I recognize your frustration Tenacity and that of those replying. I see the wisdom in what has been offered. I am moved by your "Tenacity," to log on tonight and also invest my time and energy into offer you (and others) a new possibility as well. It's a very long read. The rewards are rich, if you have the willingness to open yourself to a whole new world. Here goes...
We all see and experience the world through different filters. Imagine we all wear different 'glasses' and though those individual lens we see and experience our world different than those who wear different lenses. Just as some people are color blind and are limited in the colors and tones they experience, while others effortlessly see and experience life through an incredible spectrum of colors and tones, while each never having known anything different. Their views and experiences are incredibly different.
Some people live this life with 'glasses' or a perception of life that sees and experiences abundance, while others wear the 'glasses' that sees and experiences lack. Some people see with the 'glasses' of opportunity while others wear the 'glasses' of limitation. Some wear the 'glasses' that see and experience life as a victim while others wear the 'glasses' that see and experience life as empowered. We all have our unique combination of filters through which we each see and experience our life and the world.
If we become so fortunate to become aware of one or more of our filters of perception, we then have the opportunity and choice to change them. Such an undertaking is not for the faint of heart, the weak, or those unwilling to sacrifice wearing the 'glasses' of victim. Changing your view of the world takes courage and determination. It takes tenacity. It takes a willingness to leave behind how we have seen and experienced the world AND the identity we have created though those experiences. The victim has to let go of that identity to become the victor. They can not hold on to being a victim until the moment before they have won. They must let go of knowing themselves that way and choose to undertake the journey into the unknown, with focus and determination to experience something different for themselves. Only by choosing the path forward into the unknown may they find a new reality.
When we change how we see the world, how we experience the world changes!
If you are colorblind that is how you experience of life. You can watch others experience and talk about the colors of a sunset, the ocean, a favorite car, and all the facets of color in our lives, while you only experience life in limited shades and without the vibrancy and fullness others experience. You don't know what you are missing. They cannot describe in words what it is to see a particular color the way they do so that suddenly you can then see it too. They cannot describe the greenest grass, spring meadow or a rainforest in a way that you will suddenly see green. That is the dilemma. Try to describe the experience of drinking a glass water when you were deeply thirsty. Words could never convey the experience to a being who had never had that experience. You can call it water or H2O and surround those with lots of other words but it will never touch the experience for the one who is still thirsty and never experienced it.
Usually when someone feels powerless, hopeless, like a victim, they experience the world that way. The time comes when they may upgrade and feel frustrated and upset by their experience or circumstance. They feel a surge of energy to change. They look around and they see possibility. They see polarity. They may see those who have and the have nots, the good and the bad, they see polarity in all kinds of forms. They see what they do not have, that others have and that they want. They feel stuck. They will feel stuck in a perspective and don't know how to get out.
This crossroads is crucial. This crossroads is where most take their frustration and cycle in back down into feeling like a victim, into justifying the experience of powerlessness. There they sit until one day they cycle up with the opportunity to move beyond victim, beyond polarity, beyond feeling stuck. Many spend their whole lives cycling in those three phases over and over never moving beyond.
Those who move beyond, to the fourth phase, in some way harness that surge of energy, that frustration, into a new clarity and focus and claim for themselves, "Enough of this!!! I take my power back!!!" From that place the stage is set for a new level of perception.
They now make special glasses that actually allow a colorblind person the capacity to see and experience a full spectrum of colors. Many people cannot afford the glasses. Some make the sacrifices needed to get them or others that care for them, help to expedite the glasses into their experience.
There are lots of videos on youtube of people that have spent their whole lives 20, 30, 50+ years colorblind and then one day a person in their life hands them a pair of these amazing glasses. Find some of those videos and watch and experience what it is to see them, see and experience the world differently for the first time and forever more. It's meaningful. You have have the opportunity to see and experience the world differently too.
I am going to offer you a pair of new 'glasses'. I am going to offer you the opportunity to drop old filters you do not know you have and experience new ones that will expand your vision and your experience. I am going to offer you a chance to experience your world in a way you never have (or maybe not in a really long time). Are you interested? Are you willing to see and experience YOUR world differently? Are you willing to sacrifice and pay the price? Really? Are you sure? Actions over words!! Show us all, should you choose.
We will see. The tests begin. You choose how far you go or not. There is no judgement here, just the presentation of opportunity. Do you want more of the same or are you ready for something incredibly different? Are you willing to do whatever it takes?
Below are tests, in sequence, to guide you into a whole new way of seeing. These are NOT mental questions to be agreed with or not. (Refrain from thinking you have been there, done that, or understand their intention or purpose. Suspend ALL desire to debate or question their purpose or significance.) What follows are choices to be embodied in all you do, think and be, should you choose to accept the challenge AND the opportunity. Should you choose, the gifts wait on the other side as well.
First Test...
You must choose to sacrifice knowing yourself as a victim. (You have had undesirable experiences. Only you choose if and how they define you.)
Second Test...
You must choose to take responsibility for the life you are living. ( I said this was not for the faint of heart.)
Third Test..
Will you cycle around between the experiences of victim, helpless, polarity, frustration and stuckness and continue to ride that merry-go-round in circles round and round. The view never really changes. Or are you going to choose to step off that ride of circles going round and round? There is a whole BIG amusement park out there with LOTS of other experiences to ride. You must choose to step off the merry-go-round.
Fourth Test...
You must choose to feel, embody and engage the energy/experience/feeling of, "Enough of this!! I take my power back!!"
Fifth Test...
You must choose to let go of how you have known yourself and be willing to walk into the unknown. (This is a journey for the courageous.)
Sixth Test...
Refrain from arguing for your limitations in any way. When you catch yourself doing so with another, or inside yourself, choose to STOP mid-sentance, mid-thought and immediately recommit to choosing to living a new and empowered life.
Tests seven through nine, require an absolute minimum commitment, of the next 90 days, to do the following:
Seventh Test...
Choose somewhere to volunteer your skills and abilities, helping those less fortunate and skilled, for a minimum of 2 hours per week, with the intent to simply be of service to others.
Eighth Test...
Each day, write down and log your gratitude for a minimum of three, new things, experiences, perceptions, or whatever it is, that you find you are truly grateful for that day.
Ninth Test...
Pay a genuine and heartfelt compliment to a new person each day.
Tenth Test...
Do not judge, criticize, or think in any way that you understand the purpose of any test. Simply engage them openly, heartfully, and with a sincere willingness to experience life in a new way, should you choose to allow the filters through which you see and experience life to be transformed.
Eleventh Test...
After a minimum of 90 days, share your level of compliance, experience, and wisdom gained for tests 1-10, with us here.
The opportunity is yours. Again, no judgement here. The rewards await you, if you choose them. As does the same old same old. The choice in yours!
P.S. I do not anticipate logging in or discussing this further, anytime soon. You have been given a treasure map. There is enough direction to find a buried treasure, beyond your dreams, should you choose to follow it, as stated. Again, the choice is yours!