Welcome to the Grow Inward Podcast, I am your host Adrian Petrillo.
I would like to open today with a quote. There is some debate as to who actually coined it, but the sentiment is what matters most. Whoever deserves the credit for it, thank you! The quote is this: What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
I have always loved this quote, because it touches the very heart of something that I consider to be the most important things which we should never forget about ourselves. It reminds us that the potential we have within us is far beyond what we tend to believe, even today.
This is the part of life that I find utterly fascinating, especially when we are reminded of just how powerfully true this is in real life. There are endless accounts of things people have done things that can simply not be explained from what we are taught to believe. These types of stories are often quickly shot down and dismissed because the are simply unbelievable by the standards put forth by science.
In recent times there are some very interesting examples of people with abilities that simply cannot be explained by science. I encourage you to look into Uri Gellar for example, the things that he has done are truly remarkable by all accounts. There are also some great modern examples that were studied by the CIA in project Stargate, and you can look up many unclassified documents on this subject on the CIA reading room website at cia.gov/readingroom. Just type in stargate to search for those.
Ingo Swann is a well known remote viewer and psychic who was instrumental in much of the work that went on at SRI (Stanford Research Institute) with Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ, and this work was what later became Operation Stargate and was funded by the CIA and other government agencies for two decades to explore and discover the ability of the human mind to transcend space and time. The results were nothing short of incredible, and this is just one recent example of abilities that humans have been able to demonstrate, abilities which are well outside of the accepted view of what is considered possible. These examples are but one tiny part of an endless list of extraordinary abilities which have been witnessed or documented going back as far as there are records and stories.
There are countless stories such as this throughout history from all over the world. Even if only a tiny fraction of these stories were true, then clearly there is something more that we have not even begun to understand about ourselves yet. Think about all the amazing new discoveries that continually being made, is it that hard to believe that we have barely even scratched the surface of our own true potential? Not to me it isn't.
Many people take the teachings in the bible literally, and it states this very clearly in John 14.12 which states: Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Now if you read through much of the bible you will find endless stories that are nothing short of miraculous and unbelievable by all standards, and yet how many people believe that those stories happened? It surely doesn't end with the bible, just look through all of the ancient texts with stories of a similar nature. History is littered with them, could they all just be elaborate stories, or is there some truth to them? It's very interesting to consider at the very least.
I mention all of this because it is a nice segue into our topic today, which is the path of most resistance. In all of these kinds of stories that are told, many of them have a very common theme or point to them. This is often centered around the discipline and effort required being a small price to pay for the benefits that it provides in the end. I think it is safe to say that we could apply this to most things in life, right? These ideas ultimately form the central premise of personal and spiritual development, and embracing these ideas will serve you very well on your own path.
Why? Well for starters, personal and spiritual development are not an easy path. There are many reasons for this, but none of them should ever over shadow the ideas I just shared about the benefits easily outweighing the effort required. It all sounds nice, but I also fully understand that this isn't often so easy in practice. We are human after all and there are inevitable highs and lows to our entire life and existence, we must accept this struggle as part of our experience and also as an opportunity to learn and grow from both the challenges and the successes which we will all encounter along the way.
One of the inevitable hurdles you will encounter in personal and spiritual development is that it doesn't always feel positive and uplifting. There is just so much to reconcile within when it comes to changing ourselves or our lives, and it presents different challenges for each of us. This isn't even taking into account our external lives, which requires a substantial portion of our energy and consideration as well. We do still have to live in the modern world afterall?
When you feel ready to begin working on yourself, you have likely identified some things that you want to change or improve. These will all tend to be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual in nature, or some combination of these different aspects. Some of this work can be very difficult and challenging, and it usually is because we have a certain set of thoughts and beliefs which shape our life and particular direction in it. The hardest part is that many of these thoughts and beliefs are not actually conscious, but rather unconscious. They are part of a program that has been created over a lifetime of experiences and evaluations from our own unique point of view.
Dealing with unconscious currents that have sway in your life can be very confronting and difficult. Not only that, it can take a significant amount of time and effort to overcome them and truly change direction. I know that I have and still do struggle with this myself, it is challenging and can feel very discouraging at times.
When it begins to feel this way it is so easy to give up, and most people do. It's really hard to keep going sometimes when things feel so uncomfortable. But this is the perfect time to remind yourself of WHY you are doing this work. Never forget the reasons that motivated you to begin down this path, and aways remember one of our opening ideas which is that the benefits will always outweigh the effort. It is often just on the other side of our most challenging moments where we can find success.
I was actually just recently complaining about this to my mom. I have put years of work into finding a way to help others, and I have not found the success or validation that I had hoped quite yet. She reminded me that I am making a difference and not to give up. She reminded me of how much I have helped her in her own struggles by helping her to believe in herself. It’s a great example of how we all question ourselves, our worth, our ability to make a difference. This is a very human experience, but one that should be embraced rather than pushed away. We must ask ourselves what we can learn from these moments and then push on and through.
Something you can do when you find yourself at these choice points, is to do your best to let humility and courage be your crutches. Remember that complication is part of the process, and it is up to you to wind your way through the labyrinth to find your own way. You are going to hit some walls, you are going to feel lost at times, and you will question if you will ever find your way through, but be courageous and keep trying. You can never fail if you never quit trying!
Play the long game and get your mindset on board with this concept. Understand that personal and spiritual development are life long pursuits. I believe we string a series of lifetimes together by learning different lessons and overcoming challenges in each of them, and one lifetime just isn't enough to do it all. By embracing this and continuing on in the face of all your challenges, you get the most you can out of each lifetime by simply doing your best.
