Sometimes we meet a person and instantly feel like we’ve known them for years, spending the weeks that follow filling each other in on the seemingly insignificant facts of our lives. It’s like we want to know enough about one another to match the closeness we have achieved – that normally follows years of friendship. These amazing and rare connections are some of the deepest relationships of our lives, regardless how long they last. They may arrive to help us through a time, show us a possibility, or teach us a vital life lesson and then they’re gone. Their impact, however, is always profound. One theory that resonates for me is that we plan such connections in the spiritual realm before we ever come into this life as spirits having a human experience. This blog is to honor those I’ve had in my lifetime, and their Light that remains in my heart.
There was my neighbor who I met as she moved all of her belongings from an apartment downstairs to an apartment by me – one shopping cart at a time! By her 5th trip past my open door, I had to ask, and a beautiful relationship ensued. Lisa brightened a dark time in my life in a unique, loving, and creative way, always bringing laughter to my then disillusioned and confused self.
There was a coworker I enjoyed for a few brief weeks who had such a bright spirit, creative Light, and magical energy about her. When we got together, hours passed like seconds in laughter and creative exploration of what might be Divinely possible for us in this lifetime. We compared our star charts marveling at our cosmic connection and then somehow stayed stuck in our own confusion. We saw our own Possibilities in each others company and reflection, but chose then not to act…yet.
Several more have come and gone leaving brilliant marks on my life and permanent spaces of love in my heart. Recently, another has arrived bringing me incredible insight. This time when I recognized some of my own Possibility, I did not run, and as she sees hers, she is not running either. She has quickly become my closest spiritual heart guide and we have profound sessions together loving each other through the deepest unexplored parts of ourselves so that we can, in turn, love others into new heights of living as well. Attracting new teachers and exploring new paths, our Light grows brighter and our passion to share it expands. We marvel at how the roles of student and teacher alternate back and forth between us, absent ego or judgment.
These instant deep connections that appear in our lives have big impact and potential, if we allow it. They are Divinely guided and blessed to touch us in beautiful and transformational ways. I wonder. Will you and I share such a connection along this earthly segment of our Journey of Possibilities?
To create the best possible Journey of Possibilities for you and me and everyone involved, I decided to take Brendon Burchard’s Experts Academy. He’s such a phenomenal business development teacher for anyone desiring to share their message and make a difference, and part of the course features video interviews with famous successful people. Today I watched Paula Abdul and developed a deep respect for all she has overcome and achieved. Did you know she was born 3 months premature and crying as a baby was fatal? Have you ever realized how petite and soft-spoken she really is? Yet this small giant stood firm in her heart and knew all she needed was a chance, often funding her own ventures to prove herself and then blow them all away with her talent and results. She’s now such an accomplished choreographer, dancer, singer, and yes, even a judge with heart on American Idol. (She thanks Simon for being one of her greatest teachers by being off-camera exactly who he is on camera!) Anyway, one lesson she spoke of that resonated strongly for me is that of nurturing the success that presents itself right here and now, and leveraging from that space to catapult into new arenas with open-hearted authenticity. Or, as another friend of mine put it so simply years ago, “bloom where you’re planted.”
It’s so easy for us to become frustrated about where we are when we feel ‘stuck’, especially when we know we are capable of so much more! Believe me, it has happened each time I learned enough about myself and my role somewhere to feel like I’d outgrown that job or relationship or place to live or whatever, and prepared to move on. Between my need to be challenged, my pesky ego’s need to be fed with new spaces in which to shine, and my A.D.D. ways, it’s so easy for me to quickly set my sights elsewhere and set sail for my next opportunity, be it personal or professional.
However, as Brendon Burchard, Paula Abdul, and many other happy and successful teachers and business professionals attest, staying in that space and exploring further for more opportunities to expand that success is how we can best grow and achieve our own greatest heights. All of these individuals have found new avenues within the same space to let their talents shine to expanded audiences, in new ways, and their happiness and success truly skyrocketed. I see the lesson as deepening our relationships and successes right where we are.
What a great lesson! Instead of moving on to a new space and comfortably creating again, we can live in the discomfort and awkwardness of stretching our familiar self and surroundings into new possibilities and relationships, and then following those into new things from exactly where we are.
The topics that I share with you are not just to update you about where I’m at in this Journey, but in hopes that you will see connections to your own situations and the posts will help you. Can you see yourself in this week’s message? Are there new ways you can explore what may currently be a frustrating situation by opening your heart and allowing more of your true gifts and passions to emerge? Are there others “stuck” there with you that you can love through it who may then be able to see possibilities for themselves? Why not try? What have you really got to lose? Believe me, you will all begin to bloom where you’re planted this spring!
