This past week I caught myself taking action – or, actually taking the action of NOT taking action – based on fear rather than intelligence.
Have you ever done that? I was mulling and mulling over whether or not to buy a ticket to something. This ticket was for an event. My presence at this event might help me in different ways. I would also get a kick out of being there. While my being there and cheering for them would make certain people happy, attending this event would also be something that pleases me.
While the ticket to this event was fairly expensive, it wasn’t as expensive as a weekend trip to the beach or to another city or country might be. I found myself saying to myself, “Bobbie, you might be able to have another beret, like the one you misplaced, made for close to the price of this ticket.” Then I started in with out loud thoughts like, “Bobbie, let’s see. If you don’t go to many cabaret shows next few months, hmmm…wait – if you cut out nine shows this year you can probably make back the money. Figure with the MAC discount (MAC stands for The Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) and the cover charge each evening comes to about thirty dollars. Thirty times nine equals two hundred and seventy. That’s actually ten dollars more than you’ll be spending so you’ll be ahead of the game!” While this may sound logical the chance that I won’t feel compelled to see the shows I see is pretty slim. I know last weeks post was all about not feeling obligated to go out every night to please people, cutting out nine shows over a whole year probably won’t happen.
More important than not saving the money is looking at the way I was looking at denying myself something I really wanted. Of course, thinking about going to cabaret shows does often tie in with pleasing others when you’re involved in that milieu. I was planning to deny myself the event rather than the cabaret shows that included shows I would go to just to please the performer. I wasn’t the only one questioning the expense. I’d been talking with some well to do friends who were also questioning it.
Why am I going on about this? I’m writing this for you because I realized this “not spending on the event” had more to it than the money or the event. . This time the DON’T DO IT choice was BASED ON FEAR and the DO IT choice was based on INTELLIGENCE. I often talk to people who say they’re afraid to do something. I tell them to look at their feeling and see whether they’re “afraid” or their “intelligence” is giving them the message that this would be a risky action to take. It pays to quiet down, ask your intelligence to be your guide and let the thoughts come to you. Then decide whether you’re making an intelligent decision as to taking or not taking action in any given situation. I speak of this in my second book, which I’m presently co-authoring.
I deduced that I truly wanted to go and it could behoove me to be there for various reasons, including future business connections and… my having a good time! A major star, who had helped me in the past, was confirmed to be there and I did want to see him. Once I realized I truly wanted to go and it would be in my best interests to go I knew I would be making an intelligent choice by going. Almost the moment I realized this I found myself getting into action. I started thinking of friends who’d be going and called them.
Guess what? Because I said YES to me, I got a ticket to the event at a fraction over half price! The cost, though not low, wasn’t prohibitive and, even more important; I had a great time last night!!!!
