I’m in Bali right now to attend a planning session for the Bali Institute for Global Renewal. Hearts and minds from Indonesia, India, Pakistan, America, Japan, and probably some other places I don’t know yet have gathered here to create a learning center which celebrates indigenous wisdom, leadership, and activism. Thirty of us are going to hang out, ask wonderful questions and make plans for an international conference in Bali in December of 2010.
When I was reading about the people who were attending and all their accomplishments, I kept chanting to myself, “I have something to contribute. I have something to contribute. I have something to contribute.” Even though I am very confident that I do have something to contribute, that part of me that worries whether I belong got triggered.
“Who do I think I am anyway?” is the question, the ghost, the spell, that keeps lurching through the room. It dives at my head. It whispers in my ear. It sits on my chest. It looms. It jeers. It invites me to crawl back into a small place, a cramped container that is very familiar to me.
So the question is: am I going to play small, or am I going to expand into my full capacity? Playing small is a non-option. But how do I support myself in this wrestling match with Incompetence?
I email my coach. I tell her what is happening and ask for her advice. She replies immediately and this is what she says: “Look around and see if there’s anyone else there who has accomplished as much as you have, who is blind, joyful, and as funny as you are. Pull your head out of your ass.”
Good advice. So good I pulled my head right out.
So what stops you? Want to learn to laugh about it? Contact my business manager Sandy Parker, at Sandy@myefficientassistant.com to set up an appointment for a free 15 minute Play Date. What’s stopping you?
Blessings,
Vicki