I gave myself a due date to complete this book. I reasoned if I could do one card a day, I’d meet my goal. Today, I headed to Starbucks to write my one piece. Two hours later, after puttering on e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter, I drew a card and this is the one I picked. This led to more e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter. Three hours later, I began writing.
ego is not happy about what I’m doing. At all. It would much prefer to keep me busy surfing the Internet and working on other things. In the past, when I realized I was stalling, I’d bulldoze my way through the resistance. Now I understand that’s merely another facet of ego.
Forcing yourself to do something you’re not ready to accomplish may get the job done—like dragging yourself to the gym or insisting that the bathroom needs to be cleaned right now. But what kind of experience are you creating? Chances are it’s one devoid of joy.
Part of moving forward is allowing the resistance and distractions ego creates, knowing that they can’t keep you from what you really desire. They can only delay you.
When you recognize you’re stalled, consider creating an intention to align with who you really are and watch what happens. Perhaps you’ll still dance around the thing you want to do. For a while. But when you’re ready and take steps toward action, you’re free to create a process that is enjoyable rather than one that is dictated by ego.
Instead of pushing through 30 minutes on the treadmill, imagine your body responding with gratitude for the movement. Instead of power scrubbing the bathroom, what would it be like to be in the moment knowing the effort was creating a space that sparkled?
We get afraid that if we’re stalled and don’t force ourselves to do what we’ve said we must that it won’t get done. Don’t let ego fool you with yet another trick. Relax. Take a deep breath. Align with who you are. And let Spirit support your desire to move forward.
How are you stalling?
