by Dawn Wheeler, C. Ht.
The human experience is a lot like riding a bicycle. No one jumps on a bike for the first time and remains upright for long without wobbling or falling.
It takes determination, practice, experience, and lots of patience before someone can maintain balance and sustain themselves in the long run. Keeping faith and a positive attitude may also prove to be helpful to this endeavor. As with anything, acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge will be equally vital to anyone’s success. Discovering how to handle and adapt to different circumstances and environments is crucial to making one’s ride as comfortable as possible. Riders will also need to figure out how to overcome obstacles and bumps. And if, by chance, someone happens to stray off course or get lost, they’ll have to find a way to regain their bearings and get back on track again. Until one can master staying on the bike of life and move forward quickly, the best thing they can do is to continue to get back up and try again.
There’s a reason children generally start with a tricycle and then move on to a two-wheeler with training wheels before attempting to ride and balance one on their own. Taking small steps towards a goal and enlisting support helps build confidence and makes rebounding from falters quicker and easier.
Being kind and gentle with ourselves is essential, especially when we make mistakes, fail, or don’t go as planned. We are only human and thus innately imperfect and flawed. Everyone has a bad day and gets disappointed. Everyone makes mistakes, fails, and even beats themselves over their less-than-stellar moments. Everyone uses poor judgment or does things they regret. Everyone gets hurt and even causes somebody else pain.
Despite hurts, disappointments, and failures, there’s a lot of goodness, joy, beauty, and so much to be grateful for. All victories, even small ones, should be celebrated. More importantly, everyone should try to learn from the mistakes and hurts of the past and then let the past go.
Forgiveness can be an excellent way to leave the past behind. Ideally, one should strive to forgive every person and thing that prevented them from feeling and being their best at one time or another, including themselves. It doesn’t mean they’re condoning or making excuses for what happened. It also doesn’t mean they have to have people in their lives who make them feel bad. It means they can have comfort and peace despite people and past circumstances.
Aside from making peace with the past, it’s important to pick ourselves up when we fall and try again, no matter how many times it takes. We all have the ability to learn from past failures, make better choices, and have good things result from our choices.
Just like keeping balance is crucial in avoiding falling or getting hurt on a bike, balance or a lack thereof can also significantly affect our lives. Work is a good thing, but not the only thing. It’s essential to relax, rest, and have fun. Giving is excellent, but so is receiving. Just like doing something for someone else makes us feel good, letting someone else do something for us makes them feel good. And although we may think we should, we don’t have to do it all. We can and should ask for help when we need it. Also, remember, we don’t always have to say yes. Saying no is not only pleasing but also essential for wellbeing, which everyone deserves. Balance is probably the most critical factor for a high-quality life, but unfortunately, one of the things people forgo the most. Despite the pressures to do otherwise, everyone should try to set boundaries and incorporate more balance into their lives.
It has been said many times that it’s the journey that’s important, not the destination. So, one should try to enjoy the ride as much as possible. However, even when someone is an experienced rider, stuff happens. No one can control or know everything. And if something unexpected or unsettling occurs, do whatever you can to comfortably and safely bring it to some resolution, peace, or neutrality. Then, get back on the bike and ride on.
Happy trails, everyone!
Dawn Wheeler, C. Ht.
Mind Over Matter Works
Comprehensive Hypnotherapy/Hypnosis for Lasting Change
For more than 20 years, Certified Hypnotherapist and Author Dawn Wheeler has harnessed and honed the tool of Hypnosis to help her clients transform virtually every aspect of their lives. For more information, check out her website at: http://mindovermatterworks.com
