New Currents

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love”

Rumi

Do you feel that you may be called to be a change agent in the world?

Or perhaps you simply feel the longing to find a deeper purpose or meaning in your life?

Do you have a burning desire to make a difference in this life?

Maybe you sometimes feel overwhelmed and not know where to start?

I would have to say yes to all the above. For a long time now, I’ve felt a burning passion that often feels uncomfortable, it’s a yearning to express something deep within me and to touch other people’s lives and make a difference in my own special way. In order to really align oneself with this “fire inside”, I think it’s essential to learn how to set clear priorities to establish a delineated pathway on which to step into one’s vision. This week, I’d like to focus on how to go about setting those priorities.

I’ve just returned from a soulful women’s retreat in we explored several divine feminine archetypes. During the few days there, many of my PRIORITIES  were HONED and CLARIFIED. Sharing our inner realms and concrete outer experiences with this small circle of women offered me a rare and wonderful opportunity to sift through what is most important to me. It clarified my vision of things and helped bring my true heart’s desire up to the surface as well as to discover new parts of myself I had no idea existed beforehand.

Over the course of these four days, in which deep soul shifts occurred within, I became aware of the many ways I do not honour myself and what I care most about in life. In fact, there are parts of my life that I was not conscious that I was neglecting before the experience and so how could I prioritize them? Like so many people, I set out to achieve particular goals and I write a list of tasks that need to get done. However, there often feels as though something is missing from these “to do” lists.

What I’m talking about is the QUALITY of HEART and SPIRIT that I actually yearn for more deeply than anything else and that particular way of being in the world cannot be achieved through doing alone. Most of us have been indoctrinated to “get things done” and the more the better. We have dozens of “shoulds” floating around in our heads that order us about here and there like tiny mini sergeants commanding their troops.

As I sat in circle with the women at the retreat, I felt a NEW SPACE emerge within me, one in which I could be myself, share who I was, be seen and one in which I was also profoundly touched and inspired by the others facing me. As we shared authentically, I felt a deepening sense of BELONGING and a BEAUTIFUL ENERGY fill me. I felt close to what really matters to me which is TOUCHING PEOPLE  and SHARING at a profound level of my being and I began to see many of my previous experiences in a new light. I realized how we are all a part of something greater and at that same time we are each beautiful and powerful beings in our own right. And I learned to sit and show up in my own power, in all that I am!!

I understood that there is a wonderful preciousness in my being as a woman and as the particular person that I am as well as in where my journey has brought me thus far. I left the retreat holding the deep desire to HONOUR my deeper BEING and SPIRIT and in doing so, to honour and awaken to the beauty in others around me. I understood that we are NOT MEANT TO WALK THIS JOURNEY ALONE! This was far from a “to do” list and yet, in this new space I felt a revitalized energy and “breath” to move forward and break through so many of the barriers that have kept me stuck for so long. My heart sung a new song and radiated brightly with the warmth and depth of love I experienced.

It is awe-inspiring to see how when we begin to shift how we experience ourselves and the identity we have created for ourselves as many obstacles we experienced previously as carved in stone can begin to topple down like a row of dominos!! New vital energy is released in a deep and authentic encounter with others and creativity seems to abound. Since my return, my life continues to shift. Although this can be challenging, it is welcome as I know that if I ALLOW myself to HONOUR this NEW SPACE I felt within, I will grow in DEEPER ALIGNMENT with what is most important for me in the world.

And so, as we choose our priorities, I believe we also need to take the time to listen, to share deeply and experience ourselves in a supportive environment to allow our DEEPER PRIORITIES (those connected to our BEING) to choose us, as it were!

I’d really like to know about your deeper priorities and what you do to listen, create space and to align yourself with them. I invite you to leave your comments in the spaces below.

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it”

Albert Einstein

-Do you often find yourself in a whirlwind of activity or conversely slowed down by low energy or lack of motivation?

-At the end of the day, perhaps you find that your day was so filled with busyness that you’ve avoided or forgotten to attend to what is dearest and closest to your heart?

In the jumble of ideas, things, people and pursuits that call for our attention every day, it’s so easy to lose touch with what is most important to us and it can begin to feel as though life is passing us by. This has definitely happened to me. I can find myself running through my day from one task to the next, checking items of my many to-do lists and yet rather than leaving the scene with a sense of accomplishment or fullness, I somehow feel frazzled and tired. Something is missing from this picture but what?

Today, I’d like to invite you to take steps towards de-cluttering the space in your life, both your physical space and your mental, emotional and spiritual spaces. This year I have consciously chosen to make joyful effort a central theme in my life and I would like to invite you along on the journey with me!

Perhaps one of the reasons we usually feel tired and/or frustrated when just “busy” is that in approaching life this way to tend to search for solutions using a linear approach. As Einstein said (in the quote above) in order to resolve a problem, we need to first evolve the level of consciousness with which we approach the situation. So, I think a lot of the time, moving forward in our life and getting UNSTUCK requires that we GROW and that is what I am calling you to do!

The old habitual patterns or ways of seeing and approaching problems simply keep us on a type of merry go round (which may be fun at first but gets old soon enough) bringing us back to the same place again and again. We need to and begin to break free of those patterns and an important step in doing so is CREATING THE SPACE within and without for something NEW to emerge or be born.

