"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know, what I was walling in or walling out?" - Frost
When you ask people about walls and what they are good at, they will usually answer somewhere along the lines of, "They are good at keeping things out."
That is certainly true. And then I ask, "What else are they good at doing?" You wouldn't believe the dead silence that usually comes back my way.
"Uhmmm. I really have no idea." Don't worry I'll give you the answer. Walls are great for keeping things out but they also keep things "in."
This is exactly where the trouble is when it comes to our daily lives. We build walls for many reasons: fear, pain, regret, doubt, worry...I mean the list goes on and on. In fact, the more pain we go through the more walls we build. We build them higher, double back them, and try to make them indestructible all with the intent of keeping out those bad experiences again.
Unfortunately, when you are building these walls to keep out the negative experiences of life you are also keeping in your gifts and everything else that is positive inside of you. The world never gets to see what you truly have to offer because you are hiding it in your own little prison.
But it gets much worse. When you spend your time building walls you fail to create any "exits" for yourself and when things get bad, they really go bad.
And as life would have it, it loves to shoot a fiery arrow into your village and start up something good. I think you know where this is going - no fire escape, a fire in the village, and a whole lot of hay laying around - trouble. In fact, chaos arrives when something like that happens and more often than not, everything burns to the ground.
Walls are bad for you. They can truly hurt you.
When you shut yourself off from experiencing life, you aren't really thriving you're just surviving. You are trying to string it together day by day and time passes you by. You never really get out there into the world and live it.
These walls that you've built served you at one time in protecting your heart, but now they are just hurting you. They are hurting you because you can't grow from that trapped place anymore. You can't experience what you need to experience to help you continue to develop. The negative emotions stay out (for the most part) but those positive qualities that you have - the potential that you have discovered - those stay in.
Your gifts will never come out to play if you are living safely inside your castle.
If you want to have an amazing experience living in this world, you have to tear down the walls.
Scary? Yes of course. But 10 times out of 10 I would rather be on the field of life living than stuck in my own mental prison dying.
Tear down the walls. Take a risk.
When you ask people about walls and what they are good at, they will usually answer somewhere along the lines of, "They are good at keeping things out."
That is certainly true. And then I ask, "What else are they good at doing?" You wouldn't believe the dead silence that usually comes back my way.
"Uhmmm. I really have no idea." Don't worry I'll give you the answer. Walls are great for keeping things out but they also keep things "in."
This is exactly where the trouble is when it comes to our daily lives. We build walls for many reasons: fear, pain, regret, doubt, worry...I mean the list goes on and on. In fact, the more pain we go through the more walls we build. We build them higher, double back them, and try to make them indestructible all with the intent of keeping out those bad experiences again.
Unfortunately, when you are building these walls to keep out the negative experiences of life you are also keeping in your gifts and everything else that is positive inside of you. The world never gets to see what you truly have to offer because you are hiding it in your own little prison.
But it gets much worse. When you spend your time building walls you fail to create any "exits" for yourself and when things get bad, they really go bad.
And as life would have it, it loves to shoot a fiery arrow into your village and start up something good. I think you know where this is going - no fire escape, a fire in the village, and a whole lot of hay laying around - trouble. In fact, chaos arrives when something like that happens and more often than not, everything burns to the ground.
Walls are bad for you. They can truly hurt you.
When you shut yourself off from experiencing life, you aren't really thriving you're just surviving. You are trying to string it together day by day and time passes you by. You never really get out there into the world and live it.
These walls that you've built served you at one time in protecting your heart, but now they are just hurting you. They are hurting you because you can't grow from that trapped place anymore. You can't experience what you need to experience to help you continue to develop. The negative emotions stay out (for the most part) but those positive qualities that you have - the potential that you have discovered - those stay in.
Your gifts will never come out to play if you are living safely inside your castle.
If you want to have an amazing experience living in this world, you have to tear down the walls.
Scary? Yes of course. But 10 times out of 10 I would rather be on the field of life living than stuck in my own mental prison dying.
Tear down the walls. Take a risk.
About the Author:
Evan Sanders is a professional life coach at AYKME coaching. Dive into these great Great Quotes On Happiness or these Quotes On Having Patience to get some motivation to move forward!