Remove the dams and get into the flow!
Whether it be mentally, physically, emotionally, or financially, feeling stuck in life is the absolute WORST!
Have you ever noticed people who just appear to be “lucky”? I know I had a very hard time understanding why things just weren’t working out for me. Why do I struggle in almost every situation whereas others seem to excel in almost every they do?
After working in Corporate America for years and watching others advance while I was passed over for one position after another, that I knew I was qualified for, I decided to go back to school to assure my climb up the corporate ladder. While working a full-time job, I made up my mind to place myself in a position where there would be no reason for me not to advance. Associates, bachelors and then my masters, I was not going to stop until I reached my goal of eliminating any reason for me to be held back.
In 2011, I was working for one of the top five financial institutions in the world. By that time, I had over 15 years’ experience, my MBA, was a top performer almost every month for years and was one of the top go-to trainers for new employees. I was a natural leader, I served in two Diversity, Equality and Inclusion groups and I volunteered in my community.
I was working in the refinance department for home loans at the time. It was a very stressful job, as the financial crisis grew due to the number of homeowners that found themselves defaulting on their mortgage loans.
I am a natural problem solver therefore I identified several holes in the system which caused homeowners to get caught in a loop delaying the refinance process causing them to get further and further behind. I thought about the process that was causing such delays and spent time in the evenings thinking of strategies that would make things flow better, which would assist homeowners with completing the process of refinancing more efficiently. That in turn would impact our department as it would be less stressful.
I came up with a resolution. I pitched a new job description with a complete plan on how it would work to the HR department. I presented a written description as well as a PowerPoint presentation. They loved it! They were going to use my idea. I was responsible for contributing a concept for a position that would assist with a problem that was impacting not only the homeowners and the financial institutions; this problem was impacting the country. The position was implemented. I felt pretty good about my contribution. The fact that I submitted the job to HR, I was confident I would finally get my shot in a managerial role as I applied for the supervisor for the position.
After a few weeks I received the decision. To my surprise, I was denied. “You need a bit more experience” were the words that came out of the manager’s mouth. I was shocked to say the least. “More experience? How much more experience would you like me to have?” I questioned. “I have a master’s degree in the field, I have 15 years of experience and I’ve trained at least one third of the employees in this department. I even trained the person I report to (who by the way had a high school diploma and never worked in the financial world prior). I wrote the job description. Who could possibly be more qualified?” I asked directly. There was no justifiable answer. That was my last day in Corporate America. After 15 plus years of being denied the opportunity to advance, I had had enough.
It took years of struggling and trying to understand, it finally made sense. In addition to other blocks I have experienced around employment and my financial situation, I finally understood. I had blocks rooted in my subconscious, that was stopping my ability to prosper, I was not even aware of.
Remove the dams that are blocking and allow the currency to flow!
What is rooted in your subconscious? Are there feelings of unworthiness buried so deep you don’t even realize they are there?
When I sat and did a self-study focused on my finances, I realized I was dealing with dams, just like those built to control the flow of the water in the river, due to choices I made years ago. I had to consider the energy associated with those choices. Did I atone for the wrong choices, or did I just move past them? Did I forgive myself or was there a part of me deep down on the inside self-sabotaging based on feelings of guilt and shame?
I had blocks attached to “feelings” of never being good enough. So many black children are told they must work harder than everyone else just to be considered. I had to look at the impact those words had on me. Did that somehow cause me to think I would never be good enough? Did I put up a block to be able to receive the blessings, promotions, financial increase because deep down I “felt” no matter how hard I tried, or how hard I worked it was never going to get me to where I desire or deserve to be because of my color?
If I wanted a change in my situation, I had to remove the dam and allow room for the currency to flow.
What areas of your life have you been experiencing blocks? Are you having a hard time getting your health in order? Are you struggling with your relationships? Are you subconsciously punishing yourself for choices from your past? We cannot fix problems if we do are not willing to acknowledge they are there. Once we identify them, we must then be willing to be ACCOUNTABLE to ourselves first. Awareness, accountability and acknowledgement have to be followed up with action! The first action after you take accountability is forgiving yourself!
Remove the dams of self-doubt, bad decisions, guilt, and shame and allow the currency to flow!