What is the world’s greatest lie? | Be Your Hero

“What is the world’s greatest lie?” the little boy asks.

The old man replies, “It’s this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.”

This passage is from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Besides my memoir, it’s the book I’ve gifted or recommended the most.

When we are young, we are curious and believe that we can be anything we wish to be. Then something happens — many start to think that fate controls their lives. I like to blame seventh grade, but that may be unfair.

Maybe it’s when we decide that being hard on ourselves is the pathway to success, or perhaps it’s when we realize that life isn’t fair. To cope, we create stories with the requisite villain, victim, and hero.

The villain is easy- it’s all the S.H.I.T. (She, He, It, and Them) that we blame for our fate. The hero is usually some authority figure, and when we buy into the ‘greatest lie the world has ever known,’ we play the victim.

The best self-actualization books from The Alchemist to The Bible and those in between have this common theme: Growth is an inside-out job. In essence, we all need to act as if we are the hero in our story.

In this week’s video, I share my thoughts about last week’s Facebook and Instagram kerfuffle. I was so surprised by how surprised everyone got and how many acted like victims. Here’s the deal: if we wish to create a better tomorrow, we can’t believe the world’s greatest lie.

This week, I want to share two posts from our peloton members worth reading. The first is by this week’s P.B.R. shout-out Billie Short about a topic she knew little about, golf, and the other is about the beginning of everything by Bobby Kountz.

Don’t forget to sign up for tomorrow’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Masterclass to discover how to use mindfulness to become the hero of your story. You can sign up by clicking MBSR. 

Until next week, remember to join our One Ripple Challenge because it will help you have fun storming the castle!
This week’s affirmations: 

1. I’m letting go of what I can’t change
2. I’m stepping out of my comfort zone to become ______________
3. I take daily action on the things that matter to me.

This week’s Pause Breathe Reflect Shout-Out goes out to Billie Short. 

If Billie isn’t in your peloton, she should be. Just sayin’. Lisa is a member of our Pause Breathe Reflect community, an awesome sauce Mom, a Caregiver FIRST Master Coach, a writer, and someone who can create calm in the chaos.