Self Improvement

Yours

The only work we ever need to do on this planet is the work on ourselves. However most of us find it easier to focus on others and see what’s wrong with them. We judge them, we get angry with them, we’re jealous of them and sometimes we just want to be like them. We don’t always see the best in others do we?

What if, what you see in others, you realised those traits were merely a reflection of you? Your own failings expressed in others, of course you won’t like what you see. It’s tough to see yourself in others. Might it be that you’re not perfect either? That you have some failings too? Some stuff you need to work on, get better at, be more forgiving of yourself and others, develop better habits, have more compassion?

This is tougher then we realise. Yes we need to start from a place that says we’re not broken and if we start from that place then the others aren’t broken either. If you can start from that place everything else becomes just easier. Because if you stop spending time focussing on others and just on yourself, what else can you learn about you, about your habits, your decisions, your micro-decisions, your thoughts and your addictions?

If we could just work on ourselves and become the best we can be for ourselves, not for anyone else, just for ourselves then we could actually become a more compassionate individual seeing the best in everyone around us, including some of the worst people walking the planet. We all have a dark side, it may not have been expressed in hideous crimes or actions but it will have been expressed in some way towards someone, maybe even someone you love.

Time to go within, time to spend time looking in the mirror before looking at others.

Happy yours!

Michael de Groot

Doubt

Doubt is by far our biggest thought process. We doubt ourselves the most. Will we make it, will we make enough money, will we be loved, will we get the right work? All this doubting gets us further away from our dreams and wishes. We literally attract our doubts.

You must have heard the saying ‘What you focus on grows’, so our focus on our doubts will literally grow out of nowhere. Instead of believing our doubts, what if we believed that the doubts are just lies and fears.

Through listening to a number of podcasts, meditations and examples, I have become to realise that almost anything can be solved by just being curious.

Photo by Niklas Hamann on Unsplash

When a thought comes up and you are lucky to notice it, become curious about it. When you pick up that drink or food, before you consume it, become curious about it. Become more aware about your surroundings and the addictions that are manifesting through you. Curiosity is self-enquiry and self-enquiry allows you to question everything about your own behaviour and actions.

It takes some practise at the start, but once you start you will not be able to stop. Become addicted to curiosity and self-enquiry to rid yourself of behaviours and habits that are not serving you including the habit of self-doubt.

Happy enquiring!

Michael de Groot

Beliefs

I heard a great quote on a podcast by The Minimalists who had their friend as a guest on stage, his name is JP Sears. A very funny guy and his YouTube channel is a scream, he really doesn’t take life seriously at all and neither should you.

His quote was:

“Don’t believe your beliefs”.

Wow that really struck a chord with me and got me thinking, just a bit.

We form many beliefs over our very very short lifetime and they either serve us or they don’t. But what if none of them were actually true and we made it all up, because society showed us stuff and we decided to believe that stuff.

Wow, now I am really questioning my own beliefs and wondering whether what I believe is just a load of nonsense and none of it is actually reality. Now that would really mess with my mind, in fact it already is.

There is good news though. As most of our own beliefs are limiting beliefs or negative beliefs, then actually this is very very good news, because none of them are actually true, none of them, not one single one.

If anything would set you free then this should but for some reason the hardest thing for anyone of us is tackling our limiting beliefs.

He had another quote.

“There are 2 kinds of people in the world. Those that believe that they have limiting beliefs and those that are in denial believing they have no limiting beliefs”.

It’s a bit of a tongue twister and it’s so true, we all have them, every single one of us.

It’s worth repeating, “Stop believing your beliefs”.

Michael de Groot