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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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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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The Power of Personal Story

This morning I received an intuitive nudge to open “my” book:

WhatIsAliveInMeNowFrontCover

and read. Written two years ago, I hadn’t opened it in MANY months. I almost didn’t today as that intuitive nudge was followed by my ego’s powerful reaction: “How prideful to think that your own book would inspire you!”

Yet, it did. I am writing to you now to say, “Write your stories! Dig into the truth that you are aware of in this moment and write it down!” Why? This human experience is not a solo journey. For each challenge I face, each joy I delight in, there are countless others who have or will experience something similar. Each of us who courageously shares what it’s like to be human is a gift to others on their path.

And, we all cycle. What I knew so deeply in my being two years ago, what I wrote about how to move through those challenges, I needed to hear again today! I had cycled back into fear and old ways of being and needed the wisdom from two years ago to pull me out of the depths. The fact that the chapter hit me as powerfully as it did tells me that there was wisdom and truth in those words that had come from a source much greater than my ego. Those words had been a gift from universal mind that were meant to be shared and I was simply nudged to be the author. They are not mine to hold and protect nor mine to hold back in fear that others will think I’m on an ego trip.

What stories are yours to share?
What wisdom is asking to flow from you?
What might you need to re-read down the road?

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Making Choices

ANewFocus4By6

If you’ve tried to experience the kind of fulfilling life that could be described as living your vision or living with purpose, you know it isn’t always easy. Creating the life of our dreams requires that we make choices in service of our dream. Sometimes, those choices are easy to make and follow through on. Sometimes they are easy to make and hard to follow through on. Sometimes those choices seem impossible to make but once we do, the follow through feels so good!

Today, I offer a few questions that might help you stay focused on that life you dream of. Notice I’m not promising that you’ll find them easy! The next time you wonder, “Should I do *this* or not? Is *this* relationship for me? Does *this* fit into the life of my dreams?” consider:

Is this a heart throb,
or a means to my core heart throbbing life dream?

Is this one of my top 3? 2? 1?

If I had to take something away …
stop something in order to add this …
what would I stop?

Finally, if you decide to add *it* anyway, add *it* even though it is not in service of your dream, add *it* even though it takes you away from your vision, maybe it’s time to ask:

How important is my vision?