We are always a work in progress.
Over the past few days I’ve had two general buckets of conversations.
One bucket was about whether we are good enough / qualified enough to be guiding people towards a certain path when we’re not at the apex of that path. For example if I’m not as rich as Jeff Bezos, do I have any justification being a business coach?
Another bucket was about whether we are important enough to take up more space in this world. Suppose I’m shooting a video at Jardin du Luxembourg and I’m interrupting a bit of foot traffic for my video. Am I justified in blocking other people for what I’m doing?
These two buckets of conversations both operate under one assumption: there is a point where we become enough. Billy becomes rich and successful enough to be a legit business coach and Billy becomes influential enough to block traffic for his videos.
As with anything in Buddhism, there both is and isn’t that point of enough-ness.
How is there a point of enough-ness? Let’s suppose there is an imaginary certificate or an angel halo that you get when you reach the point of enough-ness. Because you have the halo, you would definitely be operating somewhat differently. You’ll have not just confidence but WARRANTED confidence that is earned by the things that you did. You won’t have doubts about whether you are enough or not because you have the official certificate and the halo.
You would be operating at a completely different level of consciousness at that point. For example to an elementary school child the end of recess means that they have to go back to class. But once the child graduates the level of consciousness that is dictated by the recess bell is left behind.
This is why quitting jobs feel so amazing. The things that bother you and stress you are suddenly no longer relevant to your consciousness. In this way, there is a point of enough-ness where you experience a shift in your level of consciousness.
How isn’t there a point of enough-ness? Most of the time we go through these conscious-level shifts through external events like graduation and quitting, but we forget that we have the capability to go through that shift NOW. Like, right now.
Even with the halo, guess what? You’ll still be living with your consciousness. You’ll still have all of your memories, your body, your muscle memory, and most importantly your karma. You’ll keep all the experiences of how you used to feel so inadequate and not good enough, but somehow you’ll also be able to not operate based on that level of consciousness.
For the life of me I can’t find the source of this story, but I read a story of a boxer having won a very prestigious championship. The boxer celebrated on the ring and walked back to his locker to find his childhood bully in the locker room. The bully had come to apologize but at that moment the boxing champion, who’s more than capable of beating the living shit out of the bully, noticed himself shrink in fear.
The same boxer, on the ring, is the toughest motherfucker to exist. Isn’t that crazy? We can go about and have a wonderful day and all of a sudden meet one person from our past experience and the whole day can instantly do a 180.
In this way there isn’t a point of enough-ness because you’re still going to be you. But you’ll somewhat unlock a new level of consciousness where you can function in a completely different way. The work is to recognize the power of you who can function post-threshold, while not chasing after the mirage of an angel halo certificate.
In Mahayana Buddhism we say emptiness is form and form is empty. A room full of balloons, is the room empty or full? It’s full but there’s ton of space. There’s ton of space but we can’t fit anything more into the room. Emptiness includes form and form includes emptiness, they are one and same.
You will always be progressing, always be on the way towards a different level of consciousness. But remember, it is your consciousness. Can you open a sticker shop when you’ve never had any entrepreneurship experience or an art career before? You may not have that level of consciousness yet but that level of consciousness will only come from you (by the way this is a true story of a client, they just celebrated their first order).
Can you point out systemic problems around mental health as a food TikToker? Are you allowed to do that? Somebody might complain, but who will ultimately grant you the permission? You (again, this is a true story of a client who’s having a great time being a content creator with me).
Breaking out of your existing orbit of consciousness is a very challenging experience for sure. But I have seen 0 people complain to me after working with me to enter a different level of consciousness. You know the call, what it feels like when your life is asking you for more life.
I want to invite you to a month of coaching with me in September. I’ll walk you through different levels of consciousness, how to not suffer in life, and making big decisions that change your life. You can check out more details about September below, but working with me is very simple: just email me at billy@julylifecoach.com to get started.
