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Acknowledge it!

Today I’d like to invite you into a different way of noticing and celebrating “success” or forward movement. Often we only talk about what “gets done”, the visible, tangible manifestation that we can measure or check off a list. Unfortunately, we may miss the growth that happens along the way. It is the growth, the learning through the process, that aids us “next time”. NOTE: There is learning and growth … even in failure.

Here is the “acknowledgment twist” I’d like you to experiment with. The next time you complete something or want to celebrate, try speaking to the qualities (courage, persistence, patience, compassion…) that are present and which allowed you to “do the work”. Notice this isn’t about what you did but who you had to be in order to do it! The beauty here is that who you had to be is who you are and is available to you for each next thing!

Take some time today to notice the qualities in you that are showing up in your life. Regardless of the outcome of any experience, ask yourself:

How did I show up?
Did I exercise patience, compassion, calm?
Did I bring courage, vision, inner strength?

What is the gift that I am?

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What I Cannot Do

Last time, I wrote:

Tell me something you DON’T know!

and invited you to drop the stories and dig deeper to new truths. True to form, the Universe reminded me of the idea “with a twist” in some readings:

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” Pablo Picasso

At a higher level, these messages are asking us to expand, look into what is possible, focus on the journey rather than the destination. I also hear an invitation to set fear aside and trust that “doing what I cannot do” is normal! Yes, I use that word lightly 🙂

What have you been avoiding because you “don’t know how”?
What doors will open once you’ve done it?

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Speak to something you don’t know

Yes, that’s right. Tell me something you DON’T know! In those thousands of thoughts we think each day, in the words we speak which so often relay “what has happened”, what are we learning? How are we expanding?

If we allow it, life always invites us deeper and wider. Our lives go nowhere when filled with nothing but “the stories we tell ourselves”. Growth happens in each “Ah ha!” awareness, each message from our emotional body that we didn’t predict, from the words we utter that seem to come from outside ourselves.

So, today, consider pausing before you speak, before you recite “the story”. Breathe into the moment and wonder:

What don’t I know?

Then, speak to that.

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Timing

Creating the life we dream of is filled with visioning, forward movement, action. Sometimes, however, there is much value in pause, being with what is here now, in NOT reaching for what’s next. In the pauses, it can also be helpful to notice what doesn’t fit any longer and is ready to be released. Consider this short description of the trapeze artist taken from “The Yamas and Niyamas” by Deborah Adele:

Hanging in Mid-Air

Much like the moment when the breath is completely exhaled, the trapeze artist has a moment when they are suspended in mid-air. My understanding is that they have to let go of one bar and wait in mid-air for the next swinging bar to reach them. If they hold on to the current bar, or reach for the next bar, their timing will be off and they will fall. Instead, they must let go fully to be ready for the bar swinging towards them, trusting the timing of the swing and not their own effort to reach.

What bar have you held onto too long?
What bar are you reaching for prematurely?
Where are you gloriously suspended in mid-air?

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Intuition

“Intuition is like a small flash of light that is beginning to fade as soon as it appears.”

from The Yamas & Niyamas by Deborah Adele

You are intuitive. You have flashes of insight, moments of awareness, nudges from within. The Universe is providing clues outside of you as well which spark your inner knowing. How well do you listen? Are you willing to act on a “small flash of light” before it fades?

Today, begin to honor your intuition by moving just a little slower, or taking in a deep breath and noticing, or opening your eyes to what is around you in this moment.

What does your intuition have to offer now?