Everyone is looking for satisfaction and fulfillment. While everyone would love to have a lot of money, most people would prefer to have enough money to be comfortable while being satisfied to having gobs of money and being unsatisfied.

The challenge many, many people face is that they don’t know what they want! I have had numerous conversations with people who know that they don’t want to be doing what they currently are for the rest of their lives, but, when asked, “what do you want to do?” they can provide no answer. Some mumble something vague (“I don’t know, something outdoors”), some evade the question, and some get downright uncomfortable or annoyed.

The answer to that questions starts with self-expression. When you are able to be yourself 100%, fulfillment follows.

The important thing here is that self-expression is a process, not a switch! You don’t one day suddenly decide, “ok, now I am going to express myself!” Actually you do, but that doesn’t mean that it happens in an instant.

Making the decision is a critical first step, but the only way to really embrace this idea is to constantly remind yourself to do it. You must also practice and develop your abilities so that you can uncover layers to get to your inner person to really express yourself.

The first step in the process is to be courageous. Many people put off this process because it is scary. You may have been ignoring what’s inside of you for so long that you are afraid of what might come out.

I once tried to get a person to do this process. She knew she was unhappy in what she was doing, but she didn’t know what to do about it. I suggested some techniques to help her figure some things out, but she was incredibly resistant. When I pushed her on why, she said because she was afraid of what would come out…

I have to admit, I was a little stunned. This was the first time I encountered a situation where a person resisted doing something because she was afraid of learning about herself! And yet, from that point on, as I watched people and saw how they went about living their lives, that attitude seemed to make sense.

People spend a tremendous amount of time learning about others, watching other people, judging other people, but they spend almost no time learning about themselves.

This level of avoidance comes from fear; fear of self-discovery; fear of what you might learn about yourself; fear of facing truths that you would hope to avoid.

There is the person you are, deep down inside. You have dreams, ideas, visions, likes, dislikes, etc. The greatest cause for dissatisfaction is when you ignore that, push it aside, or just don’t feed it. When you are not expressing who you are, you are cutting yourself off from who you want to and are meant to be.

This is what leads to the dreaded “mid-life crisis.” People spend years ignoring this part of themselves, doing what they feel they “have to,” being a “responsible adult.” But, like a dam trying to hold back a river that keeps increasing the pressure, eventually the real self bursts out.

What’s sad is that it happens so much later in life (“mid-life”) when it is much harder and after so much time is past. What’s even sadder is that some people are in such strong denial that they never let the dam burst. They live their entire lives never experiencing the joy of who that want and are meant to be…

Unfortunately, the path to real fulfillment and success lies on the other side of the fear. Without tapping deep inside of yourself, how can you ever know what will truly make you happy?

Avish Parashar
http://www.AvishParashar.com