Have You Ever Fallen for an Illusion? (By Stephanie O'Brien)

An illusion is when something appears to be real, but is just a trick on the eyes or senses to make our minds believe something that is really not.

This year I have made significant strides in progressing towards my goals. I have developed new disciplines and habits, continue kicking fear where it hurts, and pressing through resistance to see my dreams become reality.

I know this truth. When I focus on this, I have so much gratitude, and happiness that God has blessed me with His grace to persevere and that I have made the choices to keep going.

Despite this, there are moments when I get so down, discouraged, and feel defeated. In these moments I feel like a failure, that things are taking too long, that I'm wasting my time, energy and money building something that hasn't given me the financial return or results I was expecting at this point.

But that's just an illusion. Something crept into my mind and has created an illusion to cause me to think and feel hopeless and defeated. When you are experiencing these emotions, realize that it is an illusion. It's not real. Something is tricking the eyes and senses to make your mind believe that something is happening that really is not.

When you face these moments you MUST shift your attention. As a person of faith, I shift my attention to my creator. I call out in prayer asking for help. I ask that my eyes see the truth and that the illusion leaves. That the lies are exposed and the source leaves. And it does.

Today, I started off in gratitude and excitement to finish the tasks of the day. But then things started taking a bit longer than I anticipated. I began to feel panicked that I was delaying my progress. Then I felt discouraged and like a total failure because yet again I didn't finish my to-do list.

That's when I did the above. I shifted my perspective. I knew those thoughts were not right or based on truth. They may have been how I felt- but feelings are rarely fact.

Determining to allow feelings to pass rather than lead and dictate what I do or do not do has been very helpful in establishing emotional intelligence.

After getting past my momentary "funk" I ended up having a very productive day. I was able to see past the illusion and move forward. Sure, there are still things left undone on my to do list.

It doesn't make me a failure. It just means that I'm still learning how much time things take to do well. I can simply adjust my to-do list and expectations.

I'd rather make a more realistic to-do list and add to it, than to have one that really won't get complete and feel like I'm not making any progress.

Over to you- have you ever fallen for an illusion? How did you shift your view to see the truth of the matter?


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