Deprecated: register_sidebar_widget is deprecated since version 2.8.0! Use wp_register_sidebar_widget() instead. in /home1/thegreat/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 5213
Deprecated: register_widget_control is deprecated since version 2.8.0! Use wp_register_widget_control() instead. in /home1/thegreat/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 5213 Self Empowerment | The Greatness Connection - Part 2
I recently gave a talk to an audience on the power of living fully in our lives. The quest for finding the essence within us that makes us live each and everyday with a greater sense of purpose, passion and presence in our world.
As a transformational coach, intuitive and medium I’ve often experienced situations where client’s loved ones have presented with messages of encouragement, wanting them to make the most of the precious gift of life that they have been afforded.
And if there is one thing that separates those soul-centred leaders who have managed to create, and craft lives of greatness, it would be their ability to connect with a deep sense of PURPOSE and MISSION in their lives.
But what is it that really gives our lives meaning?
What is it that can provide us with greater purpose and direction, even in the moments when we feel lost and off-track?
I believe it’s our capacity to connect with a deep sense of mission, a greater ‘why’ that goes beyond just achieving success and instead encourages us to craft a life of greatness.
So, here’s a simple but powerful exercise that will help you connect with what’s really most important to you in life …
Life Success: Starting with the End in Mind
Several years ago, Stephen Covey, best-selling author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People defined one of the habits as being ‘Starting with the End in Mind’.
However, when it comes to our own lives, it can be easy to forget that we are only here for a limited amount of time, that our journey in this ‘Earth School’ will eventually come to an end.
So, if you really want to find more purpose, direction and passion in your life, start by asking this one question:
“What do I want to be remembered for when I die?”
This one question is powerful in its own right for it will help you uncover what is really important for you in life.
You may even want to imagine yourself travelling forward in time to your 80th birthday, or even to your own funeral service and imagine:
What are people are saying about you?
What do they remember you for?
What do they say was most important to you in life?
What stories and events do they feel shaped and defined your life?
What difference and impact did you make?
How did you contribute and enrich people’s lives?
What is the legacy that you left behind?
It’s a powerful process that will help you uncover your ‘true values’ in life.
Afterall, we can’t take money and material possessions with us into the next world, but what we will take and gather are the experiences, the memories, the relationships and the connections that we have made along the journey.
Time to Reimagine Your Future
Remember, the greatest gift that you have been given as a human being is in your ability to visualise, imagine and recreate your future.
If the life you have been living and the results you have produced are not what you wanted, then the good news is that you can choose to leave the past and recreate a new future by simply committing to change your approach, change your values, change your decisions and change your behaviour.
One of the greatest benefits of asking the question above is that it will allow you to see what needs to change in the time that you have remaining on the earth plane. It will also encourage you to create a new sense of purpose and mission, a powerful and compelling reason for being that will move you forward.
Make the Most of Your Dash
If you’ve ever wandered through a cemetery you may have seen the myriad of tombstones celebrating the lives of the individuals that once graced this wonderful planet. What all of these people had in common is that they were all born and they all had an expiry or end date. In fact you’ll often see this represented on the headstones by a birth year and end year.
But what is it that often separates these two years – a dash. It’s what we do in the time that we have left that makes the most difference. It’s value is in how we choose to contribute, how we choose to live, in the moments of joy that we choose to fill our lives with, who we choose to love and we choose to love them.
So, if you’re wanting to make the most of the dash that you have remaining, take some time out to carefully look at and review ‘What’s most important to you in life’. Too many people spend their entire lives climbing the ladder of success, status and materialism only to find out that the ladder was against the wrong wall.
Live Your Life Without Regret
Choosing in favour of your highest values and what’s most important to you will help you live a life that is rich, happy, meaningful and fulfilling. It’s just one way to ensure we don’t arrive at the end of our lives with regrets, wishing that we could have done things differently.
According to Australian nurse and author, Bronnie Ware, one of the greatest regrets in life for most people is that they never lived a life that was true to themselves.
Asking “What do I want to be remembered for when I die?” provides a powerfully way to connect with our own mortality, but in a way that can help you ignite the path forward to live fully by choosing to live a life that is true to your own self, your own desires and your own spirit.
So, make sure to take some time and answer this question today.
It could be one of the most purpose-filled and meaningful exercises that you could do for your life!
Ready to Switch on a Greater Light?
On the path of greatness, we are all being encouraged to connect with our true purpose and passion, and to live lives that fully reflect the greatness that is present within our own beings.
If you’re ready to expand your own presence and light in the world and to share your life message in a greater way, then make sure to check out our ‘Be the Lighthouse’ program. A unique 7-month transformational journey for soul-centred and aspiring individuals who know the time has come to awaken their innate gifts and make a bigger impact in the world. Contact our office today for more details on the program.
