conditioned to follow a logical path, that which is understood and even defined by others. Real, enduring success is defined by your intuition. It's not based on what you learn outside yourself, but a layer of reality you learn to listen to inside. The how isn't taught. Rather, its something you discover in phases. You'll find it reasonable to skip steps followed by other people on their own quests. You may feel no desire to sit or wait for events to unfold, and feel convinced apathy really has no point for you.

In order to grasp what path to success you do desire to define for yourself it may be useful or even necessary to experience the impact of laziness, aloneness and pure solitude. You may need to sort through the difference between your reality and self-created illusions. You'll need to determine which among your choices may become a hindrance to your true path. Some individuals will tell you feeling lonely is simply a phase. Being alone is how you perceive yourself always, whether a success or not because you perceive yourself separate from people.

If feeling lonely or experiencing human connections is incidental, then separating yourself from the familiar is vital to isolate your view of success. Solitude allows you to evolve as yourself, to get back to yourself and to define the road to success only you can clarify. Becoming a victim of loneliness is like the impetus to seek an escape route back to others, back to dependency, back to a situation that prevents you from being truly honest with yourself.

Consider Che Guevara wrote The Motorcycle Diaries. This chronicles his harrolding South and Latin-American adventures with companion Alberto.  Guevara's background in an upper middle class family, had prepared him for a medical career and a relatively sheltered life. The rustic, overland trip was Guevara's first exposure to the harsh realities of Latin America. In his book, he details how he interacted with widespread indigenous peasants, including mine workers and persecuted communists. Che's journey forces him to face his deepest hopes, fears and principles. He decides he desires to fight and die for the proletariat cause in Latin America. Solitude, forging friendships with strangers and learning to survive alone, enabled him to redefine his view of success, outside of his original mental bondage.

This shows how emptiness and dissatisfaction you create is valuable as you grow to discover what truth it hides. You can determine you have value whether you initially sense you're a 'nobody' or a 'somebody.' Che's view of success evolved into an extreme vision of independence. As you isolate yourself in your mind or your physical reality, and feel empty enough to permit your truth to flow freely inside, to feel as though you have no purpose and no value, you'll finally uncover the crux of what has held you back and components of your true success.