In response to my last article about different ways to get past a wall of inner resistance, a reader asked me about the possibility of “going around” the wall. She mentioned the walls you see in confidence courses you see in the movies (think “An Officer and a Gentleman” here), most will try to get over the wall, but some will simply go around it. She wanted to know if simply getting around the wall was possible.
The interesting thing is that each of us already knows the answer, because that is what we do already. When we hit that wall, we can try to get through it by one means or another. If we don’t have the strength to do so, we make a tactical retreat (or in some cases we run like little cowards) and keep running through the course, doing different activities until we come back around to that wall.
Now, we can keep going around the wall forever if that is our decision. Happens every day. However, to reference the movie, the cadet (I believe it was Seeger) would not pass unless she was able to get over the wall. So it is with us. We can get around the wall, and we can get stronger doing other things, but that wall will hold us back unless and until we can get through it in some fashion. Seeger eventually found the strength to get over the wall (with some encouragement from the main character of the movie). So it is for all of us. We keep maneuvering around our walls until we find the strength to break through them , erode them, or melt them by letting go.
I mentioned earlier how giving up can be viewed as an act of betrayal, not only of your Self but of everything you care about. The only time when that becomes true is if you decide to let that wall defeat you permanently. So long as your spirit is unconquered, there is no shame in not being able to get through the wall. Remember, just because you may not have the strength now, that doesn’t mean that you can’t get the strength and come back. If you can bump up against the wall, give it a thump and say “I’m coming back for you” and mean it, you have nothing to fear. The beauty is that as you start knocking walls out of the way, it’s almost like you are making room for a running head-start; As you reclaim your power, you realize that the walls aren’t as substantial as you thought they were after all.
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