Lifespring Book Excerpt: Taking Action
I acknowledge you for seeking
out this vehicle to forward yourself and I invite you to participate
in this [Lifespring] project as though your life depended
on it. Be involved to such an extent that your behavior is
"taken over" by your commitment to responsible and
effective action. Allow for the possibility that your identity
may be defined or redefined in some way through your participation.
This is a big request. You can expect to question some of
your primary beliefs and confront your automatic behaviors
during this investigation. You may see that your beliefs--what
you hold to be true about the world--are interpretations that
don't serve you. You may likewise discover that some of your
actions are counterproductive.
The people who are willing to
pay the price now for long-term rewards are the ones who most
dramatically transform their lives out of a project like this
one. For them, the risks of inconvenience, embarrassment,
failure, and other costs are worth the possible gains. The
bottom line is "Pay the price now; or pay it later in
life, with penalties and interest." The key is your willingness
to change your practices, even in spite of not knowing for
sure what the "right" practices are. It is certain
that neither you nor any other human being can tap into new
possibilities by sticking with the same old practices.
It's simple. The same actions
and reactions will only produce variations of the same results
and consequences. We call this the "more, better, different"
syndrome. "More, better, different" is how we are
programmed. It's attractive and has a huge consensus. Who
wouldn't want more money, better relationships, and a different
job that has no pressure? There's something to be said about
"more, better, different," but this quantitative
arena is often not the one that affects the quality of your
experience. You may in fact find "more, better, different"
happening in your life as a result of this process. However,
if that is all that happens, you have the won booby prize--it
will be an accidental stroke of luck with no solid foundation
you can rely on in the future. The purpose of this project
is to cause a quantum leap that permanently shifts the quality
of your experience of life.
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