Ever found yourself travelling through fog on an early winter morning?
Having spent many years living in the United Kingdom and London, I can assure you that being caught in a fog can be one of the most disorientating and ungrounded of situations that we experience in our lives. Yet everyday people around the world find themselves being caught in their own mental, emotional and spiritual fog that can often keep them separate from really living, creating and enjoying the results and lives that they deserve.
After more than 20 years working as a transformational coach, intuitive and energy healer, what I have noticed from the experience of my clients and my own life is that the number one barrier that can keeps most people from realising greater levels of freedom and success is simply a lack of being clear.
The Power of Getting Clear
On an energetic and consciousness level we are now starting to understand that every thought, belief and intention we have has the power to create our reality. Our thoughts contain greater energy that can literally direct and shape the course of our lives. Yet for most people more than 90% of our daily thoughts are often taking place at the unconscious level, beyond our awareness. And it is here in the depths of our being that we can often create and experience blockages, limitations and struggle.
Clarity has immense power. When we choose to become clear both in our vision, our thoughts and our unconscious energy, it creates a powerful state of inner-alignment where our life energy can flow, unrestricted, with grace ease and lightness. In this state our ability to create, manifest and attract what we desire becomes easier. We no longer have to ‘force’ things to happen or exert undue amounts of ‘effort’. Instead we can allow the wind of divine grace and providence to help guide us and nurture us towards the goals, dreams, desires and intentions that we deem most important.
Your Intentions Activate Your Counter-Intentions
When we are living in our comfort zones without any desire for change everything seems safe, comfortable and secure. Yet, like sailing boats, we were not created to remain safe in a harbour. Our soul and spirit is always looking for ways for us to create, grow and expand. To realise our full and greatest potential for this lifetime.
And that’s where there is an interesting paradox that takes place.
In the moments that we choose to set a new and greater intention for something better or more in our lives, we simultaneously activate the limitations, beliefs and resistance to change that would have us stay where we are. How we navigate this conflict in energy, and our ability to learn to move beyond the patterns of our past and find the courage and self-confidence to expand into our highest reality is the key to success.
“People fail because they think, objectively, that they can do things, but do not know, subconsciously, that they can do them. It is more likely that your subconscious mind is even now impressed with doubts of your ability to succeed; and these must be removed, or it will hold its power over you when you need it most.” Wallace D. Wattles, How to Get What You Want
That’s why if it any point in your life you are feeling resistance or struggle towards creating what you want, it’s a good sign. It’s actually a predominant sign that your soul and spirit is growing and calling upon you to become more than you have ever been before.
So Where Do We Need to Get Clear?
Through my work in clinical practice, the corporate world and through many individual coaching sessions, here is a short list of some of the key patterns that can often keep us from getting clear:
Fear and Doubt
As human beings we are born into the world with two main innate fears – the fear of falling and the fear or loud noises. All other fears are learnt during our childhood years. Conditioned fear and doubt that does not serve our highest good can be one of the most limiting factors to peak performance in our lives.
Our quest however is not to eliminate fear, as some level of fear will always be present when we are growing, changing and expanding. Our quest is to learn to let fear and doubt become the back-seat companions on our journey, as we let our higher, infinite, creative and courageous self, learn to do the driving.
Unworthiness
How we choose to see ourselves in life, determines the quality of what we are willing to receive. Patterns of unworthiness and undeserving can therefore keep us separate from receiving our highest good and allowing life to flow more easily.
If you’re finding yourself struggling to attract and allow good, prosperity and benevolence into your life, then it may be an unconscious pattern of unworthiness that is at play.
Limiting Choices and Decisions
Sometimes in our lives we may have made both conscious and unconscious decisions that have limited our lives. Why would we choose to do that??
Maybe because as a child we chose to believe and take on the limiting programming or conditioning of others. Maybe because by unconsciously limiting ourselves we can find safety, protection and reassurance. Maybe we simply have chosen to take on a belief, ideology or doctrine that is no longer consistent with who we really believe we are.
Its in the process of discovering our own path to greatness that we will be encouraged to let go of the shackles of the past, to release ourselves from the glass ceilings that have kept our energy and talents held back, so we can discover that at our essence we are infinite and unlimited beings.
Energetic Connections and Cords
Have you ever been in an intimate relationship with another human being? Whether that was a family member, a spouse, a lover or a child, every connection we make that infuses our soul and heart energy to another human being, event or situations creates an energetic cord or attachment.
Normally in the process of recovering from a major heart-break or loss of a loved one, we may find ourselves continuously thinking and feeling the others persons energy. While this may be functional for a period of time, its when these cords and attachments drain our life force energy and keep us from moving on in life that intervention and release is needed.
