Change

“Pain is the touchstone to all growth.” Bill Wilson

Why do we need to get sick and tired of being sick and tired before we are willing to change? I believe it’s because we only find humility through repeated humiliations. Pain seems to be the only thing that puts a crack in the armor of our self-reliance, self-justification, and self-satisfaction.

We all have our perceptions of reality. Some of us look through a clear window. But most of our vision is clouded, veiled, or even walled up behind the ego, old stories, or trauma. A lot of time, we justify our perceptions with false motivations, lying to ourselves and others. We tell ourselves that we are acting out of our integrity when, in reality, we are exercising self-righteousness, or that we are setting a boundary when we are trying to control another person’s behavior.

It’s not until we have exhausted every possible scenario that we become willing to try something different. Only after we have beat our head against the wall of rationalization, cracked and bleeding, do we have the humility to open our minds and spirits to a new way of thinking and of intuiting.

We shouldn’t be surprised. We live in a world where experts are revered; we all want to be experts. “In my expert opinion…” it seems that no one wants to be a student. Until there is some crisis that we can neither avoid nor evade, we are unable to adopt a student mentality.

We must demolish the wall of false perceptions.

It is only by tearing down the false perceptions that we can start again. To be willing to listen again, to be ready to learn again. To be willing to grow again.

Just for today
I will keep an open mind. I will listen without judgment and adopt the attitude of a student. When I find myself judging someone else’s actions or words, I will remind myself that I am a learner and not a judge.

Prayer
God help me to be the best version of myself. Grant me the knowledge of who I am and point me in the direction of how you want me to develop. Help me set aside everything I think I know and open my mind. Whenever I start judging the rightness or wrongness of a situation, ignite my curiosity. Allow me to curiously watch and learn from the scenarios you put me in.