Try this when your mind won’t let you sleep

I had this incredible burst of inspiration on Friday night for four hours. My stomach was in knots because I have a presentation to give in less than two weeks to 1800 people in South Korea on my 7 Steps to Rising Star process. My brain wanted to do some prep for it (remember the last time you had that experience?!). I wanted to quiet my mind and relax so I could sleep, but for the first time in my entire life, I decided not to fight what was happening - not to fight the fact that I had planned to go to sleep - but to accept it and, in fact, embrace it. It was at least a Friday night.

As my brain and heart went on this dance, I kept bringing back my focus to my heart and what it considered great for the event rather than what my sensible genes and logical, rational brain were persuading me to include.

Pretty soon the sky in my being lit up and I was exposing myself to some of the most spectacular concepts. I’m spending more time with my clients and audiences talking about identity because?I’ve recently realised that we will never change our results if it is not part of our identity.

So I asked myself: “I wonder how Oprah describes herself (her identity)?” Her words blew me away:

“I live inside God’s dreams for me,” she went onto say: “My intention is to fulfil the dream of the creator.” The word God doesn’t always land with me, and later the phrase “Source of Love” popped into my head, and I loved it.

Then I opened my heart further and wondered about the importance of having big dreams. It was scintillating. “The path to my success was never about attaining incredible wealth or celebrity. It was about the process of continually seeking to be better, challenging myself to pursue excellence on every level.” ‘That sounds doable’, I said to myself.?

Oprah went on to explain that when you make this PROCESS your goal, your big dreams will follow. These may not include great wealth or fame but have “everything to do with creating a life filled with

Joy

No regrets and

A clear conscience.”?

‘Those results sound great!’ I said to myself.

I was feeling it like I was devouring a delicious meal – all this energy flooded through me. And it got better because then I exposed myself to other great minds such as the 13th?century Persian poet Rumi who explained how to tap into your biggest dreams:?

Last night I begged the Wise One to tell me

the secret of the world.

Gently, gently, he whispered,

"Be quiet,

the secret cannot be spoken,

It is wrapped in silence."

Really? Relax and be silent? I went back to Oprah: “I believe you can only do this when you stop long enough to hear the whisper you might have drowned out, that small voice compelling you toward the kind of work you'd be willing to do even if you weren't paid.” That small voice can also be a feeling from your heart. Or your intuition.

How did other ‘superheroes’ describe themselves? What a feast. So much identity sourced from something bigger than themselves:

Nelson Mandela: “I am a?dreamer?who never gives up.” – and I didn’t realise he was 72 when he got out of prison (after 27 years behind bars) and made his biggest accomplishments in this 70’s and 80’s!

Mother Teresa: “I am?God’s pencil.”

Gandhi: “I am pragmatic?idealist.”

Malala Yousafzai: “I am an?active proponent of education?as a fundamental social and economic right.”

Martin Luther King: “I am someone who?believes that all people are created equal.”

Richard Branson: “I am successful, wealthy and connected?because I am happy.” “It boils down to family, friends, fun, purposeful work and money – in that order,” adds Deep Patel in?Entrepreneur?magazine.

Meryl Streep: “I am someone who?does what feels right to me. Not what my mother told me. Not what some actress told me. Not what anybody else told me but?the still, small voice.”

As I re-read my scribbled middle-of-the-night notes, I was really struck by these next two thoughts and I end with them for you on purpose in the hopes they resonate with even in some small way and are useful for what matters most to you too:

1.????What if I decided to let all the energy of love in the universe run my life instead of what I’ve let try to run it in the past 20 years (trying too hard, all the ‘shoulds,’ and my rational brain)?

2.????“What if I decided to let my heart fill over with love for the people I was meant to serve – the people I vibe with (not the people whose energy I don’t vibe with)? Where my inner knowing makes it my intention to serve with my whole heart and love full out? Wouldn’t that feel like real success?”

Well, it will for me, and I hope there’s something in there that serves you too.

To your inspiring identity!

Matt

Copyright Matt Anderson, 2023.

?

P.S. Worried I’ve lost my mind? I sort of hope I have because my heart needs to be running the show from now on.

P.P.S. If this is intriguing you, I’m sharing how all this impacts your results in live sessions every Monday in my app premium community:?https://community.bearisingstar.com