Lessons in the Experience

I have a weekly practice that I have been doing for over a year now. Once a week, usually on a Sunday evening when life is a little slower, I sit with my journal. It is during this time that I reflect on the previous week. I take time to walk through the previous seven days and explore my journey. What were my peak experiences? What were the challenges?

There are tremendous gifts waiting for me in these past seven days. Having a bit of distance from them allows me a different view point. Any emotions attached have settled down. Any distractions have usually moved away. I become an observer of my life in a very objective way.

Now that I can back away I see the entire week with a fresh perspective. The information and insight I gain from this practice gets carried into my upcoming week. I learn where I need to be more patient with myself. I see what is no longer serving me. I adjust in my plans or expand in my hopes.

My inner wisdom is invited to the practice as it has much to offer. It is able to be a witness to my life experiences. It engages my intuition and my insight and explores the possibilities of the week ahead. I become the creative director of what can be. I use my experiences to color and shade my future decisions with the palette of what I have learned, felt, witnessed and made.

I take mistakes and create magic from them. I take disappointments and open them to new awareness. I take celebrations and pull from their energies. I am able to take my own unique and personal experiences and bring the vibrations of my beautiful and vibrant life into the newness of the week ahead.

Blessings, Lisa

Awareness

Some people spend their days learning more about others than themselves. It is true. For many, it is blindness, avoidance or hesitancy. It is challenging to dig deep and bring our awareness to who we are and why. It is challenging to find our patterns and to question if they serve our higher good or not.

To learn who we really are, beneath the roles and labels placed upon us, beneath other's expectations and even our own, we need to become aware. How do we do this? We pay attention. We listen to the messages of our body, from our soul, and within our heart. We also have to learn to watch ourselves in action, day by day, relationship by relationship and note the patterns to our reactions, the needs we fill, the responses we make and the things we shun.

So much of what we do in life is out of habit. We do it without giving it much thought. For the most part this serves us well. Who wants to give full concentration to putting on our socks or wiping down a counter. But what about the parts of our day that we are on autopilot and we would benefit from bringing more awareness to? Examples would be how we react to our child complaining, the time we spend eating a meal, the critical voices we listen to in our head or the way we receive a compliment.

Habitual behavior and patterns can keep us stuck in life. It is not until we become aware of how they are doing that and decide to change them that we see things begin to shift in our lives. When we make a conscious decision to change and do or approach something differently we alter the energies around us. People may react differently to us. Obstacles seem to move out of the way. We find solutions where we thought there were none.

Change can also be unnerving. The tried and true is comfortable. Doing something new feels risky. We can feel unsettled by the change. That is why being gentle and approaching this slowly, checking in with our self and listening to its needs is important.

With practice and patience we become the author of our story and step aside from the labels and roles that we do not want upon us. We live a life that is authentic to us. We call in our desires and act upon them. We let go of things we no longer identify with and have only been carrying around out of habit. Life becomes freer and feels much more in alignment with our heart and soul's callings.

Blessings, Lisa

The Questions

Yesterday's blog was about the beauty to be found when we dig deeper. When we stop skimming the surface of life and instead take our presence to a whole new level of being. When we do this we often find ourselves exploring and asking questions. These questions then bring abundant information, gifts and lessons to our soul. The open the door to our guides, our heart's longings, our inner truths and our life's essence.

When we explore who we are, why we are and what has brought us to where we are we gain valuable insight. We then can use this information to find our way, to let go of any patterns or behaviors that are keeping us from moving forward and it allows us to expand into our highest calling.

When we ask these questions we bring our willingness to explore our habits and patterns. We begin to understand our beliefs. We can challenge our motives and find our truth. When we ask these meaningful questions and take the time to pause and listen to the authentic answers that rise to the surface and we gain a clearer understanding of who we are. Then we are filled with the knowledge that can be used by us to shift, prune, release, embrace or just BE. We now have the tools to make our wisest decisions with. We now are able to check in with our soul, tap into its messages and combine these with our knowing of who we are and create new energies around this.

It is within these new energies that we are reborn. Everyday we have this beautiful opportunity. We are given the gift of being in the moment, fully present, reborn from any past and able to embrace what we are in; the here and now! When we access these deep resources of who we are we can step into our fullest self. These answers from our body, mind and soul bring our unique essence into vibrant energies that are essential to our authenticity. Possibilities become apparent. Balance can be found. Awareness is awakened. And we see the opportunity for fresh starts and larger thinking. Our potential becomes vibrantly alive.

Blessings, Lisa

Going Deeper

In this world of instant information, extensive possibilities and experts on nearly every given topic we have a treasure trove before us of sampling that we can partake in. Sometimes that is all we want or need. But then sometimes we seek more substance. We want a fully satisfying portion of experience, wisdom or inspiration to play and explore in.

Knowing when to go deeper to gain the fullness of what is offered to us is an important life lesson. Yes, sometimes less is more. But not always. Sometimes these offer quick fixes that do not manifest. Sometimes these offer relief that does not last. Sometimes these offer experiences that fall short. Depth is needed.

It is easy to hop and jump from one lily pad to another in this pool of possibilities. We skim the surface. We are gathering tidbits of information that really don't carry us very far. Our soul is left seeking more. Our energy becomes depleted. We realize this is not going to be the necessary path to follow for our personal growth. We are only visiting, not setting down roots in order to thrive and flourish.

For us to manifest change in our life and to expand we need to understand more fully the work we are undertaking. We need to deeply tap into our soul's energies. We need to reach further than the surface. This takes time. The quick fix is not an option. This means change. Doing things the same way over and over again only leads us to the same results. It also means allowing time for taking chances, which could mean different approaches, different successes and failures and time for pause. Contemplating what we are learning is equally important as the actions we are taking.

Jumping from one technique to the next, one lily pad to the next or even one pool of knowledge to the next does not give our body, mind and soul the needed time to integrate the fullness. We are only allowed a sample. We walk away feeling unprepared, unsure, anxious or confused. Every part of our being will benefit if we slow down and go deeper to what calls to us, what is inspiring us, and what is challenging us. That is where we will find our personal growth and evolution.

It is often not enough to splash around in the shallow end, although it can be fun. But when it comes to moving on our personal path, finding our authentic truth, exploring who we are and where we are going we need to take a deeper plunge. We need to find the motivation to stick with it. We need to commit to a longer time frame and value the complexity it may bring us. As with most things in life, quick fixes have short durations, small experiences don't satisfy and insufficiency of anything leads us to feeling weak, dissatisfied and incomplete. Going deeper provides us with the opportunity to be fully present, immersed and full.

Blessings, Lisa