Grand Master Starfish
RECAP
Starfish like to eat clams. The negative influences in your life, including the negative voices in your head, are starfish. They pry your shell open and inject poison slowly and steadily. "You're too fat." "You're ugly." "You're not worth it." If the starfish's poison is successful, you start to think and say, "I'm too fat. I'm ugly. I'm not worth it." Then the starfish tries to eat you.
STARFISH OF ALL SIZES
There are many kinds of starfish. Some are tiny starfish that jab at you and your feelings. Like this Brittle Starfish.
If the Brittle Starfish can win you over and you leave your shell open a crack it attracts the starfish that actually eat clams like this common starfish.
If the normal-sized starfish are allowed to stay they invite their friends who are heavyweight tankers like this Sun Starfish.
You're reading this today because you want to know about the Grand Master Starfish. Meet the Crown of Thorns Starfish.
This nasty looking creature exists in real life. Its spines are poisonous. While it doesn't eat clams it instead aims to devastate you by eating your coral reef - your foundation.
THE REEF EATERS
In our analogy here, Crown of Thorns Starfish are your worst enemy. While the other starfish gnaw at you and your thoughts, Crown of Thorns Starfishes tear everything down around you. This is the worst of the worst, the bottommost bottom. It heralds the end of the line. It is the sad, sad story of people who think they can't bear this life any more. So life comes crashing down around them. Here are three types of Crown of Thorns Starfishes to avoid, and in doing so I will add it's confession time for me:
The Crown of Excuses Starfish
I told myself I stopped writing positive Pearls of Mankind messages because my wife was pregnant. Or maybe it was because I thought it took up too much of my time. Or maybe it was because I didn't think these posts were helping anyone. Whatever the reason I'm sure it was unjustified. The Crown of Excuses Starfish is often accompanied by a dying reef of lies of any magnitude.
To beat the Crown of Excuses:
Determination, prioritization, and flexibility are needed. Determine you'll get the task done; prioritize your tasks so the important ones do get done; and be flexible enough that you don't beat yourself up if you don't complete the task the way you thought you would.
Signs your reef is dying to Excuses:
When is the last time you took fault for anything? If it's been a while since it was "your fault" that something happened or didn't happen, you might have an Excuse infestation.
The Crown of Distractions Starfish
A close relative of the Crown of Excuses is the Crown of Distractions Starfish. Distractions pull you away from a more important or a more pressing matter and it boils down to prioritization. Yes my then-pregnant wife was and is extremely importantly to me. But after my family I should have said Pearls of Mankind is also very important.
To beat the Crown of Distractions:
Prioritization, task evaluation, and compromise are needed. Prioritize your tasks and get the most important things done first; evaluate if a regular task is too demanding and find a way to compromise with your other priorities. For example, putting out a daily dose of Pearls of Mankind thoughts was demanding on my time. I'm the only one writing - so far - for Pearls of Mankind. Now that we're back, instead of writing seven days a week, I am writing Monday, Wednesday, and Friday regularly!
Signs your reef is dying to Distractions:
You aren't getting your important tasks done but you see progress in other places of your life instead.
The Crown of Pessimism Starfish
I saw others around me also spreading positive messages and I told myself that I didn't want to be an attention grabber, just to get that Like on Facebook. I told myself no one is being helped by these messages and that it didn't matter anyway.
To beat the Crown of Pessimism:
Reevaluation is key here. Reevaluate the possibility of a positive outcome and strive to reach that outcome! Reevaluate where you've come from and where you are, and if you don't like what you see reevaluate your course and change something you're doing.
Signs your reef is dying to Pessimism:
If you find yourself comparing you to others around you and you are feeling bad about yourself you likely have a reef of Crown of Pessimism Starfish. If you think the good things you are doing in life are not affecting people around you this may also be the case.
IN CONCLUSION
Just because you have baby Crown of Thorns starfishes doesn't mean you are in danger. Instead they are something to be picked off of the reef of your life and thrown away. With all starfishes you can reevaluate yourself and try to find them latched onto you, and pick them off!
