But Are You Willing?

Life has moments where challenges arise that require an action that, if we are honest, we really don't want to do. Honestly, there are adulting things almost daily that we don't want to do, am I right? What I am talking about here today may apply to these adulting responsibilities, but I am wanting to talk more about those harder things that show up in our lives. As a therapist, I ask a lot of people sometimes. Look at the painful parts of your life, your traumas, and feel the feelings that come up. I KNOW this is hard. A shift happens, though, when they are honest and say, sometimes with tears welling up in their eyes, "but I don't want to." And I say, with every ounce of tenderness I have, "I know.... I do.... But, are you willing?" While this can be quite powerful in the therapeutic setting, is there a way to apply it in other areas of our lives as well? If we can open ourselves up a bit and say, "I am willing," it allows a little bit of something almost magical to happen in our minds. We simply don't have to want to do something to be willing to!