Ancestral Beliefs and Patterns
We are the essential by-product of our ancestors thinking, beliefs, actions and karma. While we have free will and independence as a soul in this lifetime to choose and navigate our own destiny, often the patterns of limitation, fear and restrictive mindsets that we carry can be a reflection of the unlearned lessons of our ancestors.
By learning to tap into the energetic imprints within the DNA and the human energy anatomy we can learn to identify these cords, lessons and restrictions, and then work with the energy of our ancestors to set ourselves (and themselves) free.
Energetic Debris
Have you ever returned home from work or a party to find yourself feeling energetically drained? Are there some people in your world that simply ‘suck the life’ out of you?
As human energetic beings we are always interacting with our environment. Our bodies like sponges can absorb and take on the mental, emotional and even spiritual clutter that resides energetically in our environments.
Receiving regular healing and clearing and learning how to protect and keep our energy centres and field clear is essential for optimal living in our over cluttered and energetically dense world.
Our bodies need to be experiencing and receiving high levels of ‘prana’ or life-force on a regular basis, whether that be from being in nature, walking by a stream or river, taking regular salt baths or having regular healing and clearing sessions.
Soul Contracts
Sometimes when we feel we are being held back or denied our best it can because we have created or experienced soul contracts with other people, organisations or institutions. These conscious and unconscious agreements, just like formal legal contracts can hold immense power over our soul energy, especially if they have been enforced or placed upon us by a higher power such as an authority figure, religious institution or the law.
In reclaiming our own sovereignty and power it is essential that we learn now to break free and reprogram or release these contracts so we can move forward in our lives with greater ease, grace and flow.
Anger, Sadness, Grief, Guilt and Shame
Finally, what I like to call the BIG 5. The five core limiting emotions that can often keep us from activating and living our highest and greatest lives.
In the process of doing our own life clearing it is likely that we will need to address the residual anger, sadness, shame, guilt and grief from both this lifetime, and sometimes our earlier lives.
While each of these emotions plays an important role in our ‘school of life’ on the earth plane, it is when these emotions become dysfunctional that chaos can reign.
Our role is to therefore address the underlying cause, discover the lessons that we were meant to learn that would free us to grow and evolve, and to then transcend and release these feelings to our source. Replacing them then with the real key to understanding, freedom and release that is present when we are willing to do the inner-work and set ourselves free to experience the antonym of each – Joy, Happiness, Connection, Empowered and Proud.
Your Path to Miracles
What is a miracle? Its nothing more than a transformational shift in consciousness that takes from a state of something we initially believed was impossible, to discover the possible.
The moment you begin to look at and clear the blockages, patterns and limitations that have held your life energy back, the more open we become to experiencing transformational shifts in our own energy and consciousness, and the more life flows.
“Getting clear is removing the counter-intentions. When you do, you can have, do, or be anything you can imagine. Getting clear is the missing secret to all self-help programs. It’s the key to attracting whatever you want.” Joe Vitale, The Key
Remember: Struggle, resistance, doubt and fear are all signs that you are growing and being encouraged to step beyond what is known, to realise all that you really are.
When you consciously take time to identify, clear and release the patterns that have been holding you back at the conscious, unconscious and spiritual level, we embrace the greatest gift for our soul for this lifetime. We embrace the courage to allow ourselves to simply become all that we were uniquely and divinely create to be. We allow our magnificence and true light to shine.
Les Price is a transformational life and business coach, author, speaker, intuitive and healer. If you feel you have been holding onto limiting patterns, emotions, feeling and blockages from the past that no longer serve you, and are looking for a safe environment to allow greater freedom and liberation into your life – contact our office to organise a consultation with Les.
In the quest towards a life of greatness it can be easy to forget that we already have already have access to a tremendous source of consciousness, inspiration and creativity within ourselves.
In each moment we have the ability to shift our direction and consciousness simply by choosing to ask more empower questions of ourselves. The greater the quality of question, the greater the energy of the answers that we receive.
So today, I simply want you to connect with just one question that has the capacity to radically shift your energy, vibration and intention on all levels. It also has the capacity to connect you to the deeper source of intelligence and wisdom that is within you, your own sense of personal worth and greatness. And that question is:
“Who are you at your best?”
Here’s why this simple question is so powerful and some ways that you might like to explore and play with it in your own life.
1. What We Place Our Attention on Grows
If you had an upbringing like most children then you probably would have experienced moments where you did not receive the acknowledgement, affirmation and love that you really desired. In fact it’s been proven through research that most children will hear the word ‘no’ many more times than they ever receive the word ‘yes’.
