Exercise to become a better hurdler

Lots of people ask me what I do to keep moving forward toward my goals and not let challenges knock me off track. We all come to hurdles in life, don’t hate the hurdle, become a better hurdler. – Tweet it

Often the obstacle is exaggerated by our minds, which makes it more difficult to navigate. I regularly do exercises that remove my barriers to my vision for my life. So one of my Vision Board Action Cards is “Do an exercise to remove my blocks around achieving my goals.” You can read about the other action cards on my blog.

There are lots of ways to perceive and break down blocks. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

First, are you blocked?

Do you have a desire to move forward, but you’re not doing it?

Are you getting engaged in arguments – either with others or just in your mind – that don’t get you any closer to your goals?

Is there a conversation that should happen or an action that you’ve avoided because it seems like it’s going to be uncomfortable?

Are things just not flowing in your life the way you want them to?

If you answered yes to any of these, chances are some blockage is happening. Try following these steps to breaking through the block:

1. Choose going for your goal instead of staying engaged with the block.
It may sound crazy to suggest that we could actually choose discomfort or lack of fulfillment over making our goals and being happy. But this is often the case. Entire lives have been devoted to complaining about the way things are, or waiting for the right, comfortable moment to act. Maybe we feel it’s not fair that a certain obstacle came up. Perhaps we’re avoiding something that makes us uncomfortable, and so we stay in the slightly less uncomfortable state of not facing it, nor being able to move past it. Whatever the case, it’s vital that we refocus our aim on the prize, instead of wasting time and energy on the obstacles.

2. Figure out what getting over the block would look like.
Put it into words, like, “I’m inspired and light,” or “Money is pouring into my life,” or “I feel ecstatic when I speak my truth,” or “I’m super productive.” If you dislike where you’ve been hanging out – literally or figuratively – it doesn’t do you a lot of good to focus on this. It’s like saying, “I hate it in Detroit. I hate it in Detroit,” when you could be saying, “I’m excited to go to Hawaii!” You need to know where you want to be instead of where you’ve been. What’s your intention?

3. Become conscious of the block.
When you think about what you want to do that isn’t happening, or when you hold your goal in mind and don’t feel altogether positive and enthusiastic, what is it that’s getting in the way? Maybe you can put it into words, or maybe it’s just a feeling it. Let yourself experience the physical expression of the block. Hold the issue or the goal in your mind, and simultaneously feel what comes up in your body. Usually it’s a sense of tightness, restriction, fatigue or other discomfort.

4. Feel the block. Welcome the block. Let go of the block.
Your resisting the block isn’t helping – it’s keeping you in a tight relationship with it. Instead, accept whatever you feel. Let it spread over your whole being. Breathe. Let it go.

5. Now, bring up those positive words again.
When you reiterate your intention (from #2), does it feel any different? See what comes up in your body, or if there are any mental protests. Feel it, welcome it, let it go. Then re-state your intention. Does it feel any different? Again, see if there’s any argument still happening. Let that be felt and/or voiced. Let it go.

Repeat.

6. Act.
The process may not yet be over, especially if this block has been with you for a long time, or it’s an expression of an even deeper block. But now is the time to do something to reaffirm your commitment to your goal. Take a step that you’ve been putting off or that you feel might be uncomfortable.

7. Reiterate your intention and be present to whatever the response is.
Rather than using your positive words of intention as an affirmation that you repeat unconsciously and perpetually, revisit them for just a few minutes at a time, a few times a day. When you voice these words, what happens inside you? Listen. Feel. Express. Allow. Don’t resist. Let go.

Give it a try. You can bound hurdles … or maybe more accurately, you can dissolve them in seconds.

Tell me in the comments below what you’re going to do as an expression of your commitment to stop fighting with the obstacles and get back on the track to your dream life.