You Are Enough: Stop Improving Yourself

05:02

You Are Enough: Stop Improving Yourself

Rated

4.9

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

Plays

135

In this talk, Lou shares counterintuitive wisdom that goes against the common self-improvement paradigm. So much of our growth work comes from a quiet sense that we’re not good enough yet, which keeps us chasing the next fix. You’ll learn how to shift your focus from self-deficiency to wholeness, and why the growth journey may be more about subtraction than adding. This is an invitation to keep learning and challenging yourself from a place of already being enough. A more relaxed, enjoyable, and fulfilling way to move through life.

Self Coaching Practice Affirmation Meditation Purpose Discovery Self Acceptance Self Improvement Spiritual Growth Unfolding

Meet your Teacher

Eugene, OR, USA

Meet your Teacher

Eugene, OR, USA

Transcript

This is an invitation to stop improving yourself. Let go of the self-improvement project that you have created to be your life. And I'll start by just looking at the word. Improve I'm Prove I'm proving what are we trying to prove when we better ourselves? We're trying to make us feel okay. We're trying to be good enough We're trying to have these many skills and do all of these things we read books we meditate we do all these things But what ends up happening is that it's all on a house of cards Because it's a never-ending cycle. It's a never-ending more. We're still not quite enough in this this category and so we need to improve this and then we need to improve this and it doesn't end. One of my favorite teachers, Richard Rohr, Says, As long as you have something to prove, Or protect. You fall into negative and judgmental thinking. And that's kind of what we're doing in our self-improvement projects. We're in some ways trying to protect ourselves from something that we're not okay with, From the insecurity. So we don't feel, We feel a certain way. We feel bad and we're like, Okay, I need to do a self-improvement project, Right? I don't feel secure in who I am. I need to make myself better. And then we get there and then it just, It's never ending. And a core of it is because it's acting from lack. It's acting from deficiency. It's acting from, I'm not enough. Let me do something to be enough. And you might say like, Lou, What's wrong with that? And honestly, It's a good start. It's better than going and drinking a bunch of alcohol and just living a life like that. It's a good start. But there's a deeper way and there's a more fulfilling way. And that is a path of both self and non-self. Emptying? And then self-unfolding. And so. I really believe the spiritual journey is much more, Or the growth journey. Is much more a path of subtraction than it is adding. Instead of adding more things to our plate, Adding more routines. Subtracting and working with the parts of us that are getting in the way. From experiencing the pain. Essence. The nature of reality, The nature of who we are. Who is whole, Perfect, And complete, Just as they are. Who has nothing missing. Nothing missing, Has everything that we need that is inside of us. So many teachers and traditions point to this truth, This eternal truth of who we really are at our core. And so we have to empty of those parts that are trying to say, No, No, But you're not good enough here. And there's a lot of different ways to work with it. We're not going to get into it here in this talk, But just trying to name and switch your orientation from one of self-improvement to one of self-emptying? So that we can connect more with who we are underneath it, And then what ends up happening. Is our journey starts to unfold. We don't add things on, Like something's missing, So I need to add, I need to fill the hole, Versus we're full, We're enough, We're good. And from that fullness and enoughness, The next stage unfolds. It doesn't mean that we don't do things. It doesn't mean that we don't grow and challenge ourselves and learn new skills and bring more into our life. It doesn't mean that at all. It just means that we do it from a place of already enough, Not from a place of, I need that thing in order to fix me or change me. We do it from, I'm already good. And from this goodness, From this enoughness, What wants to happen? What wants to unfold? Where do I want to put my life force energy into the world? And so it's a much more relaxed, Beautiful, And enjoyable way to go about our lives. And so stop improving yourself. Start self-emptying. Start self-unfolding. See that you're already whole right now. I hope you found this message helpful. And if you want to go deeper on these concepts, I have a course called 21 Days of Morning Motivation and Inspiration. And we really start with this concept of you being whole, Perfect and complete in order for you to experience this on a day-to-day basis. And so if this calls to you, If you want to shift from your self-improvement to a self-unfolding, I invite you to go ahead and check out that course, 21 Days of Morning Motivation and Inspiration. In my courses tab. Thank you so much for being here and I hope to connect with you again on another talk soon.