Changing our lives therefore requires a deep need to reprogram our consciousness and focus away from what we ‘don’t want’ towards what we really ‘want’, and this simple question has the power to do that by allowing you to delve deep into your own consciousness and experience to find and acknowledge those moments where you were engaged in your best work and contribution in the world.
Best of all what you place your attention and focus on grows. So the more you direct your consciousness to moments where you have been your best, the more opportunity that there is for these moments to manifest and appear in your life.
2. Our Self-Worth Determines Our Net-Worth
Answering this question will also help you to connect to the moments where you’re self-worth and image were at their best. As you recall and bring to mind the experiences of your life that have filled you, that have inspired you that have allowed you to step from within the confines of your comfort zone into the light, you’ll also be activating new neural pathways that will literally re-program your mind and consciousness for greater success.
And as your self-image and self-worth expand they also directly impact your ability to attract and create greater levels of prosperity and purpose in your life.
3. Go Deep with Your Inquiry
There is something fascinating about the process of self-inquiry. As we continuously ask ourselves a question we can delve deep into the realm of our own consciousness to activate the presence of our soul. And it is here in the depth of our soul’s understanding of our lives that we have access to tremendous power and presence.
So take out a notepad and start by asking yourself this simple question above. Write down all your answers and then repeat the process. As you continuously ask the question of yourself and simply allow the answers within you to arise, you will begin to notice the energy and intent in the answers you receive change. They will often align with the following process:
Conscious Responses (what I think) –> Unconscious responses (what I feel) –> Soul Centred Responses (what is my real truth)
The deeper you go in your self-inquiry and process of ‘allowing’ your soul’s truth to arise, the greater the meaning and power behind the answers that you will receive.
4. Invoking an Energy of Self-Love and Appreciation
This question also has the capacity to connect you with a deeper sense of self-love, respect and appreciation for yourself.
When we choose to look at ourselves through the eyes of self-love and appreciation we open new door ways for self-empowerment and presence in our lives.
Therefore, if you want to take this process further. You may want to practice it in front of a mirror. Start by looking at yourself through the eyes of love, through the eyes of self-respect, through the eyes of compassion. Then begin to elicit the answers that come to mind. Each time you receive an insight love and respect yourself even more.
You already are a divine child of creation. The moment you answer this question with honesty and respect you embrace the truth that you already are ‘whole, perfect and complete as you are’. You embrace the understanding that you are a loved, valued and highly respected.
5. Catch and Cradle Your Moments of Magnificence
Asking this question on a daily basis and recording your answers in a journal or diary is one of the fastest ways to increase your personal energy, self-esteem and efficacy.
As best-selling author of the ‘Discover Your Strengths’ series, Marcus Buckingham says “we need to catch and cradle” our success on a regular basis.
So, if you want to take this question to the next level, why not embed it as part of your daily ritual and ask this question either at the beginning or end of your day.
Those who have shaped and created lives of greatness have done so by embracing daily habits of success in their lives. They literally have conditioned and taught themselves to ask more empowering questions, that generate more empowering and fruitful answers.
And answering this one question might just hold the key to unfolding and awakening your own potential for greatness today.
Les Price is a transformational life and business coach, author, speaker, intuitive and healer. If you feel you have been holding onto limiting patterns, emotions, feeling and blockages from the past that no longer serve you, and are looking for a safe environment to allow greater freedom and liberation into your life – contact our office to organise a consultation with Les.
3 Insights to Help You Gain Freedom from those Moments that Hold Your Life Back
As a transformational life coach, business coach, intuitive guide and energy healer, one of the most common patterns I see present with my clients is that of being stuck.
When we are stuck and being limited by an unconscious block or pattern it can seem like nothing in our lives is working. In fact it is often said that the “only different between a rut and a grave is the depth”, and while this statement may seem confronting for many, the reality is that energetically anything or anyone that is not growing, moving forward or realising its full potential, will at some level of consciousness be energetically dying, retreating and stagnating.
So, if these patterns of being ‘stuck’ and ‘inner-conflict’ are so common
how do we break-free and realise our true destiny?
How do we find the awareness, courage and insight to bring harmony and balance back to our being and allow our true energy, passion and vitality to flow again?
Well, here are some powerful insights and strategies to help you gain greater awareness of what might be holding you back, and at the same time lead you towards creating greater freedom in your life or business.
1 : What ‘Type of Stuck’ You Are Experiencing?
While all feelings of being stuck, held back or feeling blocked carry similar energetic traits, not all types of ‘stuck patterns’ are the same. Therefore, it helps to pay attention and gain greater awareness of the ‘type of stuck’ that you are experiencing in the moment. Here are just a few of the main one’s I have often seen presenting in clients and my own life.
