Q: I lost my job. I can see there’s opportunity in it and at the moment I’m struggling to see what to do next – whether to find another job in the same line or whether to make a change. Losing my job brings up being unsure about my self and what I’m capable of.
John: You can let that one go.
Q: But how do you actually do that?
John: By not making what hits your self all about your self. Then what hits your self doesn’t knock you down. It’s simply a difficulty that you move through.
Q: Yes, I’ve been up and down with it.
John: Then don’t move up and down, just up and through. Don’t relate to self-pity or disappointment.
Q: What is the best thing to relate to when deciding which way to go?
John: In regard to moving up and forward, your response toward that is, “I can do this.” It doesn’t matter the difficulty you’re in: “I can do this.”
Q: I really have built my self up through the year, but I have also had times when I felt I don’t know if I can do this.
John: Those words don’t belong in your self. When you let that in, you feel sorry for your self or you’re hard on your self. Disappointment and self-pity don’t belong in your self. When you don’t let that energy come into your self, when you don’t give that energy any kind of power, then you’ll come into a deeper level of confidence within your self.
Give the self-pity nothing. Give it no time. Even if you’ve made a mistake, you have no grounds to be disappointed in yourself. What remains true for you, even in something like that, is upwards and forward, past your self, and you bring your self along. Otherwise, you make your self heavy.
Self-pity immobilizes your self. You’ll be dragging it, and convince yourself that you’re not able to do what you need to do. When your self comes along, you’re encouraged in your self to be able to do what you know.
Q: It seems it will take me a while to know which direction to go.
John: It won’t matter to you what you know. You want to know the truth, whatever it is, just so you can do it.
Q: So if I don’t mind what it is and I’m ready to do it, will I know what it is?
John: If you’re able to know, you’ll know.
Q: What does that mean? Isn’t everybody able to know?
John: What you’re not able to know, you’re not responsible for, while you’re entirely responsible for what you are able to know. If you’re able to know what to do in a circumstance, as soon as you’re quieted in your heart, you’ll realize your clarity and a light will come on, and it’s clear to you.
If you’re not able to know, then when you become quieted in your heart, you’ll be in the dark. And even in the dark, you move upward and forward.
If someone says, “you’re moving upward and forward, but where are you going?” You’ll say, “toward goodness.” You’ll know what you’re talking about. When you find that goodness, you’ll know it.
