You’ve been scammed.

Repeat after me, “I’ve been scammed.”  Or if you prefer say, “I’ve been lied to.” It’s okay- we all have. And, if you are able to admit it (and forgive yourself), you’ve taken the first and largest step to preventing it from happening again.

I have to credit Seth Godin and his revolutionary book, Linchpin (Amazon link), for the inspiration (the unabridged audio version in which Seth reads it is especially powerful). He is bold enough to lay out that we were flat-out scammed. We were sold the American dream. He explains how we traded our genius and personal dreams for security and jobs that tell us what to do.

It’s not your fault. You have had Fortune 500 companies, politicians, churches, schools/teachers, bosses, books, and TV telling you the way things are for a long time. You have been indoctrinated by propaganda since you were born. Their story made sense. It was convenient. And they told you what you wanted to hear.

You looked to your parents to learn about life. They told you how things were- and you believed them. They meant well. But they were indoctrinated too. And brain-washed.

And now you’re brain-washed too. You can say it, “I’m brain-washed.” And then finally admit to yourself, “I allowed so many people to tell me how things are for so long that I don’t even know what’s real anymore.”

It’s okay. It’s just that now it’s time for us to wake up. It’s time to think for ourselves. We no longer have the luxury of drinking the Kool-Aid. We have to look inside. If something doesn’t feel right–it’s probably not. You owe it to yourself (and your children) to find the truth.

But pay attention. The spin-doctors are really good at what they do- and their stories are seductive.

And there is a lot at stake.

Got guilt? Learn something.

We get hung up on reconciliation. When we feel guilty- we want to make it right. This is one of those great ideas that just does not work. Once you make a mistake that hurts someone (or yourself), you really can’t undo its effect.

So say you betray a friend’s trust. Your first response is to make things right. You have to do something that makes this right. You are so sorry. You are super nice to them. You send flowers. They may even forgive you. But you cannot undo the effect of what you did. Your relationship has changed. No matter what you do, it is going to take some time before that person trusts you again in that way- if they give you that chance.

It’s not that they are holding a grudge. It takes their heart some time to heal. Then they have to decide if they are going to risk going to that space with you again.

So you feel guilty. You beat yourself up. How could you mess up such a cool thing? What were you thinking? Maybe paying some penance will help the situation? Not really.

Guilt is an issue we have with ourselves. We feel that we acted outside our integrity- and it hurt someone we care about. Learning from it allows us to get value from an otherwise negative experience. How did I let that happen? It makes our mistake count for something. Promising ourselves to not do it again allows us to hold ourselves accountable in way that we can forward. Perhaps we can even forgive ourselves (and let ourselves heal).

Because… although it may not be with the same person or situation, life will definitely give you another chance at this lesson. Will you be ready?

Forgive yourself for not giving yourself what is important to you

“Did they get you to trade

Roger Waters, Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here (listen to song on YouTube)

It was us that made the choices to walk way from the things we wanted most. Nobody took them from us. It just felt like that. We allowed it. We sold ourselves short. We gave up the things mattered most. We let ourselves down. We betrayed ourselves.

Our issue is with ourselves. We just keep projecting it on to everyone around us. It is too painful to admit that we did it to ourselves.

It is time we healed this. We need to make amends to ourselves. We must forgive ourselves for not giving ourselves the things we wanted most. Making amends has two parts: 1. Forgiving ourselves; 2. Promising ourselves that it will never happen again. Dealing with this prevents us from pushing it away.

Because… if we took it from ourselves- then we can still provide to ourselves. It is within our control. Everything you always wanted is still available to you. All of your dreams. They just may present themselves a little differently. The characters and set may be different, but the plot is the same. I promise you it is still there for you- if you just allow it. You have to believe in possibility.

All we have to do is accept that it was us that let our dream slip away, and forgive ourselves. Then we can stop pushing it away and start seeing possibilities.

Could get pretty scary and sad- but the stakes are high. And what have you got to lose? A lead role in a cage?

Blessing the lesson

We just experienced a painful lesson. We realize we did some damage. We hurt someone’s feelings. We pushed someone away. We missed an awesome opportunity. We neglected someone or something that is precious to us. We cost ourselves or someone else a lot of money.