Hi
I was wondering: what do people think about career paths being 'blocked', or 'meant' to happen? So many people say that their career just happened, it flowed, one thing led to another, etc etc, which sounds wonderful.
It's just that I've had the exact opposite experience when it comes to massage - every time I've tried to go on a massage course, it's been blocked in some way via expense or travelling time, or been a horrible experience, or the course has been cancelled at the last minute.
Is the Universe trying to tell me something?
I've been interested in training in massage for DECADES now; it just hasn't happened!
Hi mouse16
OK, thanks - that is clearer, thank you for your persistence! I think we may have to agree to disagree on your view of choice in the wider sense. I feel that 'choice' cannot cover everything. Look at the awful things that happen to people in this world, are they are all chosen by the individuals, really? What about chance?
But even with chance we have choices to make.
Let us look at an extreme choice, someone puts a gun to your head and says 'you will do what I tell you to do, or else', we now have choices to make, we can choose not to play along with them and bring chance into the equation, by telling them that we will not capitulate, we have choosen no and we are prepared to do whatever it takes not to oblige them.
We could also choose to ask them what they have got in their mind and see if we would like to play along for the experience, or we can make a based fear choice and agree unconditionally to do whatever they tell us to do, in the hope that there is a chance that they might let us go when they have finished with us.
If we choose to play along and do not like what we have agreed to do, then we need to take full responsibility for our personal choice to participate in their game. If we later pass on all of the responsibility of our choice to them by bringing judgement and blame into the equation, then by blaming them and refusing to acknowledge our own choices, we dis-empower ourselves and set up an inner conflict and transform ourselves into a victim.
Some would say that there was not really a choice in that situation, but there was a choice to be made and the personal responsibility that goes with that choice.
Yes, self-sabotage, that is what I mean about being 'wired' that way. Surely, getting into this mode is how we are, so many people do it!
Not really, the perception of being hard wired equates to us not having a choice in our thoughts and the resulting actions which manifest from them, so we do not have to face up to the responsibility of our choices. We are not talking about being hard wired (we are not robots), we are talking about creating habitual behavioural responses that we have chosen for ourselves.
If we take someone who habitually steals whatever they need every day, then if they are hard wired they have no choice in their actions, which locks them into a behavioural pattern.
The reality is that they can wake up one morning and make a different choice, they can say to themselves 'today I choose not to go and steal what I want, today I am going to go and look for a job and save up and pay for what I want', they have now created a different way of being and have changed their behavioural patterns.
Everything starts and finishes with a thought, I would suggest that your next step is to start examining your thought patterns and beliefs, so that you can bring them into a form that you are happy to take full responsibility for what they are creating, anything which falls outside of this, is something which you need to change, only you control your own thoughts, but you need to own them in order to change them. 😉
I hope that helps. 🙂
Hi Paul
Everyone defines things differently, what you mean by 'choices' and 'patterns of behaviour' is different to how I see what the words mean, so words can get in the way sometimes!
So while I might not agree with all that you say, yes it does help....it all helps so thank you. I take from this what speaks to me.
🙂