We are all programmed to believe so many things. It begins young. Our parents, siblings, and the members of our community express their beliefs to us. We listen to their stories, we trust their experiences, and we think we are getting the clues to life success by adopting those same beliefs.
This happened to my friend and fellow musician Dr. Alexandra Mascolo-David. The belief she adopted from her sphere of influence was that if she worked hard at practicing the piano, she would achieve success. And success would lead to happiness and fulfillment. As she grew up, she carried this belief through college and then into her career. She was successful! Despite the success, she had blinders on to the fact that there was something missing.
Until one day, the blinders came off.
At the age of 49, doctors discovered that she had an aneurism that required surgery or else she could die. But having surgery could also mean losing the ability to speak, to read and write, and worst of all, to play the piano.
Fortunately, the surgery went well. And after months of therapies, Dr. Mascolo-David found that she could still do all the things she did before. But did she want to? All of a sudden, she was faced with asking the question, "Who am I?"
An answer to that question did not immediately come to her. Instead, she felt as if she was STUCK in a life that might not be the one she ever wanted.
Although Dr. Mascolo-David still considers herself to be navigating STUCK, she has answered a lot of the questions that came up for her post-surgery. And in the process of finding those answers, she now has a much better idea of who she really is and what her mission in life is.
In her interview, she shares some of the things she did that helped her get clarity. She also talks about how she re-wired some of the early programming that kept her STUCK for so long. It was a process, but according to Dr. Mascolo-David, it was definitely a process that led her to the light she had been missing in her life for so long.