Throughout my conversations this week, a recurring topic has been the beliefs we hold as truths in our lives and whether they serve us well. Sometimes we’re aware of them, like when we say we’ll never meet the person of our dreams because all the good men/women are already taken, and other times, they are ‘shadow beliefs’ that run in the background programming us without our awareness. For me, one of those has been the hidden belief from childhood that there’s not enough (fill-in-the-blank: food, money, time, energy, love…) and there may never be enough. Today I want to impress upon you the difference it can make in every day of your life, in every way in your life, to root these out, shine a bright light on them, and see how and if they hold up to careful scrutiny.
Let’s play out how this has looked in something I’ve been working on so I can better explain what I mean. My belief that there is never enough wasn’t anything I was particularly conscious of, even though I would actually say things like, “there’s no money for that”, “I/you/they can’t afford that”, “what if we run out”, etc. For me to continue holding that belief would mean that I would not be able to truly own that God and the Universe are generous, and abundance is just as possible for me as anyone. Maybe the fallacy of this is obvious to you, but trust me that it wasn’t to me. One interesting things about our core beliefs is just that: they are often obviously false to others! In my reality, asking for things and accepting things has been hard because that didn’t fit my core belief. I have been unable to actually ENJOY my time, money, etc. because I’m always worrying it is going to disappear and there will be no more. This belief actually came to me from a loving parent who had experienced it to be true and wanted me to be cautious and frugal so I’d be safe and guarded. However, it didn’t come into me as a LESSON someone else had learned that MIGHT serve me well to consider. It came into me as a FACT that I NEEDED to live as truth. Even learning about the Law of Attraction (from teachers like Mike Dooley) and its biblical basis for hundreds of years (from Florence Scovel Shinn) had not really eradicated this belief because , I had not taken this into my heart and healed that belief. Until I did that, nothing could shift.
There is no time better than the present to really look at the area of your life in which you most urgently want to see a shift, and get very still and clear about what beliefs (those you see easily and what may underlie them) you hold that may not be universal truths, but rather ‘facts’ you learned from a specific experience you had that may or may not ever recur, or as a lesson through someone else. By seeing these as situations and not universal truths, you can weigh the price of holding that belief as truth against the possibility of releasing it and replacing it with any other selection from the Universe of all possibilities.
This post is inspired by my own continuing Journey to Self, and as a key part of my visualization activity and vision board creation for the first Journey of Possibilities nature retreat next month. By the way, there are still some openings to attend for ladies who may be ready for a day of rejuvenation and some activities that will help you take your life to the next level. Whether or not you are able to attend, spend a little time this spring shining light in the dark corners of your deepest Self to see what lingers there that might be brought out, reexamined, and shifted. A brighter day awaits you on the other side!
What do disagreements sound like in your family? Do they turn into horrible screaming matches where you are reminded of every wrong you’ve ever done? Do you walk away scared, ashamed, or embarrassed? Do you feel loved?
As I’ve shared, I come from a family in which alcoholism dated back to…the dinosaurs? Anyway, because they didn’t often drink (my folks were a shopaholic and a workaholic), I didn’t understand until my 20s and 30s that we had the same broken communication patterns, and those are especially evident during arguments. Insults, digging up old disagreements and rehashing them, yelling louder and louder to ‘win’, the idea that someone wins and someone loses, suggesting that not seeing things my way (opinion) means you are stupid (fact), one person allowing insecurities to fuel jealousy that they take out on another person who didn’t do anything to bring them about in the first place…does any of this sound like your family, too? No one agreed to disagree or tried to learn something new from another disagreeing with them, they simply felt threatened and yelled louder until the other gave up or broke down, which meant the loudest person had finally ‘won’. How painful!!! Besides, when everyone in a loving family is hurt, scared, and defeated, how can anyone be a ‘winner’? Aren’t these the people who are supposed to have our backs no matter what, be in our corner, be on our team?
When there is physical abuse, there are physical signs and we can seek legal action and get protection. However, we may go years, or even a lifetime, without healing the effects of hurtful, destructive words said to us by loved ones in the heat of an argument. There are no restraining orders for broken hearts and bruised egos, or destroyed self-esteem, yet they surely shape our lives every day moving forward until we heal that hurt. We take those broken communication patterns and that win/lose, smart/dumb, right/wrong attitude with us into every relationship, picking the same types of partners, and wonder in the end why that one doesn’t work out either.
