Is What You're Doing Actually Serving Your Highest and Best Good?

Sometimes we have a tendency to get stuck in a rut. We may not even be aware that we are stuck in that rut, so we just keep moving forward even while feeling like things aren't exactly as they're supposed to be.

A lot of us were undoubtedly raised to "not question too much" and perhaps even to "grin and bear it" because — we were told — life invariably has its difficult moments, and you just have to take the lumps as they come.

Without a doubt, life does have its difficult moments, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't take a long hard look at what we're involved in. It's often how we end up changing our lives, and possibly our entire paradigm for living... for the better.

It's nobody's "fault," really. In most cases, simply following "the prescribed path" (whether by family, tradition, church, culture or whatever) is nice and convenient, and lets us off the hook of having to do all that time consuming and often painful soul-searching. It also allows us to remain inside a cozy "comfort zone" that feels low risk.

When I look back across my own life, I can say with a great deal of certainty that it looks nothing like the image I remember having in my head when I was a teenager; a University student; a younger adult.

I can also look back and recognize that I was never really a conformist, but I was somewhat emotionally and spiritually lazy, so I often "went with the flow even when I was aware that the situation wasn't actually what I wanted.

Maybe there are times when doing that is OK... but there are more times at which it is definitely not OK, such as allowing yourself to "flow" into a relationship... not because you want to, but because the "waters of life" simply flow in that direction.

It took me thirteen years to come to terms with and undo a relationship many years ago, even though I knew in my heart that I shouldn't be there. It looked marginally good "on paper," but that's necessarily a good rule to go by. There's more to love relationship than them "making sense!" In this case, I found myself on the receiving end of someone else's state of limerence and didn't have the heart to resist.

Relationships, work, spirituality, traditions... even if we are pressured "not to," these are aspects of our lives that bear questioning, even if we are told (directly, or by implication) that we shouldn't go against the ways things are normally done.

Of course, there are a myriad reasons why people are resistant to going against "the established way" of doing something; the "generally accepted" choices. We can come up with all sorts of rationalizations and excuses... but one truth we often avoid looking directly at is that fact that we (subconsciously) don't always feel worthy of having happiness in our lives.

Except, of course, we are!

So, don't be afraid to question your world as it is unfolding... even if it looks right, but doesn't feel right. There's probably something there...

Thanks for reading, and have a great week ahead!

How about you? Do you feel comfortable questioning "established ways" of doing things? Do you ever have a suspicion you've been led down a wrong path? Do you act on those feelings? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2023.09.24 23:59 PDT
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