"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know, what I was walling in or walling out?" - Robert Frost
I ask people a lot about building walls and what they are good for and I always get the same answer. "They are good for keeping things out."
That is certainly true. And then I ask, "What else are they good at doing?" You wouldn't believe the dead silence that usually comes back my way.
Thinking. Thinking. Thinking. Uh...Alright so I'll give it to you. As good as walls are for keeping things out, they also do a damn good job of keeping things in. Ahhhh. Yes.
This is exactly where the trouble is when it comes to our daily lives. We build walls for many reasons: fear, pain, regret, doubt, worry...I mean the list goes on and on. In fact, the more pain we go through the more walls we build. We build them higher, double back them, and try to make them indestructible all with the intent of keeping out those bad experiences again.
And unfortunately, when you are trying to keep out the negative, you are also keeping in the positive. Remember those gifts you've been given? They never get to come out to play. They stay trapped inside because you have created a bit of a prison for yourself.
It gets worse. Since you didn't build any doors...because why would you ever want to give the negative emotions a weak spot in the wall to exploit, you've failed to create any form of fire escape.
As life always likes to do, it shoots fiery arrows over your walls and starts to light everything on fire. You have no escape. You have no "out." Typically, peoples lives burn straight to the ground.
Walls are bad for you. They can truly hurt you.
Because without experiencing life in its fullest and everything that it has to offer, negative and positive, you aren't actually living at all. You're just surviving. You're doing exactly what it takes to get by. You aren't thriving...and that's the only place where your best stuff lives.
These walls that you've built served you at one time in protecting your heart, but now they are just hurting you. They are hurting you because you can't grow from that trapped place anymore. You can't experience what you need to experience to help you continue to develop. The negative emotions stay out (for the most part) but those positive qualities that you have - the potential that you have discovered - those stay in.
They will never come out when you are living safe inside of your comfort zone.
That's just the reality. You have to tear down the walls that you think are protecting you and be willing to experience the open fields where everything and anything is possible.
Yes, it will be scary. But when you make the decision to step into vulnerability you will remember it for the rest of your life.
Tear down the walls. Take a risk.
I ask people a lot about building walls and what they are good for and I always get the same answer. "They are good for keeping things out."
That is certainly true. And then I ask, "What else are they good at doing?" You wouldn't believe the dead silence that usually comes back my way.
Thinking. Thinking. Thinking. Uh...Alright so I'll give it to you. As good as walls are for keeping things out, they also do a damn good job of keeping things in. Ahhhh. Yes.
This is exactly where the trouble is when it comes to our daily lives. We build walls for many reasons: fear, pain, regret, doubt, worry...I mean the list goes on and on. In fact, the more pain we go through the more walls we build. We build them higher, double back them, and try to make them indestructible all with the intent of keeping out those bad experiences again.
And unfortunately, when you are trying to keep out the negative, you are also keeping in the positive. Remember those gifts you've been given? They never get to come out to play. They stay trapped inside because you have created a bit of a prison for yourself.
It gets worse. Since you didn't build any doors...because why would you ever want to give the negative emotions a weak spot in the wall to exploit, you've failed to create any form of fire escape.
As life always likes to do, it shoots fiery arrows over your walls and starts to light everything on fire. You have no escape. You have no "out." Typically, peoples lives burn straight to the ground.
Walls are bad for you. They can truly hurt you.
Because without experiencing life in its fullest and everything that it has to offer, negative and positive, you aren't actually living at all. You're just surviving. You're doing exactly what it takes to get by. You aren't thriving...and that's the only place where your best stuff lives.
These walls that you've built served you at one time in protecting your heart, but now they are just hurting you. They are hurting you because you can't grow from that trapped place anymore. You can't experience what you need to experience to help you continue to develop. The negative emotions stay out (for the most part) but those positive qualities that you have - the potential that you have discovered - those stay in.
They will never come out when you are living safe inside of your comfort zone.
That's just the reality. You have to tear down the walls that you think are protecting you and be willing to experience the open fields where everything and anything is possible.
Yes, it will be scary. But when you make the decision to step into vulnerability you will remember it for the rest of your life.
Tear down the walls. Take a risk.
About the Author:
Evan Sanders is a professional life coach at AYKME coaching. Dive into these great Great Quotes On Happiness or these Quotes On Having Patience to get some motivation to move forward!