Today I simply want to share a very strong reminder that you deserve to love and be loved in a way that builds you and the other person up, so that each of you becomes MORE, not less, of yourselves. That love begins with loving and healing ourselves so that we can approach others as a whole person and end the cycle of punishing others for our own insecurities and incompleteness. You deserve to love and grow and heal!
For me, this has not been a weekend retreat or a year alone to heal 30 or 40. It is instead a lifelong process that starts with some deep work and then continues as I grow and change, and more of myself is revealed to me. However, the Journey to self is our greatest Journey of Possibilities, with God as our navigator loving us through every step of the way. A good book that helped me begin to open and may do the same for you is Your Sacred Self by Dr. Wayne Dyer.
Our parents loved us and raised us the best way they knew. They were operating within the boundaries of their own family of origin, knowledge, and experiences. Now it’s up to us to begin here and make our life the best experience possible. I will admit to having walked through a lot of pain to get where I am. I will also promise you it’s worth every step along the way to get to a place where I can experience this level of immense joy and love! I don’t need anyone to complete me but God; I am complete and I feel complete. Others enhance facets of my life, and this is how relationships should be. Our disagreements allow me to learn from them an expanded way to view the world and all in it, and we love one another regardless of whether we agree or not. No more personal insults, painful jabs, or destroyed self esteems. We build one another up and understand that is how it should be. I pray that in sharing this with you today you will talk to someone, find a meeting, open a book like Your Sacred Self, and finally begin the most precious Journey you will ever take! Above all, I know that you matter and you deserve it.
In the year since I have been following the Path of my deepest dreams, stumbling along in blind Faith as one row of bricks is revealed at a time, there are moments when lifelong human insecurities creep in and I wonder if I’ve somehow inadvertently veered off course. It is during these ‘dry spell’ times when I pray that God hasn’t forgotten about me over here Journeying in my own proverbial wilderness. Right when I need it most, I get a Divine response. Now is one of those times when my reassurance is so strong I awoke at 4:30 this morning compelled to share this with you.
As I shared with you previously, Journey of Possibilities has been unfolding in pieces of visions over the past ten years. As I now work to put together the first spiritual nature retreat, I am personally confronting some of my deepest shadow beliefs learned in childhood and I have been craving spiritual affirmation that I all is well for things to unfold now. (Isn’t it sad how often we need this as humans?)
A few months ago I was at a conference in The Woodlands and met a shining spirit almost gliding about as she displayed her artwork. Drawn to her, we met and I learned that she had actually left behind all of her worldly possessions in Houston, Texas and gone abroad on faith in pursuit of establishing a loving community. A few weeks later I met her again and purchased her book The Journey of the Jewel to read about this adventure. I finally began reading her tale last week, a bit each night at bedtime.
By Page 11, I had my first affirmation as she wrote about how everyone in the book appears under a fictional name except for her intuitive mentor and another coach she met at the onset of her journey by the name of Mattison Grey. I had the pleasure of meeting Mattison at a dynamic collaborative event in Houston a few months back and she had such a strong and Divine spirit that I felt an instant connection. Mattison told me about a ranch near my home that might be a great fit for my retreats, and although it did not feel like the right space when I visited, I connected strongly with the owner and know we have future collaborative potential. Now here I was reading about Mattison in this book!
Last night, I almost dropped the book as I reached Page 49. The other person named throughout her book is her intuitive mentor Zoe who was now advising her. “Why don’t you go to St. John’s in Montgomery, north of Houston, for a visit? There’s a temple where people gather for meditation in profoundly deep energy…Inside the round chapel in the star shaped ceiling over head, light poured in through the colored glass. We were invited to sit or lay down as we like. Then a woman seated in the circle gave us brief instructions, turned on some meditative music, and let the divine energy take over. As I felt myself go deeper and deeper into the velvety energy…suddenly a light descended to take away (my) fear, and I felt completely comfortable…When I came back into my body, I realized I was being prepared for my journey. I stepped out into the country road, walking so lightly and feeling the color of nature enter me in new dimensions.”
Annie had visited the very spot I recently discovered quite near my home for our spiritual nature retreats! The Star Center of the Americas, also known as White Eagle Lodge, is home to the St. John round chapel that she described at its entrance. I was simultaneously filled with excitement and Peace, and when I was finally able to drift off to sleep an hour later, enjoyed wonderful dreams and the most rest I’ve gotten in weeks.
As my angel sister Sherrie and I began to talk about the agenda for our first retreat last week, one person came to mind as a perfect Light to guide our Creative Dance session. I plan to call Annie today and invite her to be a part of this, and I know when she learns of our location, she’ll simply glow.
Journey in Faith, dear friend. Know that you are exactly where you should be, that all is well, and that the Miracles you seek are already in motion, and that you are part of that Divine Miracle. Namaste!
