Do you see how the ant is circling, searching for the way out, but keeps being thwarted by something that looks real to it ?
If I had a felt-tip pen line drawn around me, I would have no problem stepping on it or over it to go wherever I wanted.
However, like the ant, I was stuck in a circle of my own making that felt real and kept me trapped inside just like our ant friend.
It didn’t feel comfortable in my circle and I wanted to find the way out. But, like the ant, there did not seem to be a door and my circle felt as real to me as the pen line feels to the ant.
Some of the circles I lived in kept me trapped in ideas about myself. There was the “I am not good enough” circle, another was” I am not lovable”, which made relationships hard, another was “I am not confident” that left me feeling like I could not try things, another was “I am not clever” which stopped me applying for things or going for opportunities. Some circles were made up of all those ideas rolled into one. Then it would feel llike an impossibly thick line that I might never be free of.
The only way I could think to get free of this circle was to work on myself and work on my issues such as lack of confidence or feeling unlovable.
Occasionally I would temporarily find the door, but before long I had simply drawn another circle around myself and I was trapped again. It was exhausting– a never ending job!
Sometimes the circles were so small and restricting I could barely get anything done. Other times, they would melt away and I felt free and life felt full of possibility… until another one got drawn.
For the ant to get free, it needs to understand that a pen mark can’t trap it. Then it will ignore it and step on forth, no matter how thickly drawn or permanent the marker line looks.
For me to find freedom from my circles, I needed to see what they were made of and that, just like the felt pen, they had no power to hold me trapped.
If you recognise yourself in the ant or someone you know, get in touch. Come and join one of our programmes, so we can show you what limiting circles are made of and how we innocently create them through misunderstanding. Let us show you how to get free.
When we live like that– free from the ideas about ourselves that look and feel so real– it is amazing what is possible for us.