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Watch out! Your intruder is watching you. That’s right, he is getting ready to pounce, just like the shark you see in the picture. “What’s this all about,” you ask? I’ll tell you.
You know your intruder by the many disguises he maintains. Here are a few of them-(Your inner voice, your comfort zone, your subconscious, and don’t forget…your self talk!) What is the long and the short of this story? Here it is, and straight to the point-
The Intruder will come unannounced and usually when you least expect him. What can he do? He can make your life miserable and really screw you up!
Like how? Simple. The intruder represents your “old self”. Not the new, stand for your greatness-shooting for a home run- you. By “old self”, I am referring to the past times when you embraced fear and you were limited in thought and actions by your allegiance to your all encompassing Comfort Zone. Wow! That was a mouthful.
So what do you do about it? I suggest you do the same thing most people do. Stay aware of its potential trouble. Don’t give in to its fear mongering. Stay focused and strong.
The Intruder hit me yesterday. As usual, it normally attacks its victims when they are fatigued and frustrated. Sound familiar? I was helping a friend set up her schedule regarding seeing some health care providers. This friend has several medical issues which need attention.
Getting to the point here, my friend and I ending up getting into an argument about some scheduling issues. And I, how I hate myself for this, ended up shouting at her. Shortly thereafter, I apologized to my friend. She understood and forgave me.
The truth of the situation was quite simple. I was reacting in a very negative fashion about the frustration I ran into when I was trying to help my friend. But, that wasn’t the real problem. The real problem was, I was pissed off because of another problem I was working on, totally unrelated to my friend, was driving me nuts. Subsequently, I was taken out my frustrations out on my friend.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for me to realize the errors of my ways, and I immediately changed course. The Intruder, recognized immediately my vulnerability and frustration, and he pounced on me, making me a real jerk. The good news is, as soon as I realized what was going on, I kicked the Intruder out of my existence and replaced him with wisdom and common sense. Oh, not to forget, the valued ingredient called patience and serenity.
So, all is well now with me and my friend. But, I have no misgivings, the Intruder will be back! The important thing is to recognize him when he attacks and handle the situation quickly and wisely. If you don’t, you can get very screwed up and also hurt a lot of people.
I believe this Intruder is a big menace to everyone. But, I will let you in on a little secret. The intruder doesn’t work alone. He has lots of little helpers. They love kicking butt and doing a great deal of mischief.
Look at it this way, the Intruder travels in a Pack. A pack of mischief makers that love creating chaos and destruction for whomever they target. Maybe this analogy will help you. The Intruder and his friends-fear, doubt, excessive inhibition, anxiety, distrust and jealousy among many others-travel in a Wolf Pack just like the German U boats of World War 11. Fame. Remember the Wolf Pack of German submarine warfare? They were notorious!
Their strategy, a very successful one at that, was to travel with a pack of submarines, searching for a convoy of unguarded allied merchant marine ships carrying supplies to the Allies. When the Wolf Pack found a vulnerable merchant convoy, they would torpedo the ships and sink them.
This is the way the Intruder and his friends work. Instead of a convoy of ships, the Intruder looks for strong, successful people. Yeah, you got it. He likes people that are strong and mature. You guessed it. People that “got it together”. Believe it. Why does the Intruder prefer strong people?
Simple. He knows he can do the most damage to those successful types. Makes sense doesn’t? Normally, his best strategy is to catch them “off guard”. By the time these strong, self assured types realize they are in deep trouble, the Intruder is packing his bags and getting ready for “easy pickings” somewhere else.
So you see, the Intruder, give the devil his due, is one “smooth operator”. Why does he like the people that “got it all together”? Because of the way human nature operates. We all have a past and lots of garbage buried in our subconscious. And, it just takes the right “trigger” to release that “old problem” onto us, which the Intruder kicks our butt until we are senseless.
This is were that saying ” For whom the gods which to destroy, they first make Proud.” In another words, from the Intruder’s viewpoint, if you can catch a ‘strong and self-assured type’ off guard, you got yourself a *&%$@ good time!
My best advice is to stay cool, loose and focused. The Intruder loves situations were people are anxious, frustrated and uptight. I guarantee you, if you find yourself feeling some of these negative emotions, change the threatening situation immediately. If you look into the murky waters of frustration you will spot signs of the Intruder and his pack trolling. Be careful.
I can’t end this without telling you about the Intruders greatest fun or mischief, depending on your perspective. He loves to have a ‘target’ create havoc with his friends and relationships.
But, most importantly, the Intruder loves creating havoc with the Target himself. He loves to have his friends-self talk, anxiety and frustration, fear and restrictive comfort zones- play absolute havoc.
The Intruder’s goal being to bring our “self-assured and strong people” down to the self-doubting, “little me” level.
So my friends, it’s time to end this. Stay loose and focused. Don’t let life get to you. I guarantee you, most things in life are not as important as they appear. Just as nothing is really like it ‘appears’. Cheers.
write by Ambrose