It was my honor and pleasure to meet Ritika Arya when she came to The Woodlands, TX to speak at this event. She is a very bright and shining Spirit with a beautiful openness and caring that drew me to her almost immediately, and I’m grateful for her friendship still.
I wanted to share her presentation with you because it provokes so many thoughts and emotions. She touches on some important lessons here about people and how we behave independently and interact with one another. When I am honest with myself, I have allowed the words and actions of family and both well-meaning and not-so-well-meaning others to limit what I would even consider as possible. Such limitations do a disservice that extends far beyond our own lives, for we may never achieve….or worse, even TRY to achieve…our potential if we believe what others tell us. The impact of such short sightedness is seldom limited to ourselves.
May the insightful truths Ritika shares here spotlight some of your own ill-serving limitations. Consider what these youth can achieve without such fears and inhibitions, and think about the monkeys in your cage. Remember to return to nature regularly to rejuvenate yourself and your Spirit to know that you are in this world for an important Purpose.
How EXCITING; I FINALLY found it! There I was, waiting patiently for God to answer my prayers, and the answer was already right there in the place I was least willing to look! Ah yes, isn’t that how it usually works? That which we refuse to let go of blocks us from our own joy and success. Here’s my story…
While Journey of Possibilities will always have an inspirational Facebook page here to help us all renew, there is more to it. Ten years ago as I finished my BA in family communication, I had my first vision of Journey of Possibilities. I sat with families and individuals in beautiful nature while we worked together through many of the same challenges I’ve faced. More visions through time reached a pinnacle last year as I met exciting new people to help me expand it, and found I’d been laid off from work. However, the WHERE remained a mystery. I trusted God to deliver, but wondered when. I also dreaded the idea of buying, building, and managing a place.
When I sold the home I’d hoped to grow old in during my divorce, my broken heart was not into searching for a new one. My spirit navigated, and I kept returning to this quiet rural subdivision I’d seen before. One day, continuing further down a dead-end than we’d done previously in an attempt to turn around and leave again empty-handed, we passed a grove of trees and stumbled upon my house. I knew God had led me home.
I have really found peace here. There is only one neighbor who has been a challenge, and it salted a very old wound when they glossed over their negative behavior by blessing others and displaying crosses like immunity badges. Needless to say, I have avoided these people and their aggressive pets to the best of my ability, and deliberately do not look down at their end of the road anymore.
Back to Journey (trust me, it all ties together amazingly), I’ve resigned myself to renting facilities for events until we can find and fund our own place. I scheduled yet another visit to a retreat center nearby (White Eagle Lodge), and discovered this one is very close indeed. Arriving, I fell in love. I had found a place so perfect I knew I was again home. We laughed that if my street punched through where it is now a dead-end, I lived less than a mile away. We tried to get bearings on my house from there, but I only had a general idea. As I left, I basked in how we equally wanted to work together. Divinely perfect!
Two days later, I returned from my morning walk. As I topped the hill to my house, I reluctantly looked toward ‘that’ end of my street, three lots down from my home. There shining clearly just above my neighbor’s cross archway I could now clearly see the center…
It is always my hope that something of my journey may be of help to you in yours. My lesson: trust God and look past the negativity.
Life sure can knock us down…low! At one point several years ago, I actually walked out of a well-paying professional job at which I was doing well and moved myself to an island. Stressed out and depressed, grieving the loss of my parents, new marriage struggling, I was hurting. This was just the sort of irrationally desperate move in which we surprise even ourselves! All I really knew for sure was that I couldn’t keep doing what I’d been doing anymore. It was only in this state that I finally gave myself the time and space I needed to heal. It was only in this place that I nurtured myself with endless walks on the beach. It was only through this move that I discovered I really was self-sufficient beyond my successful career. I lived on the barter system and met others on the island who’d arrived in similar condition. There was a large movement of healing in this community I soon discovered and connected into. That energy was so powerful! I participated in sweat lodges. I danced with scarves on the beach with a silver haired native American angel. I went back to school. I had an amazing time renewing myself! All of this was made possible because I had finally surrendered and sought healing.
Later in my life, I was again facing loss when I took a retail job at an outdoor recreational store. Not clear why I was shifting to retail, I soon realized that I had been drawn to another healing space to connect with nature and others in pain. Several coworkers from across the country had been drawn there from a myriad of experiences and were searching for their own healing and Purpose. Not only did we create wonderful bonds and memories, but together we went into nature to beautify, conserve, educate, and enjoy. Once again, sharing nature with kindred healing spirits strengthened and healed me.
