Wisdom Wednesday

This week’s Wisdom Wednesday post features a topic that was presented in Monday nights Dynamic U session. It’ll be a review for participants and hopefully a wonderful invitation to relax, for those of us who are “working hard to create dreams”!

WELCOME TO THE LOOSER’S CLUB!

There is a term called “efforting” that describes the work that we do when we try very hard to bring our wishes, hopes, desires and dreams into reality. Hard work, determination and will power certainly have their place in our society and world. Without these attributes, things wouldn’t get done and there are times we need things to be completed. I speak from experience on this one, as it has taken a tremendous amount of effort to go through an accumulation of clutter from the past 16 years of my existence!

However, the kind of effort that I speak of revolves more to what we are creating for ourselves and our families. All of us have goals, each of us is working to experience something, gain something, have something, try something, do something. I think that is why we come here in the first place, Earth is an excellent training ground!

In the past, hard work and effort has gotten me quite far. It helped raise my grades in high school, got me scholarships in college, helped me pay my bills through college and supported during a nine year teaching position. It has helped me keep a home, raise my children, make payments on a car and phone and helped me to become a Feng Shui Consultant, Licensed Spiritual Health Coach, and Accredited Journey Practitioner. That’s a lot! I am thankful beyond words!

What hard work and effort doesn’t do is allow us to relax, to open and to receive. I’ve spent the majority of my life “going after what I want”, stopping at nothing sometimes to get to the end of the goal. I’ve given up sleep, rest and relaxation, precious time with family and friends, and sometimes, peace of mind and body to complete whatever mission I’ve set out to accomplish. Yes, it has served me well and there IS another way.

I recently learned this or should I say, relearned this lesson? There was a time, in the not-so-distant past when things weren’t working in my life or in my career. Most of what I had worked really hard to create, what I had pushed, shoved, and driven hard for simply wasn’t coming through. No matter what I did physically, or the positive thoughts and affirmations I held mentally or the deep release work I did emotionally seemed to have immediate results. So I did what any normal over-achiever adult would do……….I gave up! I threw my hands into the air in complete surrender. Wiped my tears, picked myself off the ground and started looking for something new. I set out to go in an entirely new direction.

I’ve honored a deep call to explore my creative energies. I started taking violin lessons. I threw myself into my home and garden and canned everything in sight! I learned to knit. I gave myself permission to dream, to explore, to create. What I found at the core of my being is that I love to write. This is what I have always loved but hadn’t honored because most of the writing I had done felt like “work” and there was effort behind it. So I quit that too! I went away from any type of writing that felt like it was hard and started writing just what felt good. I started this blog simply because………….it felt good and I enjoyed it!

This spilled over in other areas of my life as well. I started giving myself permission to do nothing (boy that is still a hard one for me!) I researched topics that I felt connected, began to really dream, explore and imagine, all without the fear of “Is this going to help me earn an income?” or “How am I going to pay for this”! I began to trust my heart, to give it permission to lead me, no matter how silly, how strange or how ridiculous I appeared. I started having a lot of FUN! Somewhere along the way, I lost all inhibition to work and to build a “career”. I quit worrying about how I would earn an income, how I would make payments, how I would be successful. I quit worrying about what I looked like, what I sounded like and what I wanted others to think of me. I just quit…………I planted a big “backwards” L on my forehead and kept on moving, creating and exploring.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always equated “quitting” with being a looser. In the past, giving up was associated with weakness. Yet in all the hard work that I’ve done, I really didn’t get the results I was seeking. Hard work and driving forces can sometimes be detrimental; they can counterbalance our bodies own ability to heal, to experience and most importantly to receive…………Yes, hard work and determination do have their place in our world, yet we can over-focus in these areas creating an imbalance that robs us of completely feeling the joy that is already all around us. Pushing can also cause tightness and constriction with further limits our desire to completely open, feel, connect and unite with others. We aren’t meant to “go it alone” yet it can feel that way if we forget we are all part of each other’s path. As we open into our creative vibrations and explore what we truly love and are passionate about, new doorways begin to open! We find ourselves in this process and………….this is what inspires others to do the same.

I don’t expect everyone to get a thrill out of baby chicks and milk goats, but the joy and excitement I feel in this experience can ripple out into the world, and like a wave, help carry others along their path of joy! One of the many gifts of really LIVING is to experience the creative joy that is already here…….its a matter of choosing to open, align and then making that inner agreement to FULLY embrace it!

What is your passion? Have you been working really hard to bring your dreams into reality? I’d like to invite you to just stop for a moment and relax. Recognize all that you already have. It is healthy and beautiful to aspire to greater heights and experiences though what you have right NOW is perfect. Each step of the way toward our goal helps us to gather our energies and rest in an awareness that leads to wholeness and truth. We are in the process of collecting all the pieces of our life’s puzzle. Though the mind may be telling us “its time” and our bodies feel the urge to jump forward, we can consciously SLOW DOWN, and recognize the tendency to push forward…………then release it. This will also save time as rushing, forcing and forging ahead can create the need to go back, recreate and fix mistakes and misperceptions (again, sharing from experience!)

I am not an expert by any means. The urge to push and put fourth effort is still very strong within my being. I have to daily “let go” and open to what is here, even if it is not something that my ego, personality or mind is wanting to experience. This spring things already look and feel much different. I am enjoying my path EVERY DAY, not just on occasion anymore. I love what comes through and I am always delighted when those vibrations resonate, lift, enhance and inspire others. I share that it is not something I do, rather these are energies that I have opened to and have agreed to allow them flow through me. I trust in the process so completely that if I had to walk away from everything tomorrow, I could do it. I am daily learning the art of “letting go”. Possessions don’t define us, titles don’t do justice in defining who we REALLY are because WHO we really are is truly beyond the ability to put into worlds! I am honored to be here, to be walking this path and connecting with so many amazing, colorful, delightful beings.

So, let me be the first to welcome you into the “Looser’s Club”! It is a wonderful sorority to belong too! Here we loose our fears, our egos, our hang-ups, our doubts, our worries, our inhibitions, our need to know. And what we gain, is freedom, joy, peace, happiness, hope, beauty, faith, trust. I hope you’ll join us soon. We’re waiting for you. Our membership is wide open~