A. Beliefs, Fear Patterns and Limiting Decisions
Have you ever seen a fly that has found itself stuck inside a room and then desperately seeks to escape via a closed window? If so, you’ll understand the consequence of limiting belief systems, fear patterns and limiting decisions.
Often characterised by an ‘upper limit’ problem or glass ceiling many of these patterns are unconscious and serve to keep us separated from our truth. Often run by the ego, they tend to manifest as patterns of protection, control or survival.
The key to freedom here is to identify the ego-based pattern or limitation, release it, and then install a more empowering pattern that is based on your soul truth, spirit and true being.
B. Core Choice and Indecision Points
Many times, we can simply find ourselves stuck because we have reached a critical decision or choice point in our lives. Resonant of the image of a ‘fork in the road’, when we have two or more alternatives, it can be difficult leaving what we have known in the past, in order to embrace a new future.
However, these soul-defining points are critical for our soul’s progress and offer us the greatest opportunities for transformation and growth. The key here is to learn to make these decisions based on the courage, strength and certainty of our higher self, not from the place of our fear-based ego or scared inner-child.
C. Conflicts in Values Between our Spirit and Ego
Those who have been on a spiritual or personal growth quest will know those moments where we need to choose between our ego-based needs/desires/fears, and the calling of our true spirit.
For example, we may find ourselves desiring to make more money, but find ourselves in conflict with another part of ourselves that fears if we had too much money people might not love or accept us anymore.
While many believe we must get rid of the ego in order to be free, the truth is that our ego serves an important purpose in our lives, especially when it is aligned and working for us. It is therefore in learning how to have our ego and spirit work together that we can create great strides in our personal and professional progress.
D. End of a Cycle or Season
Sometimes we may find ourselves at the end of a season or cycle in our lives that brings us to a point of uncertainty. In these moments it can seem like what we held dear in the past is gone, and yet the new is still to arrive. These voids or plateaus in our lives offer an incredible opportunity for growth, refocusing and alignment.
In the voids of our lives we are being challenged to look deeper into our soul for what is trying to manifest. Like a newly planted seed, we may have to look under the covers to discover the growth and opportunity that awaits us. And sometimes we also will need to call on our patience as we wait out the gestation period, paying attention to the new growth and ways of being that are about to sprout.
2 : Change Your Paradigm
Often changing our ‘stuck’ or ‘blocked states’ simply requires a paradigm shift in our thinking and perception. Here are just a few shifts that you might consider making:
A. Sometimes we Need to Change Who We Are
There is an interesting story in the bible of Moses who was leading the Israelites out of slavery from Egypt, into the promised land. After many years of wandering the desert, an angel came down to Moses and the Israelites and said, “It’s time to leave this mountain”. Up until that point they had spent years going around in circles due to the old belief systems that they refused to let go of.
In many ways, the Israelites need for certainty and security convinced them that slavery might in fact be a better option than walking through a desert to find their freedom.
The key here was that the promised land was less than 100km away. So, while Moses was trying to get the Israelites out of Egypt, somehow, he couldn’t get Egypt (the past) out of the Israelites and this is what kept them stuck.
To create a new destiny, we will be called to release our past, and change the way we choose to see ourselves.
B. Honour Your Confusion
Have you ever found yourself in a place where you were confused?
Each of us are highly intuitive beings. In each moment we are receiving incredible guidance. So why then do we find ourselves in states where we become stuck?
The key is to realise that confusion is often the result of our heart trying to give us a message that our mind or brain does not understand. It’s in these moments that we need to stop struggling and instead, go inside, speak to our heart’s wise and innate intelligence and discover what it is trying to tell us.
C. Find the Blessing in Your Stuck State
Every behaviour or emotional pattern at its core is trying to serve or help us in some way. Therefore, even your ‘stuck state’ holds a gift and blessing for you, if you would find the courage to go within, seek awareness, and fully discover its highest intent for your life.
So, take a moment to simply ask:
What is the highest intent or purpose of this feeling stuck? How is it serving me?
What am I concerned would happen if it were no longer a problem?
3 : Key Insights for a Break-Through When You’re Stuck
Here are 5 insights that will help you navigate your way out of ego, fear and being stuck, and help create the environment and freedom for you to thrive:
A. Simply Move
It’s often difficult to ‘think our way’ out of a stuck state, because many of our ‘stuck patterns’ are held physically or energetically in our bodies.
Therefore, the greatest gift you can give yourself when you find yourself stuck is to simply move! Go for a run, go do some yoga, go for a walk and get some fresh air or go for a swim at the beach.
Movement has the power of getting us out of the head, and freeing our energy to flow again, and it is often in our times of movement that we receive our greatest breakthroughs and inspirations.