Healing spaces are so vital to our happiness and growth! When we find ourselves grieving painful loss, we are more vulnerable and open than at any other times in our life. When we surrender, we find ourselves Divinely guided to people and places that facilitate our healing. When we don’t surrender, we find ourselves quickly getting lost in alcohol, work, shopping, drugs, food, and any other distractions we can find to avoid the pain. Ultimately, walking through the pain is the only path to healing, so how much better to face it now than to add addiction recovery and making amends to our healing process later!
One word of warning about healing spaces: know when to leave them. Such comforting places do not inspire us to move on when our healing time is passed. When the time is right, we must leave or we will not achieve our potential made possible by that healing. Maintain the beautiful friendships formed there. Visit the healing space for renewal. However, as Master Yoda would say, leave we must. Our final gift is to pay forward the love and healing we’ve experienced to those we meet who suffer. It is also to nudge along those who are ready to fly but afraid to leave the healing space themselves. In seeing us fly, we inspire them. A cycle is completed and we have ourselves become a healing space for others.
Do you recall the game show Let’s Make a Deal? Contestants could either keep prizes they won or gamble them for bigger prizes. It was fun to watch and consider whether I would keep the prize or risk it for something better. Of course it was much easier to say I’d take that risk as I watched from the comfort of my own home with nothing to lose.
How we make decisions in our daily lives isn’t really so different, is it? Every day we opt to live in the Truth of who we are and see where that leads us, or to accept a job/mate/lifestyle that we know to be less than our heart’s desire. The difference is that we aren’t on a game show, and God wouldn’t tease us with a bigger dream, daring us to take less or risk maybe not receiving the grand prize!
Florence Scovel Shinn wrote some 90 years ago (tho The Game of Life and How to Play Itremains timelessly accurate today) that God typically sends an “olive branch” as in the great flood as a sign of larger blessings ahead. This is NOT the prize! However, if we accept that olive branch and then abandon pursuit of the larger dream, we have left the game as assuredly as if we were a contestant on that show returning to our seat. How much better to give thanks for these olive branches and continue in faith along our journey of Possibilities to our own best Life.
Have you ever become so frustrated with a situation or relationship in your life that you threw up your hands and said something like, “OK God, I can’t do this anymore!” Did you give it to God when you couldn’t take it anymore? How did that feel? Then what happened? As it started to improve, did you find yourself slowly taking charge yourself again, as if to say, “Thanks God. I’ve got it now”? Maybe you just grabbed it back completely in one panicked moment and didn’t leave anything at all for God to manage? Honestly, I can’t even remember how many times I have done this in my lifetime.
As I explore my own life as a Journey of Possibilities, I recognize our spiritual Journey as a Continuum. When I am scared, stressed out, trying to stay busy, or resisting the flow of life, it’s a safe bet that I’m running the show. I’ve even lost myself in addiction before so I didn’t have to see whatever I was avoiding. At the other end of the spectrum, I know that feeling of being filled with love, serenity, and acceptance of everything just as it is, trusting God’s perfect Design and Order. That’s the way my life feels when I put God in charge.
Whenever my life becomes unmanageable, as they say in the 12-step program, I surrender and let go…not of one thing, but of everything. The moment I do, I instantly begin moving back across the Continuum. Thankfully, God doesn’t have a waiting period!
If there is such peace in letting go, then why do we resist turning everything over to God? Boy, don’t we always want to be in charge! We blindly trudge forth in busyness (often by losing ourselves in business), believing that even a little progress is better than the stillness of waiting on God. However, any gains made this way always prove futile later against the grand Design. When it is God’s Time for something to occur, all is manifested at amazing speed and often with much less effort on our part.
One way to check our status on the Spiritual Continuum is through daily prayer and meditation. Give God a bit of your time, and consistently check your human urge to take control. The sooner we surrender to God, the sooner we return to the flow of Divine Harmony. Trusting that all is exactly as it should be brings amazing serenity no matter what is going on in this Earth School.
Sometimes we meet a person and instantly feel like we’ve known them for years, spending the weeks that follow filling each other in on the seemingly insignificant facts of our lives. It’s like we want to know enough about one another to match the closeness we have achieved – that normally follows years of friendship. These amazing and rare connections are some of the deepest relationships of our lives, regardless how long they last. They may arrive to help us through a time, show us a possibility, or teach us a vital life lesson and then they’re gone. Their impact, however, is always profound. One theory that resonates for me is that we plan such connections in the spiritual realm before we ever come into this life as spirits having a human experience. This blog is to honor those I’ve had in my lifetime, and their Light that remains in my heart.
