Dissolving Your Blocks to Success

I participated in a personal growth workshop recently and one of the exercises we did was a guided visualization, in which we were asked to visualize receiving a gift or important message that we particularly need at this time. While I didn’t see anything during the visualization in terms of an actual, physical gift, the following four words came to me repeatedly throughout:
Allow, Embrace, Include and Integrate. Obviously these words could mean entirely different things to different people, but for me these words spoke really clearly to me in terms of dissolving blocks to success.

I think it’s safe to say that when it comes to the blocks that each of us have that get in the way of achieving success (whatever that looks like for you: wealth, ideal career, self-confidence, etc.), most of us would do anything we can to get rid of these blocks. We figure that the block is what's holding us back from getting what we want, so we must eliminate and destroy it at all costs!! There are a TON of ways we do this, but the goal is always to label the block as "wrong" and try to wipe it out completely.

But what if instead of trying so desperately to get rid of these blocks or get them out of the way, we actually invite them into our awareness, thereby allowing them, embracing them, including them and integrating them into our experience. Rather than doing everything in our power to destroy them, what if we acknowledge and accept them, explore them, and even consider learning from them!

If you subscribe to my newsletter, then you know I’ve been on a self-love kick lately. What better way to increase our self-love than to love ALL of ourselves, blocks and all! Try out this exercise the next time you feel stuck and let me know what you think. I think you’ll really like it:)

Think of something you are currently trying to achieve in life, but are having trouble accomplishing. It could be your ideal relationship, your desired weight, a promotion at work, anything that is important to you right now. Got something? Now imagine that whatever is holding you back is an actual feeling in your body. Even if you’ve never thought of it this way before, do so now. This means that you can’t blame your stuckness on the economy, or a stubborn spouse, or an ignorant boss. Go ahead and imagine that whatever is holding you back from achieving your desire is an actual feeling or sensation in your body, and figure out where in your body that feeling is.

Once you’ve located that feeling, take some time to really get in touch with it and get to know it as best as you can. For example, how big is it? Does it have a color, and if so, what it is? What texture is it? Does it feel heavy and dense or light and airy? Does it change shape and move around while you observe it, or stay stationary in one spot? Keep exploring this feeling and learning as much about it as possible! Instead of trying so hard to completely destroy this block, see what happens if you take some time to familiarize with it and find out what it’s all about.

Next, take this one step further and see if you can reach out from within you and actually give this feeling a hug! This can feel a bit strange since it’s just a feeling and not a concrete person or thing, but try this anyway and you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel once you make friends with your block. You may even want to try imagining that you’re taking your block for a walk in the park, or that you’re on a swing set swinging back and forth with it.
Have fun with this!

Instead of running away from feelings that seem uncomfortable or burdensome, we can learn to make peace with them and accept them as they are. Once this happens, not only will you feel a lot better as a whole, but you’ll probably find that the feeling you were trying so desperately to get rid of actually dissolves all on its own! You may go looking for it and find that it's no longer anywhere to be found! "Whatever we resists persists,” so when we resist something we keep our attention focused on it and keep it stuck firmly in place. When you stop resisting something, however, and make friends with it or simply allow it to be there, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find that it usually takes a hike all by itself. Once that happens, your success is right around the corner. :)