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Clogged drains: What’s the message?

drainsI’ve just finished working with the idea of spring cleaning and making space for the new: ideas, activities, dreams. And I realize that I have the perfect metaphor for what happens when spring cleaning doesn’t happen: a clogged drain.

One of the sinks in my home is challenged by a refusal of the drain to let water pass through. The result? A sink that is filthy. Leftover soap scum and bits of food and dirt line its walls. No matter how much clear, hot, cleansing water I pour into it, it is not enough to result in a clean sink. In fact, the “stuff” from days gone by comes back up for a visit!

What’s the message? I think that holding on too tightly or too long, or holding onto too much, even when the holding is around “good stuff” is harmful to the flow. Eventually, a life that is too full of to-dos, intentions, belongings, habits, beliefs, becomes a life that is stifled, stone-walled, blocked.

Consider looking at this in reverse. Ask yourself where you feel stuck or what dream continues to elude you. Then, invite some spring cleaning in to unclog your being. Let these questions provide some channels toward cleansing:

What specific plans do I need to release?
What beliefs are not serving me anymore?
What habit can rest awhile?
What fears are based in the past?
What relationships no longer work?

Finally, breathe into the freedom of the space created by letting go and wonder:

What is possible now?

For a bit of inspiration around letting go, check out:

GoodBye (lyrics)
Look Beyond (lyrics)

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Problematizing …

Problematize: to make into or regard as a problem requiring a solution.

Think about it. You experience a rough night’s sleep and before you get out of bed in the morning, you’ve convinced yourself that “it is going to be a bad day.” Or, you express your desires to a friend and they don’t react the way you’d hoped. Immediately you assume something is wrong and then try to smooth the waters. Maybe your favorite problematizing is around just about everything you undertake! You compare yourself to others and always come up short. You are never good enough and you better fix yourself now!

Imagine a different scenario –> Whatever it is, it just is.

It just is suspends judgment, allows what is to be. It just is is neither right nor wrong. With it just is in your previously reactive energy, when something “happens”, you smile and say to yourself:

It just is. How interesting. Or even, how fascinating!

And from here you eventually wonder, “Now what?”

We return to that rough night of sleep. You waken at midnight, and say, “Huh. How fascinating. Okay.” and return to sleep. You repeat this at 1:00 am, 2:00 am, 2:20 am, 3:10 am and eventually when the alarm rings, you notice you are tired! And again, it just is.

“I am tired in this moment. It isn’t good or bad.”

You take in a deep breath, think about what lies ahead in this day, and consider if anything can be or needs to be cancelled. If so, it just is. Cancel it. Perhaps you really don’t believe anything can be cancelled and you choose to proceed with the day as it is. You do the best you can – for today. You let that be. It just is. Regardless of how anything turns out or what others may think, you know, it just is – for today.

Try it! Start by asking yourself where you practice problematizing. Pick an area and experiment with this idea of withholding judgment, of letting life be what it is. Then:

What do you notice about your personal energy
when you practice it just is?
Where do you experience more acceptance?
What impact does it just is have on those around you?

What is the power in problematizing?
What is the power in it just is?

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Morning Glow

morningglow

I decided to try something new this morning. I am on my porch listening to the song birds. The eastern sky is a blend of soft pink and orange. Traffic noise is picking up as the crows add their voices to the mix. I am here with the laptop on my lap and you in my awareness. I breathe in deeply each time I look up from the screen. Hello train!

Usually, the computer stays indoors, not allowed to “corrupt” the morning sacred space. That also means that I must return indoors to be with the computer before my spirit really wants to. (NOTE: Clouds, soft and sparce across the sky, also have that morning, pinkish glow now.)

What I want to share this morning is this:

  1. Such judgment I place on the computer: it “corrupts” sacred space. I must ask, is that true?
  2. Because of that judgment, I have previously been unwilling to experiment and find out!
  3. Isn’t it up to me whether the presence of the computer steals the serenity I feel in the sacred space of the morning?

Today, I encourage you to notice where you have created a rule, a restriction, a way of being which no longer serves you, which is actually blocking you from nurturing yourself or moving forward in some way you desire.

What is the restriction?
What if you removed it?
What is the worst that can happen?
What is possible?

PS: In case you were wondering — the sky has continued to change and I have witnessed it. My spirit has remained open and light, a product of this sacred, outdoor space for me. My experiment has been surprisingly successful!

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All In!

Whatever it is, are you All In? 

Or do you invest half-way, unwilling to put your all into “it”? Do you commit to a project, a practice, an intention and then not make room for it nor give it the energy it needs to come to fruition?

If you find All In eludes you, you are not alone! Why is it that we make commitments and then don’t really follow through on them? What’s the impact?

The reasons I am less than All In at times include:

  • the commitment wasn’t meant for me to make – I’m really not committed!
  • there are too many conflicting commitments of time and energy, too much on my plate to be all in with any one of them
  • I don’t know if “this* is what I’m supposed to be All In with!
  • fear of what happens to everything and everyone else when I devote myself to “you” or to “this” – what will you think when I *ignore you*?

What is the impact of being less than All In?

  • I do nothing really well and everyone loses
  • I don’t feel good about anything, I feel incomplete, sloppy, disconnected
  • I feel drained from simultaneously holding too many open projects energetically and physically
  • I lose the tremendous energetic boost, the satisfaction of being All In and doing “it” well

So why not be All In? One big reason is that it requires other things to be left out. If I am 100% in with someone else, I cannot be 100% in with you. If I am 100% committed to this project, this organization, this personal growth practice, I likely have to let something else go, at least for now.

What about you? If you let yourself discover your truth around All In, what will you hear when you ask:

Where am I less than All In?
What is the impact on me and others?
What am I unwilling to release?

What’s possible if I let go and practice All In?

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Practice Patience

Last week, I wrote:

What is mine to give?

You read a message about listening to your inner voices, discerning and learning what is your unique essence, your song, the gift that is yours to put forth at this time in this lifetime.

Quiet4By6

Today, I am needing to hear:

Be patient.
Practice patience.
Wait.

When we choose to co-create with Universal Mind, our intuition, Life as she presents herself to us, timing is not in our control! This is so very different from society’s messages that we:

  • get through school in the first 18 or 22 years of life
  • complete the project at work by the deadline
  • plan every detail of that upcoming event so the outcome is *perfect*

No, this is different. It’s inviting inspiration from everywhere. It’s a willingness to hear an idea and release it to the magic that happens when we listen to all that surrounds us. It’s trusting that what we need to know will appear in divine timing, not MY timing. I am reminded of a cute, but meaningful, song by Jana Standfield, I Always Know What I Need to Know. An excerpt from the lyrics:

There’s a power in the Universe greater than just me.
And it works a million miracles when I let it be!

So today, I am practicing patience. I am trusting that clear guidance will appear if I don’t try to force it. Having set in motion an intention for my life at this time, today is for remaining open and aware as I take whatever next step is in front of me. Nothing more is needed or expected.

What intention have you put forth?
In what ways are you trying to force an outcome?
What will you hear if you practice patience?