It’s been several months of one transition to the next — moving, leaving a job, ending a relationship…the list goes on and I’m only 24! It’s easy to be spiritual when it’s easy to be spiritual. When the sun is shining, and everything is aligned in one’s life, of course it’s all G-d. But what about these shaky moments, the ones where all we want to know is that we’ll be ok? I used to be better with change, excited even. And now, I just want to run into a cage somewhere and hide with the bears.
I’ve learned something about myself lately – and that is I am as scared of settling or failure as I am success. What if everything does work out? What if I do get the job of my dreams, end up with my soul mate, spend a life of saving the world and telling stories of strangers I’ve never met? What once sounded like a fantasy could actually come true, and all I want to do now is find a mediocre office job where no one knows my name rather than the world-trotting journalist I dream to be.
So here I am – nervous, anxious, unsure, and I needed some words of wisdom. So while I have tons of books, and shuls, and friends to turn to, I chose Oprah, a modern-day successful and spiritual woman who battles her own self-doubts. Oprah, you have been my spiritual goddess and I want to thank you.
If you’re at all at the place I am, I’d like to share some articles I found on Oprah’s site that have helped me think a little clearer, and take a more spiritual perspective on taking chances, dealing with fear and lightening up (a major must of mine).
Lighten up on yourself to have a better life, by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat. Pray. Love.
Let’s just anticipate that we (all of us) will disappoint ourselves somehow in the decade to come. Go ahead and let it happen… While you’re at it, take the wrong job. Move to the wrong city… Blow it all catastrophically, in fact, and then start over with good cheer. This is what we all must learn to do, for this is how maps get chartered — by taking wrong turns that lead to surprising passageways that open into spectacularly unexpected new worlds..
How to Be Happy, Dammit!, by Karen Salmansohn, author of How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness
Worry and doubt can actually be prayers and visualizations—and self-fulfilling programming—for things you do not want. The world is your mirror. Everything is created twice. What you have running in the programming of your mind eventually manifests itself in the outer world.
So if you want to change your outer world, you must first change your internal mental programming. When you try to change the external world first, it’s like trying to change the picture on a TV screen by rubbing that picture with a cloth. You can rub, and rub, and rub—but it’s futile, baby.
Take Your Checklist of Worries to the CEO of Happiness, by Kathy Kinney, actress on The Drew Carey Show
…And so it continued with all of my problems spoken and God having a department to take care of each one. When they were all dealt with, God asked, “Is there anything else?” I was at the very bottom line of my fears and said, “I’m afraid to fail, afraid to succeed, afraid to live and afraid to die.” God smiled and said, “Don’t worry—I’m taking care of that personally. You’re safe no matter what.” With all of my worries taken care of, who was I? What was my purpose? I whispered, “What am I supposed to do?” God said, “All you have to do is be happy, joyous and free—that’s your job.”
