I have been running from a monster my whole life. Where does this creature come from to haunt me? What does it want from me? Sometimes it is on the far reaches of my consciousness, but inevitably it returns with a full force to the center of my existence. You know the monster I speak of because it is the same one haunting you for your entire life. It is the villain in all of our minds, the one that speaks to you, even when you don’t want to hear, saying things like, “You are not good enough.” or “You don’t deserve good things.” or “You don’t deserve to be loved like you need to be loved.” Or “You are worthless” Or any other negative message you think about yourself in your mind. For that is, the greatest demon we have to face in our lives has been created by ourselves, and the harder we run, the more power it has over us. There is a way to move past the monster and find a better version of yourself.

Know Your Monster

Our demons have been developing throughout our lives, and with each painful moment that caused us to suffer, the monster gained power because we looked at those moments and feared them. Allowing these experiences to push us away from liking who we are and the lives we can create. You see, the monster has

Such power because it has insight and access to every thought you have ever thought and known all of the secrets you would never tell anyone else about your past. There is no deceiving them, and they can use all of that against you.

For many of us, the messages have been pervasive and consistent for years, and we have not wanted to listen, but we can’t help it. We find things to fit the message and accept they are correct. We try to improve ourselves in many ways, but until we decide to face the monster once and for all, we are only placing small band-aids on the gunshot wounds of life. There is only one way to eliminate these thoughts and suffering from your life.

Hug The Monster

Instead of running away from these things, we think, embrace them. Look at the messages your mind is telling you and trace them to their origin. Most were born in your past, and you accept them to be a definition of your worth to the world. How much power you give them is totally up to you. Looking at things you experience and focusing on the negative stuff is food for the monster. It allows them to grow bigger and become scarier each day. Soon this creature in our head is so vast and pervasive you feel hopeless ever to defeat it and become a happy version of yourself, but this is where we miss the point.

We are never meant to defeat the monster. These thoughts are given to us as a gift to guide us, not as a punishment to define us. Rather than continue fighting the monster, stop running from it, and hug it. No matter how big it has become in your mind, learning to accept the things in your past as just a part of you will allow you to learn to love your value. Many have had to overcome great tragedy. Imagine how great they are to survive. Caring for your monster will enable you to see past the thoughts of negative self-image and view, just for a moment, the person who is so lovable behind it all. They have been there all along.

A Life Without Fear

Seeing the value in yourself will give you many things. One is the understanding that you are not defined today by the actions and situations of the past but by what you choose to do today. We are all responsible for what we do in every moment, accept that responsibility for the positive and negative, and then move on to become better. Life is a short game, and spending too much time beating yourself up for the things you experienced a year ago, ten years ago, 20 years ago, or ever is a waste of your valuable time. It is fear of being not enough that guides everything, but you are enough. Just look at your true self.

Take that first step into an experience without fear guiding you, and seek the best inside you to share with the world. Each moment provides you with the opportunity to grow, be positive, and make a positive impact somewhere. You can do it just by being kind and thoughtful. How difficult is that? The monster will tell you it is impossible to do, and you are not capable. But look inside of yourself, look past the beast, and know you are very capable of helping someone else feel a bit better about their relationship with their monster. What could be more valuable than that?

Finally……..

Realizing that your monster is just a side of you that needs to be soothed and acknowledged is necessary to move past the fear in your life. All people face this to some degree. All you can do is be responsible for the monster in you and take care of him as best you can.

In your head, in the dream, you are both the monster and the person the monster is chasing. You are the fear in you and also the love that takes it away. All things you feel are a representation of who you are in some aspect of your experience. What do you do with this knowledge? Either you embrace it, or you continue to run from it. One method will bring you peace, and one will push you further from your true self. Life is a series of continual choices and the consequences that come from them. What are you doing with your monster? For my part, I am sorry I ever looked away to try to please someone else. That is a formula to build a meaningless, empty life. Be yourself and if people don’t love you for that, stay far away from them because they probably don’t love themselves either. They have their monsters to deal with; you have yours.

“Love and peace of mind do protect us. They allow us to overcome the problems that life hands us. They teach us to survive… to live now… to have the courage to confront each day.” —Bernie Siegel

“You’ll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart.” —George Michael

“Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.” —Dalai Lama

“Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.” —Wayne W. Dyer

“We stop looking for monsters underneath the bed when we realize they are living inside of us.”