There's a Hole in my Sidewalk. Part 1 in the Portia Nelson series

Portia Nelson is an amazing woman; a singer, songwriter, actress, and author who passed on in 2001. Her brilliant poem entitled: Autobiography in Five Short Chapters, is published in her book: There's a Hole in My Sidewalk. Copyright © 1993 Portia Nelson, Beyond Words Publishing, Hillsboro, OR, USA. Used with permission.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
Chapter One . I walk down the street. There's a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost, I am helpless, it isn't my fault and it takes me forever to find a way out.

Chapter Two . I walk down the same street. There's a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it, I fall in again. I can't believe I'm in the same place, but it isn't my fault and it still takes me a long time to get out.

Chapter Three . I walk down the same street. There's a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it there, I still fall in, it's a habit. My eyes are open, I know where I am, it is my fault and I get out immediately.

Chapter Four . I walk down the same street. There's a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

Chapter Five . I walk down another street.

Moving to a New Chapter When you authentically know the meaning of this poem, it will change your life. The secret of success in moving to a new chapter? To invest the time and effort to find, understand and integrate a new perspective which transcends your old context and increases your personal power.

Chapter One is the fascinating start. I've been there and, since you're reading this, I imagine you have as well.

It can indeed take forever to find the way out. Your self sabotage mechanism will deceive, pretend and mislead you, causing innumerable delays in finding the solution. Even once you've unearthed it, you'll find you also have all sorts of reasons to procrastinate over implementing it.

Chapter Two . You repeat the error that got you to fall in the same hole encountered in chapter one, yet you continue to pretend it isn't your fault. But without taking responsibility for the issue, how can you change it? So you keep falling in, until you're willing to stop pretending.

So see the problem, and see that you are the cause of the problem occurring in the first place. Willingness to do something about resolving it is the secret of success. Only then do you empower yourself to leave this chapter and move on.

Chapter Three . You are attempting to change and resolve the problem in the way you identified in chapter two. But you've fallen in this hole so many times that it's a habit. But at least you know where you are, and how to recover your personal power, which you do immediately.

Chapter Four . You've overcome the issue, and you choose to keep avoiding the temptation to fall in the hole. But such opportunities continue to recur, it still requires effort on your behalf not to succumb to the problem.

Now you know exactly how to change your life, just walk around the hole. But you haven't completely resolved the issue yet. You don't yet know it well enough - you haven't yet integrated all its aspects into your being - to be able to move on.

Chapter Five . You've completely overcome the issue, and it's stopped reoccurring. You've let it go, and it has no energy left for you. So it's stopped being attracted into your life, it's over, and you have moved on.

© Copyright worldwide Cris Baker, www.LifeStrategies.net All rights reserved. Republishing welcomed under Creative Commons noncommercial no derivatives license preserving all links intact, so please +1 and share this widely!

Food for Thought "If you start to think the problem is 'out there'‚ stop yourself. That thought is the problem."

- Steven Covey, University Professor, MBA, ten honorary doctorates, author: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People