isible dragons are relatively easy to identify and deal with. They are easy to identify because they seem to be outside of us, in people and situations that define the borders of our limitations. We recognize the limitations and see the rewards of breaking them. This in itself is incentive enough for us to slay the dragon hidden in these limitations.
But there is another form of dragons, more subtle and harder to spot than the ones outside us; I am calling these dragons “invisible dragons”. They are invisible for two important reasons; the first is that they reside inside of us, not outside. The second, and maybe the more important one, is that we see these dragons not as limitations, but as strengths.
Instead of talking abstractly, I will give an example. My invisible dragon is impatience. Impatience makes me do everything quickly, which makes me feel efficient. It also makes me see others as slower, less efficient, maybe even lazy, which feeds into the ego’s illusion of being superior. Impatience is highly rewarded in our society and it is almost never called by that name, usually it is labeled efficiency, high drive, fast pace, and many other labels that are all positive in connotation. That alone is enough to make me oblivious to the fact that inside my impatience a dragon could be hidden, let alone the need to slay or tame that dragon. Why on earth would I be interested in curtailing something in me that the society sees as strength?
The truth is, this dragon hides a limitation and fear but it masqueraded it cleverly and transformed it into something that makes us feel as if that dragon is our best friend. Under my impatience lies a fear of missing out, the fear that there is not enough time left to do anything. This fear makes me in a hurry to get everything done quickly, pushing, in the process, everyone and everything, and getting intolerant of “slow” people, processes and systems. And I end up losing the pleasure of the journey because I am only focused on the destination which I want to reach ASAP.
Impatience is not the only invisible dragon, there are 7 of them identified and explained in a book by Jose Steven entitled “Transforming your dragons”. Here I will enumerate the 7 dragons, maybe you can spot yours easily (everyone of us has one), but if you want to overcome and transform yours, you might want to consider buying the book which you will find invaluable. The 7 dragons are: impatience, arrogance, self-deprecation, martyrdom, greed, self-destruction and stubbornness.
Each of these dragons hide, smartly, a different underlying fear. After you have finished slaying your visible, external dragons, your last encounter will be with your invisible one. The good news is, you don’t need to slay that dragon as you did with the previous one. You only need to tame it and transform it from fear-based urge to a true strength.
I see light blog
The image is a courtesy of "Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische"
But there is another form of dragons, more subtle and harder to spot than the ones outside us; I am calling these dragons “invisible dragons”. They are invisible for two important reasons; the first is that they reside inside of us, not outside. The second, and maybe the more important one, is that we see these dragons not as limitations, but as strengths.
Instead of talking abstractly, I will give an example. My invisible dragon is impatience. Impatience makes me do everything quickly, which makes me feel efficient. It also makes me see others as slower, less efficient, maybe even lazy, which feeds into the ego’s illusion of being superior. Impatience is highly rewarded in our society and it is almost never called by that name, usually it is labeled efficiency, high drive, fast pace, and many other labels that are all positive in connotation. That alone is enough to make me oblivious to the fact that inside my impatience a dragon could be hidden, let alone the need to slay or tame that dragon. Why on earth would I be interested in curtailing something in me that the society sees as strength?
The truth is, this dragon hides a limitation and fear but it masqueraded it cleverly and transformed it into something that makes us feel as if that dragon is our best friend. Under my impatience lies a fear of missing out, the fear that there is not enough time left to do anything. This fear makes me in a hurry to get everything done quickly, pushing, in the process, everyone and everything, and getting intolerant of “slow” people, processes and systems. And I end up losing the pleasure of the journey because I am only focused on the destination which I want to reach ASAP.
Impatience is not the only invisible dragon, there are 7 of them identified and explained in a book by Jose Steven entitled “Transforming your dragons”. Here I will enumerate the 7 dragons, maybe you can spot yours easily (everyone of us has one), but if you want to overcome and transform yours, you might want to consider buying the book which you will find invaluable. The 7 dragons are: impatience, arrogance, self-deprecation, martyrdom, greed, self-destruction and stubbornness.
Each of these dragons hide, smartly, a different underlying fear. After you have finished slaying your visible, external dragons, your last encounter will be with your invisible one. The good news is, you don’t need to slay that dragon as you did with the previous one. You only need to tame it and transform it from fear-based urge to a true strength.
I see light blog
The image is a courtesy of "Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische"
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