It isn't necessary that you see it this way, I just find it to be a helpful analogy to illustrate that time spent on yourself is always valuable and you will take these lessons and that wisdom with you. Nothing you do in this regard is ever done in vain, and being a little humble about how complicated you are as a human being and the unknowns we face in this world is very helpful in my experience. I believe your wisdom accumulates into a vast resource that is always within you throughout your lifetimes, even when it feels hard to reach or access.
There is no doubt that challenges will continually present themselves to you, and they will do that in many different ways. Let's talk about some from the physical perspective. For instance, a very common goal that comes up in personal development is related to physical health. Most people would like to look better or to feel better, and may struggle in one or both of these areas.
I started here myself and it is a great place to start for so many of us. I say this because getting your health moving in a much better direction has some amazing fringe benefits that most certainly help your greater cause. Not only can it help you to look and feel better physically, but that will also help you feel much better mentally and emotionally. This is one of the huge benefits of beginning with the physical aspect because it spills over into several other areas of your life and improves many different aspects of you as a consequence. Feeling good physically gives you the energy required to do the other work ahead of you, it is really important that you feel energized and healthy to some degree.
Regardless of what your goals are in your life, the mental aspect is also critical. As I say all the time, mindset is everything. This just cannot be overstated, and it is well worth some very serious consideration and adjustments if you are taking on the energy and effort required to improve different parts of your life. This is much easier to accomplish when you feel energized and healthy in your physical aspect, you need that energy to propel yourself higher from a mental aspect.
Getting your mindset into alignment is a key factor in personal improvement. You must be clear on who you are, where you are going, and how you are going to get there. The mental aspect of yourself must not be underestimated. It is so crucially important, and it really can be incredibly challenging at times. Your mind wants to do its own thing, you will figure this out real quick when you begin to sit down to do meditation! Take the time and effort required to begin to find some stillness and acceptance in this part of your practice, it will serve you very well in all other areas as well. These different aspects are like a puzzle that fits perfectly together once you smooth each of the edges and allow them to slip into place more easily.
Another interesting aspect is the emotional aspect of you. Your emotions are a powerful part of your experience, and they can also play a substantial role in your ability to make the changes necessary to create the life you want. To step back for just a moment, it is important to highlight the value of your physical health again and the substantial impact that it can have on your emotional health. If you look and feel good from a physical and energetic standpoint, these feelings will spill over into your emotional state and have an equally powerful impact there as well.
I am sure you have experienced this yourself at various times, where your physical health affects your mental state, and your mental state impacts your emotional state. If you are completely self conscious about your body, how does that translate into your interactions with someone you are attracted to, for instance? What about when you are trying to concentrate on something important, but you keep getting interrupted and just cannot get it done. You begin to get annoyed or stressed and those emotions begin to affect your ability to think clearly, making it very easy to quit or walk away.
These are simple examples, but I think that you get the idea. These things matter, and they all affect each other in significant ways. There is one other aspect that we haven't mentioned yet, and that is the spiritual. Meditation is a great example here, meditation may not always be a spiritual practice for you, but it is in the sense that you are in communion with yourself or your higher power.
When you try to sit and do meditation for the first time it can be frustrating to say the least. As I mentioned earlier, you notice very quickly how your mind wants to do its own thing. It is incredibly challenging at first to find a way to focus on the breath and to let your thoughts go without becoming attached to them.
This is just the first challenge you will face. You may then begin to ask yourself what am I supposed to be doing exactly, or there is no way I can sit here for 10 minutes straight? Your mind will be going in full on chatter mode, and it is hard to be patient enough to work your way through it to come out on the other side.
With all of these things, you will continually bump up against new and ever expanding challenges. This is just the nature of personal development, and it's perfectly normal. Again, bring a bit of humility and courage to this process and don’t get too discouraged, you will definitely find your way through it and improve over time.
Some of the most effective ways I have found to meet my own challenges, has been to manage my own expectations up front. It is really easy to have some fairly lofty expectations for ourselves, but remember that personal and spiritual development is many things, but fast and easy are not included on that list. By humbly accepting these things up front, it makes it a lot easier to sit through the messy beginnings.
Another thing that you can do which is also related to a sense of humility, is to try to let go of your resistance or your need to control the experience, and instead just be with whatever comes up along the way. Many of the things that do come up in these regards are things that are worth a closer look, they are often blocks within ourselves that aren't entirely obvious at first glance. You will get many subtle clues like this along the way, so expect them and welcome them in to take an honest look at each of them.
Lastly, always remember why you want to do better for yourself and be willing to go through the uncomfortable parts from time to time in order to learn and to grow. Many things will get easier to face with practice, and your successes will feel all the more valuable.
This kind of work is not easy, there is no two ways about it. But every single person who has travelled this road has had to begin somewhere, and they all faced many similar challenges along the way. The way all successful people got to where they are is by never giving up. If it is important to you to become more, to connect with yourself or others more, or to achieve more, then make the decision now never give up. If you can do this successfully, you will find yourself among a very special and deserving group indeed.
The path of most resistance is the path where you will learn and grow the most, I promise you that the benefits will always outweigh the cost when you travel the road that your heart is calling you to follow, or you could just sit on the couch and eat a bag of Doritos while watching the evening news, it’s really up to you in the end!
Either way, the path you choose is always your choice, and you are still incredible and loved either way! It’s nice to know that there isn’t really a wrong choice, just a choice, but I recommend the path of most resistance to get all that you can from your life and hopefully to inspire some others to do the same along the way!
Until next time, never under estimate the power you have within you, and keep growing inward.
