The Secret Campsite of Self-Defeat

by Guy Finley

Key Lesson: Self-pity is the campsite of self-defeat; it is a dark refuge for those parts of us that would rather wallow in what cannot be than dare to explore what is possible.

Almost every kind of unhappy feeling is the result of mistaking the partial for the whole. What this means is that when we don't see the whole picture, we are likely to act in a way that is self-defeating. One example of this would be that terrible sinking feeling that comes with learning too late, after you've become upset, that things weren't the way you were so sure they had been. That, in fact, it was you who had misjudged or misunderstood the person or event; and now that you can see the whole situation, there is no reason at all to be angry or sad, anxious or afraid. How many times have we regretted some thoughtless action on our part once we found out all of the facts?

Steps to Raising Your Life Level

You do not have to accept your present life-level. Life-level is what determines whether you sail through this life or sink in it. At present, it may seem to you as if there are times when you don't have much choice in your own life. I want you to know that this is a lie. This temporary feeling of being trapped is part of your current life-level, where you sincerely feel as though your choices are limited. Again, I want you to know this is simply not true. There is always a choice.

The problem is that most men and women insist upontheir choices. You must see this. Your present life-level has been determined by the choices you have alreadymade. Why go back to the same field of choices? You already suspect that it will yield no real harvest of happiness. Go ahead and confirm your suspicion. Nothing bad will happen to you. In fact, only something good can occur once you stop clinging to useless ideas. You could say that your new choice is to stop choosing for yourself from yourself. This is the first necessary step for changing your life-level. Here is something to help you see the wisdom of your new and higher choice.

If your choices so far have left you feeling dissatisfied and incomplete, you must stop blaming your selections and see that the problem lies with the chooser -- you! You and what happens to you every day are the reflections of your life-level. We are wrongly led to believe that life makes us into the kind of person we are. The truth is that the kind of person we are, our life-level, makes life what it is for us! This is why nothing can really change for us until we see that our unhappiness isn't connected with the event, it is the level of it.

Truthful principles such as these are here to assist you in making higher choices by helping you to increase your self-understanding. This elevated understanding in turn raises your life-level. As you raise your life-level, you will see that you have effortlessly raised the way in which you react to every event.