You may choose to begin with de-cluttering your office, your living room area or it may be a matter of clearing out some of the ways of thinking or presuppositions that tend to keep you thinking small or turning in circles. The important thing is to be engaged in the process. They say it takes about 21 days to implement a new habit or transform an old one and that means, three weeks of consistent practice, morning and night.

That is why we start with ONE aspect at a time and so I invite you to choose that one area of your life in which you want to CREATE SPACE for what is really important to you. You will likely find that working on one aspect will impact other areas of your life but to keep focused and assure consistency, we keep our eyes on our initial goal.

Okay, now I’d like to ask you about the goal you may have in mind when you focus on de-cluttering. If you aren’t sure, then I invite you to choose an area of your life intuitively or without thinking too much, say you just feel like clearing space in your bed-room or you’d like to have time to take a walk outside every afternoon.

You may have a goal such as writing a book or project or becoming more fit, or re-orienting the mission of your business. Say, you’ve wanted to write for a long time but the project always seems to be relegated to the “back burner. Perhaps it’s time to clear off a part your desk or your dining room table

You may also need to slot in the time to write every day, even if it’s only 15 minutes to begin with. Many people find it useful to start out their day with the activity that is most important to them so you may want to carve out that 15-30 minutes or more first thing in the morning before you get caught up with everything else you need to do that day or it may work better for you to take extra time during your lunch hour.

De-cluttering is essentially creating the space to listen and yet it is also a commitment to yourself to move forward in the direction of your own choosing. It’s an act of valuing yourself, your time, your environment and ultimately what matters most to you. It starts a virtuous circle in which you become more aware of what you truly value and in which you give importance and priority to your dreams and dearest wishes (you value yourself). So, as you clear the clutter, you will begin to gain clarity as to what you are clearing the space for!

Part of clearing the clutter of your mind may be to forgive yourself for not reaching your goals right away and to remember to let go of perfectionism (which only keeps us trapped). If you want to move forward in a way that respects and values who you are and what you want to achieve, you need to be patient and kind with yourself (as that’s what it’s all about). You are ultimately creating the space for YOU because you and your dreams are worth it!!

I’d love to know more about how you approach de-cluttering and what you feel most called to clear space for in your life? What have you found most useful when attempting to create that space and what changes has doing so helped you actualize in the past? I’d invite you to share your comments and your insights below.

Next week we’ll talk about setting our priorities and how to put what you value most at the top of your list.

Wishing you a spacious and radiant day!!

Gabrielle

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Our focus in 2012 is on GETTING UNSTUCK, moving forward through that place of inertia in order to flourish and grow into our vision for ourselves and our businesses.

Have you ever been in that really yucky place where:

-you feel that you’re moving around and around in circles?

-you’re hitting the same wall again and again?

- you begin to think: “something must be wrong with me?”

- you can’t figure out “what is the next step”?

- you feel so frustrated and alone and don’t know where to turn?

- you feel so weighed down and heavy and you begin to doubt what you’re about?

I call this the STUCK PLACE and the first thing I want you to know is that you’re not alone and that this “yucky” “icky” place has a lot to tell you about what you do want and taking the time to “tune into” and listen to the information provided can be the first step in moving forward to a place where you do want to be!!

I want to invite you on a journey with me over the next few weeks as we go through five simple steps that will begin to turn things around for you so that you can finally move beyond the stuck place and get UNSTUCK NOW!

In this first step, I’d invite you to really take some time to focus on the ways in which you feel stuck.Yes, you hear right, it’s important to take the time to do so and to even feel those icky or frustrating feelings if necessary! Most of us rush through life and we do everything possible or everything it takes to avoid the areas in our lives where things get difficult. We either run away from them (avoid), deny or pretend they don’t exist or we fight or confront them with all our might.

Before I go on, I’d like to tell you why I am so pumped up to share about the stuck place. For a long time, I felt stuck in so many levels of my life. I knew that I wanted more, that I had a deep desire to start a business and share my gifts with the world, but did not know where to begin or who to turn to. Deep down inside I knew there was something more for me “out there” or “in here”, but my dreams did not match my flailing and disjointed efforts to realize them. This was often so discouraging and I began to feel that there must be something wrong with me!

But slowly, I learned (with the help of several mentors and teachers) that the place to start was “where I was”, that the first step towards change was to fully embrace where I was, to learn from it and use it as a springboard to create what I wanted. As well, I learned that that stuck place gave me so much precious information about what I did want and desire most deeply in my life. If I felt entrapped or paralyzed with fear, I was seeking empowerment and free flowing expression of love, the ability to speak in my own voice. I began to discover that the stuck place was giving me information about my life calling and that was so exciting!!

That is what I want to share with you today and over the next weeks and months.

So, if you’re feeling in that stuck place, I’d like to tell you that it’s okay, there is a way forward. I’d like to encourage you to take some time out for yourself, to simply listen to what is going on, to simply take stock of where you are right now, without passing judgment but to simply notice how you feel.

For instance, you may notice that you tend to “run away” from the stuck place and perhaps you can take a few minutes to note down the ways in which you’ve noticed yourself doing so. I’d love to hear about the areas in your life in which you feel stuck and how you find yourself feeling and reacting to them. As well, you may want to share what hidden treasure might be hidden beneath those experiences for you?

On my blog next week, we’ll be discussing step two, how to clear-out some of the old patterns that keep us stuck and make room for the new. Looking forward to reading your comments and hope to “see” you next week!

Wishing you a radiant day!

Gabrielle