What Are You Getting Out Of It?

Everybody wants to lose weight, quit smoking, worry less, find a better job, leave a bad relationship, or improve their life in some other way. In an earlier post, I asked, “How bad do you want it?” But there’s another, more important question that typically remains unspoken:

What are you getting out of it?

If all you do is hope and wish and never get around to making your hopes and wishes come true, then you are clearly getting something out of staying exactly the way you are. Ask yourself the above question, and with all the honesty and courage you can muster, dive deeply into yourself until you discover the answer. Rest assured, you do know the answer, whether or not you want to be aware of it.

For instance, your answer to “What am I getting out of being overweight?” may be:

• Members of the opposite sex don’t pester me anymore
• Eating whatever I want whenever I want it satisfies emotional needs that no person has ever filled
• I’ll find out if my partner loves me for who I am instead of just wanting my body
• Negative attention is better than no attention at all
• I am here to serve others, taking care of myself would be selfish

The list goes on and on. There are as many reasons as there are people searching for reasons. Ultimately, diving headfirst into the uncharted waters of your inner world  is a process of self-discovery that can liberate you from your deepest fears and insecurities and open up a whole new world of undreamed-of possibilities.

It’s never too late to reinvent yourself!

By committing to inner honesty, it will become apparent that the underpinning of the ego’s responses is the pleasure that is derived from them. There is an inner satisfaction that is the payoff of self-pity, anger, rage, hate pride, guilt, fear, and the like. This inner pleasure, as morbid as it may sound, energizes and propagates all these emotions. To undo their influence, it is merely necessary to be wiling to forego and surrender these questionable, inner secret pleasures to God and to look to God only for joy and happiness.
Dr. David R. Hawkins

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ABOUT PHIL BOLSTA

Phil is the author of Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything, a collection of 45 inspiring, life-changing stories from prominent people he interviewed, including Joan Borysenko, Deepak Chopra, geneticist Dr. Francis Collins, acclaimed sportswriter Frank Deford, Dr. Larry Dossey, Wayne Dyer, Dan Millman, Caroline Myss, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, Dr. Bernie Siegel, James Van Praagh, singer Billy Vera, Doreen Virtue, Neale Donald Walsch, and bassist Victor Wooten.

Here is a three-minute video that introduces you to Phil and his book. Click here to buy Sixty Seconds. Click here to ask Phil to add you to his e-mail list for updates on his blog and books.

Reading this book is like spending a few minutes face to face with each of the contributors and listening to their personal stories. Click here to read unsolicited testimonials from readers. Learn more by visiting the official Sixty Seconds website.

Sixty Seconds was one of three finalists in the General Interest/How-To category at the 12th annual Visionary Awards presented by COVR (Coalition of Visionary Resources) in Denver on June 27, 2009.

Tags: inner world, obstacles, reinvent yourself, self-discovery, self-improvement, spiritual