Mindful Monday-The difference between striving and creating
BY MISTY JENNEIAHN
“Joy does not simply happen to us.
We have to choose joy and keep choosing it everyday."
~Henri J.M. Nouwen
Desires are real and the act of going after what we want can be exhilarating and deeply rewarding or it can be stressful and deflating. What makes the difference? The thoughts we are thinking while we are going about it.
No matter what it is that we desire; the promotion, the relationship, the perfect body, we want it because we believe it will make us feel good. If our movement towards what we want makes our lives stressful, self condemning, disempowering, anxiety ridden, etc. aren’t we missing the point?
There’s a big difference between the energy of creating vs striving.
The energy of CREATING carries with it an eager anticipation or excitement, it can feel challenging but juicy, pushes us to grow but in a good way. We create because the desire to do so moves us, it matters. We create for the tasks sake, not just for some imagined reward down the line.
STRIVING energy is the opposite. When we are striving, our value and worth lies in the accomplishment of the task. Thoughts like “what I haven’t done yet” and “what’s not working” are the invisible and poisonous gas we are constantly breathing. We desperately hope the thing works out or else"______" will happen. We get lost in the drama of trying to figure it out or hurry up so that everything will be "perfect".
As long as striving energy is the background music to the daily act of achieving our desires, feeling good will be forever held at bay.
We all deserve to enjoy life’s bounty! Let's not waste a moment of life squashing our joy along the journey!
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