How do we keep our inner flame burning when there is so much chaos, so many formidable obstacles looming wherever we look?

That’s a question that so many people ask me. It’s a question that I used to ask myself.

For years… decades even… I looked “out there” for the answers.

That 6 figure income that would make me feel more secure, give me more freedom, allow me to do more of what I wanted to do… the relationship that would help me feel appreciated, valued and understood… the body that would allow me to feel good about myself, like I was special… “enough”…

And then one day a boulder fell onto my own sweet child and I had to look elsewhere.

So far in my life, none of the “out there’s” had delivered on those promises.

The insecurities hadn’t disappeared with the new relationships or with the toned body.

The time and the freedom didn’t magically fall into place when I crossed the 6-figure line.

The ugly frustrated, disappointed dialogue had continued to replay in my mind over and over and over again until that boulder made me really realize that it was simply me that had to stop.

Yep, I was truly thinking like my own worst enemy.

I couldn’t expect my life to prove to me that it was worthy of feeling joy and love.

I had to choose to fill my living moments with joy and love.

In the four months that would follow as I sat at my daughter’s side, as she fought for her life, in my own less obvious way, I fought for my own.

I realized that inadvertently I had been playing a sort of spiritual Russian Roulette with my life. I was leaving my own feelings about my life solely in the hands of the things that surrounded me.

Certainly things were considered good. If those things happened, I could authorize myself to respond with good emotions.

If things didn’t happen a certain way, I would not be able to feel good.

A lot of power to give to things that I certainly couldn’t control.

A hundred years theoretically seems like a lot of time to play that game. Certainly the odds were in our favor — and yet then why were so many people who were also playing the game this way so unhappy?

Well, dear friends, I learned that the only way to fend off the whirlwind of stress, fear and unhappiness was to turn my attention to one area of my being that, quite frankly, I had been overlooking.

My inner game.

Remarkably, I had always been fascinated with the subject of how we as human beings find happiness.

I would corner my unsuspecting friends at Georgetown at a local coffee house and rather than talking about the big career moves ahead, I would ask them about their big purpose in life… who they really wanted to be as a human being and how they thought we could discover our happiness.

Most would find a way to quickly change the subject.

We had access to some of the best education in the country, but virtually none of it addressed the topic of happiness.

So there I sat now looking back on all of the inner game research that I had done for decades.

Law of Attraction. Energy. NLP. Personal development. Philosophy. Even the Japanese martial art Aikido.

In this moment, as I looked at my own life and wondered if there was anything in my power that could help my child, I decided to invest in something new.

A titanium mindset.

An inner narrative that had nothing to do with looking on the bright side or lala land or life inside the airy fairy.

We’re talking about deliberate positive focus. About the powerful intention to become sovereign of my own mind.

That moment not only helped my daughter begin to see the “impossible” in her recovery but it also changed my own life in a way that feels nothing short of magical.

It created a new crystal clear sense of purpose and passion as well as a level of innate joy and freedom that had eluded me for decades.

In these two podcast episodes, ironically released on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, New Dawn Podcast and SalesPop!, I had the chance to share some of the basic elements of this new mindset that made such a big impact on my life and that is rarely talked about in the usual mindset banter.

If you are feeling like your inner fire is burning low and like the chaos of the recent news is dimming that sense of hope that you had for 2021, I would invite you to have a listen.

Your happiness is not controlled or defined by the circumstances that surround you. Unless you give the outer world the power to do so.

Your inner light cannot be stolen, captured or destroyed. It waits ever ready to burn at its brightest. Ready to serve.

The world right now needs your light. Dare to invest in your own inner game. Choose the road less taken. Start fresh. Start anew with an approach that awaits with new fertile soil.

You’ve got this. Your next formidable moment is waiting!

In Joy,

 

Meridith