Several years ago I had the wonderful opportunity to walk across hot coals at a Tony Robbins event. I’m now a seven-time fire walker, so this has been a pretty amazing journey. Each time with new lessons.
At this event, I walked across somewhere around 1,300 degree burning hot coals. Now your first thought might be “Ouch! Why?”
Oftentimes our most painful experiences give us the deepest lessons. While I certainly can’t say walking across coals has been one of my most painful experiences, doing something with that level of intensity can bring about certain realizations and epiphanies.
What came through to me that time was that my mess, is my message.
Delivering The Message
This was around 2012, and after that, I went on this frenzy of serving. I began to take all these things that I had learned about my life, and offer them to people who wanted to listen.
I was spilling over with ideas and an understanding of what I had to offer the world. I was able to reflect and see all the ways the messes I had in life helped shape what my message is.
We so often try to rush through life, constantly striving to “achieve” or land at the next stop. What we don’t realize is that all these experiences we’ve gone through have helped shape us into who we are.
There’s no way to rush being human. Sometimes we have to make mistakes to learn. Sometimes we have to make a mess.
If you’re struggling to clean up your mess or see where it fits into your life path, take a second to reflect. Think about past “messes” and how you took them and transformed them into something meaningful. What message did you get out of that mess? We can’t always see when we’re in the midst of it, but I promise your messes are full of nuggets of wisdom that people need to hear.
Change Comes from Within
During this period of personal growth after my first coal walking experience, there were a few quotes that inspired me and really stuck with me.
One of those quotes is from Jim Rohn. He said, “If I change, everything changes.”
These messes often catapult a period of growth or change that gives us a clearer picture of the vision we have for the world, and how we can serve the people around us.
Before I can address what’s happening in the outside world, I have to focus on the world inside of me. Say you want to change the world. Well, you have to start small, like your local community, the town you live in, your state. But before you can do any of that, you have to change yourself.
What messes are you trying to clean up now?
What messages can you get from those messes?
What is keeping you from delivering your message?
What is preventing you from going after your goals?
How will achieving your personal goals help to better your family? Your community? Your town? The world?
Sometimes we get so caught up in our own messes that we forget that there’s all this happening outside of us. So we take those messes, and we transform them into a message or tool to help better ourselves, and the world around us.
A Ripple Effect
Changing yourself creates a ripple effect. When you change, the people around you begin to change. That creates a domino chain of influence, inspiration, and good doing that eventually will reach far and wide.
Think about a time when you’ve been in a bad mood. You woke up late, spilled coffee on your work clothes, and hit every red light. How did your mood affect your coworkers? Your children? Your partner? Even your dog.
Now think about a time where everything went right. You woke up early, got your morning routine in, made the perfect cup of joe, even had time for breakfast, and made it to work with time to spare and ease into your day. The smile that comes from an easeful morning is contagious. Notice how that lifts up the people around you?
Life happens, sometimes we spill coffee or make a mess, but what matters is what you do with that mess. Are you going to let it ruin your day and be grumpy towards your loved ones, or will you laugh about it, move on, and have a funny story to tell at dinner?
Say it with me – “If I change, everything changes.”
Every step you take to better yourself, whether it’s over burning hot coals or squishy carpet, is a step to help better the world around you.
