A DIFFERENT WAY OF LIVING
Why do we do the things we do when we know that action no longer provides the best results and what can we do about it?
The best way to answer this question is with the following analogy taken from the book "From Sheep to Shero" (Chapter 26 pgs 278 - 281) Enjoy!
"Hmm... Takouhi thought of an opportune way to reach him. They both loved cars.
"Well you know this car with its dual barrel double exhaust V8 Kompressor engine 0-60 in 3.2 seconds that you are driving right now? It has the potential to go up to what? 200 mph?” The machine gun that was Takouhi was fully loaded She took a deep breath and sat upright in her seat. She was in her element. The engine was revving and her pistons were firing.
“Yeah?” He looked at her with the corner of his eyes with that smile that said oh, oh...here we go!
“Well imagine if you have your foot on the gas but you have not released the emergency break. And to make matters worse as opposed to looking down the road ahead you are constantly looking in the rearview mirror. In that state, your tires will be spinning creating smoke. You may want to move forward but you’re not moving an inch."
His perplexed look made her describe the scene further. She spoke with her hands as she pointed out the components she was referring to.
“Ok picture this. Imagine if the car is your body and the driver is equivalent to your brain. By brain I don’t mean the white matter. I’m referring to your wants, desires, beliefs, and all the things that shape you to be who you are. Let’s call it your consciousness. The driver, your consciousness, is constantly pushing the car, the body, to do things. The engine, the transmission, and all that makes your body run are working very hard. It gets fixated on a certain belief not questioning its effectiveness or validity and causing the gas pedal to be fully engaged. Your wheels are spinning because it’s the intent of the consciousness to move the car forward. But somewhere within your beliefs something is holding you back and that’s equivalent to the driver holding on to the emergency break. The emergency break is your consciousness’ security blanket that is made of beliefs intricately woven together, giving the world outside the windows a meaning. The car is driven with the emergency break engaged most of the time. Thus the car and driver never realize their full potential. Not to mention the damage that’s being done to the entire being." She paused for a moment and looked at him. He was driving yet focused on her words trying to picture it for himself."
"Are you with me?" if her grin were any wider you would have seen her tonsils.
“Yeah. My consciousness is driving this car isn’t it?" The crows feet appeared again.
“Okay but there’s more" She jumped in her seat and pointed to the road ahead and the rearview mirror.
“The driver, the consciousness, is caught in a paradox of looking forward to go down the road ahead but looking in the mirror at the past and old beliefs as well as seeing how it fits in with the rest of the tribe. The driver keeps pushing the car wanting things to change but not comprehending that nothing is going to change unless he changes the way he drives. As you’re spinning your wheels, you’re creating smoke and all of a sudden you can’t tell where the road is anymore. The car is busy but it’s not going anywhere. The driver doesn’t see the road anymore. Doesn’t know what it originally set out to do. And it has now exhausted the body, the car. At this point some people give up and say this is my life. It’s just the way it is. Others think it’s because they had the wrong car. So they go for external changes. They think they’re not getting anywhere because they’re too fat, too thin, to old, too young, wrong race, wrong time, or it’s someone else’s fault. They change things externally yet ultimately things stay the same. Why? Because only when you realize that the change comes from the inside out by changing you beliefs and thought patterns then you can drive the car to its full potential. There is no quick fix. Living a life with shero principles it’s my example of living a constructive, healthy, and enjoyable life. For the car I’m driving, shero is equivalent to premium unleaded fuel. There’s no substitute because I love my car. I value the roads I came from to get here as they have shaped me but my focus is this moment and the road ahead. We all have different roads and paths but what we all have in common is the ability to maximize our potential. When the rubber hits the road and you can drive forward without the emergency break on that’s when you can say you have lived!"
"So that’s what you mean when you say people have great cars, thus a great tool but their resources are out of place. If I understand you correctly you’re saying it’s not what we do that’s making us busy it’s the beliefs and the chaos we create in the depths of our minds that make us busy.”
“You got it! So why not try sherovision?" as she reached over and gave him a high five!
“And with that ladies and gentlemen, she rests her case! You should have been a lawyer!"