B. Make a Choice
If you’ve found yourself at a cross-road, then it’s time to get over analysis-paralysis and simply make a choice. After all, sitting on the fence will only give you splinters!
However, we’ve been conditioned in life to think that when we make choices there are ‘good choices’ and ‘bad choices’, success or failure. However, in any situation the worst thing you can do is make no choice. By learning to let go of your attachment to the outcome and entering your heart space you will begin to ‘feel’ which one of your choices appears the most appropriate for you now.
C. Unpack Your Consciousness
If you find yourself going around in circles, then it may be time to unload and unpack your consciousness. While the mind is a powerful tool for helping us make analytical decisions, when it comes to trust, movement and creativity, it comes second to the heart.
Therefore, if you find yourself overwhelmed mentally, get a notebook and simply write all your feelings, thoughts, stories, decisions – and allow them to be unpacked onto the page in-front of you. This process is a little like closing all the open application windows on your PC at home. Its about getting back to a fresh screen with nothing being held on it.
Then simply close your notebook and go to sleep on the problem or issue that you have in mind. Many solutions to great problems were discovered during or after the sleep state. Therefore, you might even want to seed your consciousness with a question you would like your subconscious to answer as you sleep.
D. Go Play
Yes, that’s right. I want you to go out and play!
While this strategy may seem contradictory to the outcome you are trying to achieve, have you ever noticed that as a child, the moment you engaged play in your life, it freed you to become more creative, more open and more resourceful?
There is something magical when we enter a state of play. We let go of all expectations. We become present in the moment. We let go of forcing things to happen and being tied to an outcome.
And it’s usually in these moments that our soul and spirit have the capacity to weave their magic and show us new pathways to freedom, providence and happiness.
E. Seek Wise Counsel
I know first-hand how frustrating it can be to be stuck in our own world. As a therapist, coach and healer myself, it can be hard working on our ‘own stuff’ because we are so attached to it. While we may think we have all the tools, and have read all the books, there still comes a times when we need to seek outside help and wise counsel.
That’s why I surround myself with practitioners I resonate with and respect. People I can turn to when I need wise counsel or need to bounce something important off them.
While our ego’s might convince us that we can do it ourselves, that we’ll handle it. The reality is that when something is not working in our lives, and we keep hitting brick walls, its time to call out for help.
A wise counsel can often help you get through and navigate your stuck states more effectively, therefore freeing you to do and experience the work and life that you were truly created to live.
Les Price is a transformational life and business coach, author, speaker, intuitive and healer. If you feel you have been holding onto limiting patterns, emotions, feeling and blockages from the past that no longer serve you, and are looking for a safe environment to allow greater freedom and liberation into your life – contact our office to organise a consultation with Les.
5 Lessons in Embracing Courage from The Greatest Showman Movie
I’ve just returned from the Christmas summer holidays inspired by many of the great movies released at this time. Somehow, there’s nothing like Hollywood’s ability to take a story and weave it into a compelling and insightful learning experience. And one movie that really moved my soul was The Greatest Showman, a musical extravaganza based loosely on the life of P.T. Barnum, the legendary ‘father of show business’.
Championed by Australian ‘triple threat’ singer, actor and dancer, Hugh Jackman, The Greatest Showman was a project that was 7 years in the making. A musical adventure with a compelling and catchy score with some powerful lessons on embracing courage, resilience and self-acceptance.
No matter whether we’re in the field of business and need to promote ourselves (like P.T. Barnum) or we’re just looking to find our creative dreams and live more fully in our light, COURAGE and SELF-BELIEF are the cornerstones of all great success.
Courage Lesson #1: At Some Point We’re All Called to Step into the Centre of the Ring
What is it that holds most people back from fully standing in their light?
What is it that stops us from accepting ourselves and having the courage to shine bright?
Prior to the making of The Greatest Showman movie the producers gathered all the lead singers, musical writers, actors and chorus for a workshop in New York City to pitch their musical concept to the executives of Fox Studios.
In one of these workshop sessions, Tony nominee and 13 year Broadway veteran, Keala Settle was called on to sing the key musical number and anthem for the movie, This is Me. However, having never appeared in a movie production before, and having only heard the song performed by another legendary singer, Keala’s nerves got the best of her. More so, she was even afraid to step out from behind the music stand and sing in front of the chorus and Fox Executives.
In fact it was only when director, Michael Gracey said to her “Keala, you HAVE TO step out from behind the stand, and walk into the centre of the (circus) ring”, that she managed to summon the courage to do so.
Take a look at this inspiring rendition of the song and this liberating workshop performance here:
At some point in our lives we are all called to ‘step beyond boundaries of our comfort zones’ and step fully into the ring. For its often only here in the centre, when we cast away our fears, when we let go of what others may think of us, that we truly get to let our light shine bright.
