Anxiety and limiting lifestyles

How do you want to engage with life? Instead of seeing our identity as something fixed, we can view it as a journey of growth and change. By constantly rethinking and reshaping who we are, we can keep learning and evolving 

Transcript

How do you want to engage with life? Instead of seeing our identity as something fixed, we can view it as a journey of growth and change. By constantly rethinking and reshaping who we are, we can keep learning and evolving. What if, instead of asking "Who am I?" we asked, "How do I want to live my life?"

  "How would I like to engage life?"

 Life Experiences – For example; the loss of a loved one or a divorce are often confronted with a distressing thought. Try this: Rather than remaining trapped in fear, you'd need to summon up a sense of wonder and adventure. There is a new sense of self waiting to be born. You get to re-craft yourself along the way.

 Knowing too much: At the other end of the identity continuum are those who claim to know themselves so well. This other extreme also signifies fragility about one's identity. To know yourself so well leaves no room for growth. Even more, it suggests a deep vulnerability that is being defended against—as if it were too dangerous to take a closer look. 

The life line or time line exists in a state of flowing potential. What is human flowing potential? A feeling where, under the right conditions, you become fully immersed in whatever you are doing.  And it is essential to understand that we are indeed part of that time line. The goal then is to access that potential, keeping the parts of our identity that continue to serve us well and shedding the old habits that constrain us. 

 This process is known as positive disintegration. This permits us to find a balance between the extremes previously discussed and enter into a relationship with yourself that commits to your personal evolution. Simply explained as one’s inner experience is a “battleground” between the actual self (“what is”) and the ideal self (“what ought to be”). 

Do I take the low road, or do I choose the high road? These conflicts disintegrate one’s simple perception of the world creating opportunities to choose one’s values, aims, and goals, and to determine the course and direction of one’s own development. This marks the beginning of true autonomous individual development. 

What does all this mean when you are a senior? 

 Are you making your own decisions based on what you feel is best for you?

 Are you OK with yourself of how things are going?