Weekend Retreat Brings New Tools & Awareness

I was at a retreat on “Making Choices – Moving Forward” last weekend where I discovered some great new tools to clear blocks and gain clarity and bumped up my awareness another notch – all while having fun and taking a pause from regular life.  What a gift!

Although I was a presenter as well as a participant during this retreat, I went in with the intention that there would be nuggets of treasure for me personally and professionally.  I try to set an intention before events, even if  it is the general intention that something positive will happen.  The intention helps me step into the space of receiving even if the event is around topics I already know.  Because even though the topic might be familiar, every person will talk about it differently and there are always deeper layers to be explored.

And receive and explore I did!

Here are some of my nuggets:

• The game Satori – this game comes from Colin Tipping and his Radical Forgiveness programs.  It is a board game where you pick up a current belief and storyline and gather blocks and other information along the way to help you transform your belief and create a new story line for your life.  Make note that while this is a “game”, what shows up is absolutely real and provides a great structure to process something that is holding you back.  I already ordered my copy and am trying to decide who I can invite to my first Satori game night.
• Scott Kalechstein- a funny, amazingly gifted modern day troubadour and inspirational speaker.  He has many CD’s with songs that use humor and conscious wording to support growth.  He uses wit, words, and wisdom to share his powerful messages about life and the Law of Attraction.
• The awareness that Yoga/Ayurveda and Law of Attraction may speak a different language and use different techniques but underneath there is a whole lot in common as far as universal laws of truth and the power of living consciously go.
• A fun roommate who shares a first name and a passion for whole health.

The retreat was sponsored by Elementals Living and took place at the beautiful Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, WI.   And considering how affordable the retreat was, less than $200 for all three days of speakers and events plus room and board, I was surprised by the small gathering.  So I’m inviting all of you to put your radars up for events in your areas or even for next year’s Elementals event that you find the places and spaces to take your “Expansion Pause” and discover your own nuggets of treasure.  Give yourself the gift of inspiration, exploration, and time away.   I promise, the rewards will be great!

An Aha Moment in Clarifying Challenges and Oopportunities

I had a session with my coach today.  Yes, I too, use coaching to support myself and my expansion.  Currently I am doing mentor coaching as part of a coaching accreditation process.  Today, however, I needed a personal moment.

I have been feeling a little frazzled this week.  My heater went out.  My office is in transition.  I have several projects underway.  And I am exploring technology options for my business, a process that sometimes makes my head spin!  Part of the coaching process is to clear whatever might be up that needs to be released before starting the actual coaching…and boy was I clearing these current challenges.  Amidst the clearing, the opportunity arose to focus the session on what was happening for me rather than on the mentor coaching process…and I took it.

My focus to explore today became: how to balance staying in the positive and connected with my flowing energy of my truth and still acknowledge, hear, and clear what shows up in life…these challenges that somehow keep appearing.  Along today’s journey, I realized several important beliefs.  The first is that I do expect life to have ripples, bumps in the road, challenges.  I don’t expect life to flow smooth in a continuous line.  My first choice was whether that belief is true for the nature of life and true for me.  And my answer for today is that I do expect life to have some interesting twists and turns.  However, I made the decision to hold them as “interesting twists and turns” instead of “bumps, ripples, and challenges.”  A subtle word difference but big in how the energy of it feels to me. 

The second belief that came up was that expanding, growing and learning need to have a stretching and challenging component to them.  I had accepted that not only was life full of learning opportunities but they existed within  the challenges (old wording).  That to make a diamond, there needs to be pressure.  That life’s biggest lessons come through our darkest times.  Although I do know that I have the strength, caliber and grace to deal with the challenges and have been holding the positive and powerful space to go through these challenges, I was given the pause today to see if I really wanted to continue to hold the belief  that it has to be a challenge.   Do I want to hold that I need constant challenges, bumps, and ripples in order to learn and expand?  NO! 

I realized that the above statements about growth and challenges are part of a cultural expectation and authority expectation that was taught to me and I had unconsciously agreed to…but I don’t have to hold that belief.  Even as recently as this past year, I was hearing from a marketing mentor that the idea of being in a flow state involves a space of discomfort, of stretching.  That being an entrepreneur means being constantly in the state of discomfort because we are reaching up and above in order to grow.  This is very different than how I feel about flow.  For me, flow is being in intimate connection with my infinite self and alignment and it is so easy, I’m so on, life is flowing.  I am not stretching or feeling discomfort.

These pauses and realizations provided the perfect space to reframe these beliefs that aren’t serving me.  I’m a big believer of creating belief statements which express the energy that I value and is in alignment with my truth.  I use these statements to reframe an old idea and look at it and read it daily to create a new pathway of thinking until it becomes an autonomic belief.  For today, the new statement I came up with is “I am open to expanding my life and living my fullest truth while accepting the opportunities and exploring the interesting twist and turns as they arise with comfort and ease.”

I’ll let you know how it feels over the next days and weeks.  However, I can tell you now, that simply having the Aha and creating the new statement made me feel light, lifted a load off my chest, and put a smile on my face.  And for today, which is all I have right now, it’s perfect!

What do you need to clarify in a moment of pause?