So where in your life is COURAGE now calling you forth to ‘Step into the Ring’?
Courage Lesson #2:
Embrace the Power of Difference
How much of our ordinary lives is spent trying to fit in and conform to other people’s expectations?
P.T Barnum knew that the key to standing-out in the world was being different. Rather than trying to blend in with the status quo. In fact, one of the most pertinent lines in the movie and its trailer is when Jackman, as P.T. Barnum says …
“No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else”
In many ways P.T. Barnum was the Elon Musk and the Steve Jobs of the 1800’s, often challenging the status quo of conventional beliefs and using imagination, creativity and sometimes even sleight of mouth to create new levels of interest and curiosity in his shows.
While modern society conventionally tries to get us all to fit in, be accepted and follow the tribal rules of our families, cultures and education system, its often those that don’t fit in that are becoming the real change agents and transformational leaders of our time.
The key then is: To find the courage to live your own authentic life, in alignment with your highest values and principles, in a way that makes a greater difference to yourself, your family and your world.
Courage Lesson #3:
We Need to Let Go of Past Conditioning and Tribal Patterns that Limit Us
What really holds you back from living and creating the life you deserve?
What beliefs, patterns and limitations hold back the true creative essence of your soul?
Who would you be without the limiting perceptions of your past?
Set in the mid 1800’s The Greatest Showman shows a world in which status differences between the rich and the poor, haves and the have not’s, the beautiful and the oddities has never been more complex and divisive.
While as a society we have moved in leaps and bounds in healing some of this segregation, the reality remains that for many of us we continue to hold onto the residual patterns of scarcity, insufficiency, not being good or worthy enough, or having to conform in society from our ancestors and our past.
Finding COURAGE to live our own lives and define a destiny that tells us that we are free, we are empowered and we are capable of realising our dreams and desires can therefore often be challenging.
It’s not surprising that in many of my one-on-one coaching, healing and guidance sessions with clients that they find themselves coming up against blocks from the past, that are holding them back from being all they can be in this lifetime.
Creating our best lives now, therefore call on us all to not only reach for the guidance of our own higher-selves, but to also find courage to release and free ourselves from the conditioning and patterns of our past (ancestral, DNA, past-life, this life) that will help set us free into the lives we were truly born to live.
Courage Lesson #4:
What if ‘We Rewrite the Stars’?
There’s a great segment within The Greatest Showman where Zac Efron, who plays the role of thtries to theatrical writer Phillip Carlyle, tries to convince trapeze artist Anne Wheeler (played by Zendaya) that it’s ok for her to leave her past behind, and that together they can literally “Rewrite the Stars”.
It’s a really touching and well-choreographed scene that sees literally both of them floating through the air on a trapeze rope, in an endless of dance of separation, then connection and finally separation.
But Zac’s calling to Zendaya is not wasted on us all … for literally in each moment of our lives we are being given the opportunity to “rewrite our own stars”. While each of us are actors in our own life movie, through free will, decision and choice we have the incredible power to reshape and redirect our own lives.
Q. So, what is it that keeps us from “rewriting our own stars” of “recreating our life stories the way we want them to be”?
A. Fear. Limiting beliefs. Not believing its possible. Not feeling we’re worthy of more. Not accepting our own true power and presence. Are just a few of the answers that come to mind.
However, COURAGE call on us to be more. Calls on us to take the pen of life in our hands and rewrite the scripts of our lives for those parts where we feel we are stuck, a victim, powerless, helpless, or defeated.
Can you imagine an Oprah Winfrey who did not choose to rewrite her stars as a child?
Can you imagine a Barack Obama who did not consider rewriting what might be possible for a coloured man in America?
Can you imagine a Nelson Mandela who did not choose to rewrite his stars on being released after 27 years in prison?
Courage Lesson #5:
Focus on Making a Difference – Not on Acceptance
Ever noticed that some of the world’s greatest leaders were once considered heretics?
Often in life we can fall into the trap of limiting our results and outcomes by seeking to be accepted by others, rather than truly reaching for what we know in our heart’s and soul’s is possible.
In Australia we even have a term for this, ‘The Tall Poppy Syndrome’. The social paradigm where once somebody becomes successful and begins to ‘stand out from the crowd’ there is the conscious and unconscious desire of those around to ‘cut them down’ and literally bring them down to size.
So, how then as visionary creators and leaders can we choose to stand in our own light?
How can we learn to embrace and embody our gifts, talents and abilities in ways that bring joy, happiness and fulfilment to many?
P.T. Barnum was well known for his ability to promote and market himself and his shows with BOLDNESS and AUDACITY, two traits that fundamental to the life of the COURAGEOUS LEADER.
