There’s a story about two caterpillars who spy a butterfly overhead. One turns to the other and says “You’ll never get me up in one of those things.”
Have you ever felt like that caterpillar? Part of you may want to fly. But another part clearly doesn’t.
That’s precisely what’s going on whenever you feel stuck—you’re experiencing an internal conflict. Part wants to. Part doesn’t.
The trick to getting unstuck isn’t by denying or fighting your resistance. What you ignore, you empower. What you resist, persists.
I speak from experience. After my divorce, I tried hard to learn about money. I’d pick up a book, attend a class, only to fog up, glaze over, give up. Until one day, a therapist challenged me.
“I really want to get smart about money,” I told him, my voice tight with desperation.
He looked me straight in the eye and said, “No you don’t. You may say you want to get smart, but you really don’t.”
I couldn’t argue. In that moment, I met the part of me that desperately wanted to stay ignorant. The part that was terrified of angering her parents, losing everything, and most of all, afraid no man would love a financially savvy woman.
I spent months getting to know this part—her fears, concerns, early family messages and cultural conditioning.
I also kept repeating positive statements in an effort to fortify the other part. I AM smart about money. I AM excited to learn. I AM a great role model for my kids. I AM attracting a man who loves a powerful woman.
I now realize I was literally reprogramming my brain. Instead of dwelling on what scared me, I focused on what I wished to create, how I desired to feel…even if it seemed impossible. As science has proven, what flows through the mind, wires the brain.
Slowly the fog lifted. I actually began enjoying the learning process, seeing results, relishing how powerful I felt. And that hasn’t changed in over 40 years.
If you aren’t getting what you say you want, what do you think you’re afraid of? Leave me a comment below.
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