Are you stuck in a dead-end job that is stifling your creativity and eating away at your time? Do you feel trapped, frustrated, alone… The probability of pursuing your dream is becoming more and more unlikely everyday. How do I know this? Because I was just like you.
HI THERE, HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULDN’T LISTEN TO MY STORY
My name is Shaun Sunderland and I was stuck in a 9-5 job, in an industry that I had lost my passion for. I was living for the weekend to escape the reality that I was creating. I felt lost and wanted to blame everyone but myself for my situation.
STARTING MY JOURNEY…
I wasn’t happy. I needed something more in my life. That’s how I started my pursuit of Spiritual growth. I began where most people start, with something described as “simple”, yet extremely difficult: meditation.
Full transparency, it was not as if a couple motivational quotes and ten minutes of meditation was enough to make the quantum leaps in development that I have now, but it was enough to start!
And that’s the thing. You just need a place to start!
RE-LEARNING WHO WE ARE.
As I progressed on my Spiritual path, I developed the awareness that I didn’t know who the fuck I was, what I wanted from this life and what interests I had. I imagine this happens to a lot of people. How can it not? If you think about it, we form the majority, if not all of our core beliefs during ages 0-7. Therefore, how we feel about ourselves, others and our environment is learned through our senses and then processed by the mind of a child. Our parents, friends, and teachers play a pivotal role as we look at how they act and emulate those behaviors. This is especially true for the parents. I am a father of two and I am constantly reminding myself that the impact that I cause by reacting to “poor behavior” has a far greater effect on them than it does on me.
As we get older we make friends who say things like “you’re funny”, “you’re too serious” “you’re cool” …. and therefore, we are given our characteristics rather than learning what our characteristics are through self discovery. We also change our behaviors to fit in and to be accepted by our peers. Then we graduate from a broken education system where we are told to either find a job or to continue schooling without ever learning what our true interests are, where we excel or what direction to take. So by the time we arrive at this point, if we weren’t equipped or taught to learn who we are at the core of existence we have many, many layers to unfold to uncover our true selves.
DIGGING THROUGH THE LAYERS
And that’s what I did, I began peeling back the layers and connecting to who I am beneath the personas. I became more connected with what interested me and let go of the things that did not. I honed in on who I was at the core. By doing this I started to understand myself in all situations. Where and why I felt confident, what triggered me to feel irritated or insecure. I eventually learned that I had unearthed my value system and my values were being tested all the time.
At the core of every person is a value system that we operate by. And when we react to a situation it is because our values have been challenged in some way. Think about a time that you felt insecure in a conversation. I am willing to bet that something was said that didn’t align with your values and therefore you felt uncomfortable. Prove me wrong.
DEFINING YOUR CORE VALUES
Only by defining your values do you know how to show up in the world, what you stand for and why you do the things you do. Spend time thinking about what is important to you and uncover the values that resonate your true self.
My personal core values are as follows
- · Growth – “Learn, mature and evolve each day”
- · Autonomy – “My body, my temple”
- · Balance – “Find my centre”
- · Gratitude – “Access my highest frequency”
- · Authenticity – “To stand in my power and speak my truth”
- · Leader – “To be the best husband, father and role model”
- · Confidence – “Bring the best version of myself”
- · Time – “My most valuable currency”
