Don't Mistake Compulsion for Drive

#108: Excerpt from King, Warrior, Magician Lover” by Robert Moore:

 

“Compulsive personalities are workaholics, constantly with their noses to the grindstone.

 

They have tremendous capacity to endure pain, and they often manage to get enormous amount of work done.

 

But what is driving their nonstop engines is deep anxiety.

 

They have a very slim grasp on their own worthwhileness.

 

They don’t know what they really want, what they are missing and what they would like to have.”

 

Moore is describing the man I was for most of my life.

 

I have compassion for that guy, because he didn’t know any better.

 

It was only on the inner work journey did I discover the truth:

 

Compulsion is not the same as drive.

 

-DQ

 

PS – Thanks to TK for the conversation that inspired this episode. ;-)