The Balance Of Who You Are Vs Who You Want To Become

I woke up this morning, took a cold shower, combed out my mane, meditated for 20 minutes, and then went back to sleep.

I never do that.

I've always been able to rely on my willpower to force myself to stick to my schedule, even when every other part of my being is telling me to take a seat and chill.

But I've realized something recently:

I've been trying so hard to make things happen that I've actually been slowing myself down. The fire that ignited my passion to take action has now become the fire that's burning me out.

What has gotten me here won't get me there.

Who I've become won't serve me to realize who I have the potential to be.

I've been able to effort my way through life, but now I've come to a place where more effort isn't the answer.

We exert effort to overcome resistance. We face resistance in life when we are going against what is in an attempt to have something else. Trying to find happiness is admitting that happiness is something that you don't have; and the more you go looking, the more you're proving to yourself that it's not there.

The same is true with love, freedom, and fun. We try so hard to have more of these things that we prevent ourselves from having them in the very act of trying.

So what's the solution?

It's been right here all along. I've just been trying so hard to find it that I couldn't see what's been right in front of me.

Intention.

Align yourself to your purpose, set your intention to your vision, and use your will only to take action in accordance with your purpose.

In other words, follow your heart.

Clean the mirror of everything that is not you and then allow yourself to be led by your Self.

Surrender. But not in the way you think.

This doesn't mean to lie down and not participate in life in anymore. This means that the only effort you need to exert is the effort that feels effortless. And that effort still may be the hardest thing you've ever done in your life. But it comes naturally because it's what you were meant to do to become who you're meant to be.

So if going back to sleep feels aligned to my purpose, I'll catch ya later. Likewise, if working late and waking up early to work some more feels aligned to my purpose, I can manage on less sleep because I'm being moved by spirit.

If you'd give me the honor, I'd love to show you how to create this alignment in yourself so that living the life you know you were meant to live comes as effortlessly as breathing.

All you have to do is join me at the Freedom Challenge starting tomorrow where we're going to do three days straight (one hour session each day) of aligning you to your purpose and creating the vision that you can take action on. All while finding more peace and freedom in your life.

>>> You can register here

OR

If you want to dive right into the full experience, Free To Serve Mastermind Class starts next week. Email us if you want to learn more.

Talk soon,

Nathan "The Journey Is The Way" Barna

The Worst Holiday Of The Year

I'll be honest, ever since I was old enough to receive my own money, Christmas has been a tough time for me.

Every year I think, "this is gonna be the year I can afford to buy everyone gifts and give as much as I feel called to give in this season of giving."

And then Christmas time rolls around and I'm wondering how I'm even going to be able to pay for food and bills, let alone use money to buy gifts for others.

Don't get me wrong, I've come a long ways over the years from not even being able to buy food to eat to now at least being able to ponder the thought of making a Christmas dinner for myself and others. But it's still been hard to shake this feeling of guilt associated with not being able to give in the way I want to.

Now, I could take us on a long discourse of how our money system is broken and how this holiday has been hijacked to support a pathologically consumptive, consumerism, capitalistic society, but I feel that that would just be an attempt to rationalize and explain away the very real feelings many of us feel during this time.

The reality is that it sucks feeling like you don't have enough to give when you're barely ale to give to yourself.

But I want to take this a different direction and, in my typical fashion, shed some light on the darkness. And I can only share this because this is exactly what I've had to do for myself to process these feelings and emotions.

Firstly, I've had to realize that this guilt, frustration, and embarrassment is primarily just a product of how my own ego's desire to be regarded as a certain way by other people. In my experience the things that people really want from me are things that could never have a price tag attached to them -- things like time, presence, and connection.

Secondly, I have to constantly remind myself that this is the life that I chose. I chose to create my own path in life instead of following the path that was laid out before me. I accepted the Hero's Journey and all the challenges that come with it. I choose to spend extra money on food and resources that are aligned with my values instead of supporting a system that's rigged against me.

In short, life is challenging any way you go. The question is: Are you going to choose your challenges and own them or are you going to let your challenges choose you and become of victim. I chose the challenge of creating a life that is on my terms. I get to create my own schedule and no one is in charge of my actions except me. If that means that it takes me longer to create an abundance of material wealth then I'll continue to stay patient because I'm in love with the process of it all anyways. I'm fortunate enough to have created a level of freedom in my life that I know most people dream about.

My heart, mind, and soul are already rich, even if my bank account hasn't caught up in the external world. For that I am extremely grateful.

Ultimately, this is the gift I wish to give to the world. Not just on Christmas, but in every second of every day. Because to me, each day I'm here is a holy day.

Blessings to you all.

With love,

Nathan "The Present Is The Gift" Barna

How To Be Selflessly Selfish

You can't give others what you haven't given yourself.

You can't love another beyond the depth you've learned to love yourself.

You can't take someone past the point of development that you've been able to get to within yourself.

A guide taking you through territory he has not yet explored is just a friend to get lost with.

Nothing wrong with any of these things, just something to be aware of on your journey.

Remember: I~WE~ALL

I before WE ALLways.

This is a concept I learned studying Paul Chek that's completely shifted the way I make decisions in my life.

I used to think that if I just pour myself into everyone else that I would eventually be able to get something back to give myself.

But what I found was that the more I gave others at the expense of my own happiness and well-being, the more others began to expect of me. I didn't have any boundaries (and I didn't communicate them if I did) so there was no boundaries for others to respect.

This left me feeling constantly drained and resentful towards the very people I was trying to help. It was to the point where all I could think about while I was giving myself to others was how much I just wanted to be by myself and not have to talk to anyone ever again.

My selflessness turned into selfishness.

When I learned this concept of I~WE~ALL I finally realized that I wasn't doing anyone any good if I didn't first take care of myself.

You are 50% of every relationship (WE). So to the extent that you're not caring for yourself, you're at a deficit when it comes to what you can give to any WE relationship. If you're operating at 70%, you're only able to bring 35% of the 50% to the relationship. That's 15% you aren't able to give to that person PLUS 15% that that person is not able to access.

If you expand from the WE to the ALL level (3 or more beings), that deficit multiplies.

Realizing this, the more you're able to give to yourself, the more your able to give to everyone else. And, coming from this place, the more you're able to give to everyone else, the more you'll be able to give back to yourself.

Being selfish is the most selfless thing you can do.

What are you going to give to yourself today that's going to help you show up better for others?

Talk soon,

Nathan "I before WE ALLways" Barna