Do You Really Want To Change?

This is a great phrase on change from my coach Joe Stumpf. Hope you enjoy!

Feb 08, 2011
When you say, “I want to change,” what you’re really talking about is your habits. The habits are conditioned in your childhood. Even more ingrained are the habits that come from the deep, evolutionary, primitive past. You know from our past conversations that the most primitive habit is to survive. It’s to stay safe. It’s to be secure.
The habit of creating a safe and secure, fully comfortable life that limits risks helps us hide our authentic power behind a mask called “play it safe.”

Yet, it’s true that your most important personal growth occurs outside your safe comfort zone. We grow personally when we step up and we take intelligent, healthy, risks.
Actually, you know in your own experience that the real juice in life is when you take off the “play it safe” mask and you allow yourself to be energized by the challenge.
But many times, have you caught yourself wanting and hoping for an easier, softer way or simply allowing security and circumstances to determine your challenges versus really seeking your security? I mean, truly seeking your security in playing a bigger game and making your life all about stripping the mask away and truly revealing your authentic power?
Imagine living a life that its purpose is to live authentically every moment.
Imagine that.
Imagine waking up and your purpose is to live a life authentically every moment. What kind of power would that take? I would call it authentic power.
Authentic power is something that no one can give you. No one can make it happen for you. You must do the work to bring it out of you.
You can hang around people who demand authenticity, but they can’t do it for you because authentic power is when you are guided by your own awareness, your own mindfulness, your own intentions, and that you consciously choose – with compassion, and empathy, and wisdom – to access your authentic power.
My hero’s journey into this world of personal growth has been about finding – and changing – the parts of my personality that do not intend for me to be authentically powerful.
How many of you can recognize there are parts of your personality right now that do not intend for you to be authentically powerful?