Why Embracing Courage in Uncertainty Matters
I believe that Barnum understood that the flowers in the field never try to compare themselves, or limit their growth based on the flowers around them. Instead they simply shine bright and reach to fulfill their innate natural potential. If that means they have the capacity to become a 5ft sunflower in a field of smaller daisies, then so be it. Every flower has a divine potential and purpose to fulfill, a natural path to the complete expression of their authentic presence.
Leaders know that there is always risk involved in ‘stepping into the centre of the ring’, especially when one is at the head of the pack expanding their presence in areas that have not been tackled before.
COURAGE therefore calls on us to listen to the voice of our own soul. To live to our highest potential and not be put-down, shut-down or limited by the voices of the masses who do not understand the power of our own authentic heart. The moment therefore we change our focus to making a difference (and away from our need to be loved and accepted) magic happens. We become alive in the spirited warrior who knows that their time on Earth is limited and that COURAGE is the doorway to manifesting the change that they came here to create.
Les Price is a transformational life and business coach, author, speaker, intuitive and healer. If you feel you have been holding onto limiting patterns, emotions, feeling and blockages from the past that no longer serve you, and are looking for a safe environment to allow greater freedom and liberation into your life – contact our office to organise a consultation with Les.
I’m not sure if you had an opportunity to catch the performance of 12 year old Beau Dermott on the opening night of Britain’s Got Talent 2016 …
If not I highly recommend you take a look now …
One of the greatest benefits of reality television is that its allowed a new generation of talent to emerge and be recognised for their innate gifts. In many ways the lawyers who leave their jobs to pursue a career in food, the buskers who give up everything to seek out their one shot at making it in the world are all just archetypes for the greater energy that is pervading our consciousness at this time.
At some level we are all being encouraged to find our own authentic path,
to utilise our innate gifts and to stand out in the world.
Our deep inner-quest for meaning and purpose in our lives means that on so many levels our souls will not be happy until we truly listen to and follow the calling of heart, and summon within ourselves the courage to shine.
So what can we learn from this inspiring new generation of talent like Beau?
Well, here are 3 questions to help you awaken your potential…
1. What’s my platform?
What’s the stage or platform where you do your greatest work? In what situations or environments are you filled with passion, purpose and connection?
All of us have areas and environments in our lives where we naturally flow. Where we feel like time stops still and a greater purpose and power flows through us. In these moments we are fully connected and present, and we find ourselves reaching beyond the limitations of our own experiences to become more, experience more and enjoy more. Just like Beau, in these authentic moments our true spirit has the capacity to shine.
Find your platform and you will also find your authentic voice and spirit.
2. How do I get out of my own way and allow my true self to shine?
Watch Beau’s performance and you will notice a moment just after Simon Cowell’s acknowledgement for her to start, as the camera pans away from the large theater view and zooms back in on her when her whole posture, facial expressions and energy changes. Gone is the timid and airy 12 year girl and instead there is an energy of a very mature, professional and experienced stage artist.
All of us are being called at some level of our being to let go of the fears, limitations and doubts of our past. The moment that we choose to stand in our light and power something incredible begins to happen. It’s almost as if a boldness, authority and power that has never been there begins to arise.
As adults our great challenge is to let go of our past perceptions, past judgments and fully love and embrace the amazing being that we are.
Boldness embodies courage, and in the midst of that courage and strength
we find the power to become the masters of our own lives.
3. How do I need to defy gravity in my own life and business?
On the path towards creating greater levels of success we all experience energies, environments and people that can bring us down.
While there are certain laws of the universe (such as gravity) which we are unable to change, there also many situations that we do have power over. Using your free-will to choose in favour of your destiny, dreams and highest ideals is the one of the greatest powers that you have. Best of all it is already in your own hands.
A mentor of mine calls this ‘chasing the chi’ i.e. hunting down the true experiences, places and people that give your life energy and make you feel fully alive.
Asking the following questions will also help you create greater levels of personal energy:
So where do you need to commit more fully to your dreams? Where are you being called to channel your highest work in a way that creates greater change on the planet? What could you truly do if you realised that beyond the heaviness of other people’s negativity and opinions was a space for you to leave your mark and create your legacy in this life?
The Takeaway?
I believe there is a lot to learn from this new generation of children who are discovering early that ‘its ok to follow your own path’, ‘trust your instincts’ and ‘leave your mark in the world’.
Arriving Soon… Awakening the Heart of Business …
Like to Unleash Your Own Inner-Brilliance? In July I’ll be launching my new book Awakening the Heart of Business: 7 Visionary Steps for Creating a Purpose-Driven Business that Thrives! Stay tuned for further details of this exciting launch …
