Let me tell you about a story that someone told me. I don’t know who originally wrote it but I think it is great. It is called the Red Rose with a Green Stem.
There was a little boy in first grade that was in art class. His teacher told the class to draw a picture of a rose. That’s it. Just draw a picture of a rose.
So the little boy had a grand time drawing it. He loved purple and blue. So, he drew a Purple rose on a blue stem. He was so proud.
He turned in the drawing and when the teacher looked at it she said, “No, I’m sorry Tommy, please re-draw it. Draw a Red Rose with a Green Stem.”
And so he did.
Next year, in second grade, he had a different teacher in art class. The students were given the assignment of drawing a rose. That was the only instructions.
This year Tommy’s favorite colors were orange and pink. So he had a grand time drawing an orange rose with a pink stem. With great pride he turned in his drawing
This teacher saw it and said, “No, I’m sorry Tommy, please re-draw it. Draw a Red Rose with a Green Stem.”
And so he did.
The next year in third grade he was in art class with yet another teacher who gave the assignment to draw a rose.
So Tommy sadly drew a Red Rose with a Green Stem. Then, with little thought he turned in his work.
I believe that we have all been subjected to a system that is designed to limit our creativity. It has beaten us into a way of thinking. And that way of thinking is to not to listen to or trust our selves, our true inner voice. The inner voice we hear now is the voice of the school system, our families and the media.
These voices have hammered us into a mold. It is the mold of an employee.
Follow the rules.
Don’t think great thoughts.
Don’t be different.
You are dependent on others for your life and livelihood.
It is NOT your fault that believing that you could take care of yourself and have your own business is something that “other people do”.
But, just like you have been programmed to think like an employee (which is not a bad thing) you can re-program yourself as a business owner. In fact, today it is more important than ever to develop that programming.
If we don’t we will never find our bliss, that thing that makes us feel alert, alive, awake and aware. Our bliss is what we should be doing for our livelihood. Our bliss is our purpose for our lives. It is the reason we were born.
I believe we were born with our bliss. We knew what it was at birth. But the programming has overwritten it and now we only get glimpses of it.
So how do we begin to re-program our minds and re-discover our bliss?
We need to start asking great questions.
Questions like, “What would you do if you really could do what you wanted?”
If all things equal, are you really doing what you want to do? Are you really engaged in your life? Is what you’re doing for a living adding value to your life, or are you just trading your time for money?
