How to Wake Up the Dead Inside

Some people live their lives stuck in an exhausting treadmill. Too tired to change course they tolerate seeing the same sights, having the same experiences over and over again. I know a few people who lost or quit a job every couple of years with the excuse that their boss is a jerk or they're bored out of their minds. I was one of those people.

Others participate in the kabuki dance of a revolving door-like structure in their personal relationships. Flippin' around like a rattlesnake on PCP, they move from place to place never satisfied with where they are at in any moment. "If I leave where I'm at or who I'm with now - THEN I will be happy!" Well, perhaps after this one more move -- and then another. Life slips by through a set pattern of behavior that just isn't working out - just keeping a person stuck on a treadmill of repeated experiences that they'd rather not have. I was one of those people too.

I wore my Zombie mask for several years. Ok, decades. Like a zombie, I felt dead inside robotically walking the earth instead of being a vibrant living person. Operating on auto-pilot I was unconscious to what would give my life meaning, purpose and fulfillment. Going through life as a zombie isn't all that bad when you're completely numbed; except that things never really work out the way you want them to.

Such a life leaves a person feeling stuck or frustrated. Shopping, snacks, inappropriate sexual dalliances, cosmetic surgery and endless spa vacations become the numbing drug of choice. Life looks great from the outside. From the inside, not so much. Zombies harbor a bitterness about how meaningful life has eluded them not understanding that they have the innate power to change circumstances.

Zombies walk among us. They are everywhere. Some of your friends and co-workers are Zombies. You can bump into Zombies at the grocery store. Some are seen at seemingly normal and innocent places such as the spa, gym, empowering conference, workshop and the Barney's Warehouse Sale. Zombies everywhere! Whether you're a Zombie or not, when you walk among them your life energy evaporates.

If you want to get out of a Zombie haze you have to take responsibility for all of your life experiences, good and bad. In taking responsibility, you are not beating yourself up with blame, shame, and guilt for creating the outcomes you'd rather forget. Instead, you examine each of these instances to discover what, specifically, led to the undesired incident.

All events begin with a thought that leads to a feeling that evokes a choice that calls for an action that creates the consequence.To remove the Zombie mask to wake up to your life, see clearly, and trace the occasions of your life back to the thoughts that generated the subsequent events. Think of it as much like peeling an onion. As you strip away the layers you'll realize how you unknowingly set yourself up for the results you experienced.

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. - Albert Einstein

That's powerful information. In order to change the outcomes you do not want you have to change the way you think, reach for new perspectives. To continue to create more of the milestones you enjoyed continue to hold the thoughts and perspectives that created those wonderful happenings.

To the extent that you feel tired, unfulfilled, anxious, stressed or frustrated is where you show up in your life wearing a Zombie mask. Deliberately and objectively dissect the events that created unwanted circumstances to reveal the originating thoughts. Vigorously question the truth of those thoughts. Look for evidence to the contrary. Frame a new perspective. With this new outlook, identify what choice would have been better and apply that new thinking to your life as you move forward. No longer living life as a Zombie you become the master of your opportunities instead of the victim of your circumstance.