During my personal spiritual retreat last week, I took a day to drive the three hours to Glenwood Springs to meet with my new coach, Jeff Patterson. We spent most of our time sitting on rocks at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers. Later that day, I spent several hours upstream on the Roaring Fork, taking in her gifts.
I did not consciously know it before sitting there on that beautiful summer day, but I had been starving for the river.
As a child and teenager, I spent a couple weeks of most of my summers playing on the banks of the Crystal, Roaring Fork and Frying Pan Rivers while my dad fished. I loved wading in the freezing cold water, building forts out of sticks and smashing rocks to smithereens.
The Crystal River near Redstone, Colorado
These Colorado rivers flow swift and powerful with clear water. My dad taught me to respect their pull and never under estimate how quickly I could be taken down river without my consent. When I first visited the east coast as a young adult, I was appalled by how lazy the rivers there seemed to me.
And, then I fell in love with the New Mexico desert and only occasionally noticed the Rio Grande River, even though I have spent hundreds of hours within a mile or two of her. I’ve devoted all my retreat time to the desert and have only ventured to the mountains to ski – again without paying attention to the rivers.
What nourishment had I craved from the river without even knowing?
As a very grounded Taurus, I love being on the land. Often slow to change, I can sometimes resist flow, preferring to plan. The steady roar of the Roaring Fork called me to embrace flow and change with a bit more trust. I could feel my body relax into the flow of the river, feeling the constancy of change – even feeling excited by it!
For the past few months, I have been in the middle of a tremendous personal and professional growth spurt. The mighty flow of the river offered me courage to more fully allow myself to grow and flourish, even as I often feel like a baby beginner . . .
Last week, I called six of my coaching colleagues to ask them if they have a coaching colleague who is actively looking for more clients and who might be interested in taking my new, nine-month Client Enrollment Immersion Program. I didn't reach any of them directly, so I left lovely, informative, succinct voice mail messages. Or so I thought! After a few days none of them had called me back.
What, they have their own busy lives? I'm not their first priority? Not even in the top ten? Alas . . .
I could've taken it personally. I started to go there. But it turns out I didn't have time! While impatiently waiting for my colleagues to call back, I got three referrals - one from a current client, one from my coach and one from my hard-working website. I no longer had time to take anything personally, as I used my time wisely to talk with these three new precious referrals!
Moral of the story? I need to show up and do my part: call the people I'm inspired to call to fill my program. Then, I need to get out of the way and allow the Universe to deliver the right people. Without the slightest concern as to whether or not they came via the route I thought they should!
Feel free to share your thoughts and insights in the comments . . .
Since I have tended to like things to stay the same, today I’ve decided to consciously change my relationship with change! In the past (quite recent past, actually), I’ve had a tendency to love having the same friends, car, vacation spot, phone, clients, coffee drink, and hairstyle for many, many years. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, I tend to get cranky or super cranky!
Lately, I’ve noticed things seem to be changing waaaaaay faster than they used to. Businesses come and go, the nature of my friendships change frequently, I need to learn new technology every day, my deli changes the dressing they put on my Italian sub, clients want different kinds of support, my toothpaste company quits making my flavor. I’ve grown a bit weary of cranky and super cranky, so I’ve made up a new inquiry for spiritual awakening.
Instead of doing what I’ve always done, I’m checking in with my intuition more. What would feel great in this moment? Would I most love an Italian sub or does something else on the menu sound even better for me in this moment? How does this new phone serve me better than the old one now? What color feels energizing for me to wear today? Which new client program would I like to offer now?
I’ve noticed that my own spiritual awakening involves opening myself to whole new ways of perceiving situations, seeing with fresh eyes, allowing myself not to just adapt, but rather to thrive. Who knew I could love Twitter?
And, if all else fails, loving what is, as Byron Katie would say. “What, it’s raining again? It’s not suppose to rain this much in Colorado!” Ah, loving what is . . .
I’m thinking that change is pretty much guaranteed! So, I’ve made the very wise decision that I’d rather embrace it and flow with it, rather than fight it.
Recently, I heard my spiritual mentor,
Michael Beckwith, say, “Supply is infinite and invisible. Money and things are not supply. They are evidence of supply. Just like an apple is evidence of supply from the apple tree. Picking an apple does not represent loss of supply, just as circulating money doesn’t represent loss of supply.”
I know that what he says is Truth. And yet, I sometimes find myself behaving contrary to what I know. Even though I absolutely know there is an infinite supply of apples or pears or cucumbers or whatever I need in this moment, I may hoard or ration or worry about eating the apple.
As I drove to the grocery store today – to get more apples, of course – I noticed the most exquisite, red and pink hollyhock flowers growing in a neighbor’s yard. As I enjoyed their abundance and beauty, I had to laugh to myself as I realized that those hollyhocks do not spend a minute hoarding, rationing or worrying. They simply grow into the very best version of themselves that they can with the resources they have in each moment. Ah, that our human lives could be so simple and grace-filled . . .
That is my desire for us today: that we allow ourselves to be “as the lilies of the field, toiling not . . . ,” that we allow ourselves to be as the hollyhocks of my neighbors yard and to receive the grace and bounty of infinite and invisible supply without hoarding, rationing or worrying . . .
Thy will, not my will.
I am willing to be willing . . .
Breathing out my limited notions.
Breathing in Your expansive reach.
Breathing out my attachments.
Breathing in Your absolute abundance.
Breathing out my resistance.
Breathing in the fullness of Your allowing.
Breathing out feeling stuck.
Breathing in Your ever-present flow.
Breathing out feeling separate.
Breathing in the Oneness of all energy.
Breathing out feeling alone.
Breathing in reaching out . . .
Today, I am willing to do Thy will . . .
In my Notes from the Universe, this morning, I read, "Very simply, Ann, the more that you accept responsibility for, the more power you have."
I had to read it twice. So, I have more power when I accept more responsibility? Yes, that feels true in my body and I had never thought of it like that before!
When I would like more clients, I don't passively wait for the Universe to deliver. Instead, I take responsibility. I set a clear intention and declare it to the Universe. Then, I clear my head of disempowering thoughts around attracting new clients. Then, I listen for inspired actions to reach out for those incoming clients. Then, I take those actions.
With full responsibility, I keep clearing my head of thoughts that don't serve my intention and I keep listening for and taking inspired actions until I have attracted as many new clients as I had desired. This whole process might take 20 minutes or a few months.
I realize as I'm pondering the connection between responsibility and power, sometimes I have heard me or one of my clients say, "It's out of my control. I can't make someone become a client."
Of course. True power is not arm-twisting or attempting to impose your will upon another.
Instead, it's about matching energy. One of the most empowering things I help clients with involves:
- Setting an intention for what they desire (in this case, attracting more clients).
- Clearing and continuing to clear disempowering thoughts that don't support that intention.
- Listening for inspired actions.
- Taking inspired actions.
- Repeating as necessary until the intention has come to fruition.
The easiest way for me to attract those new clients who would like help with this process: be actively engaged in the energy of this process, feel good about it, have fun with it, be in my power with it.
Probably the most clear way to see how this works: look at the opposite. If I think clients should just find me and I resent that they don't, if I expect someone else to send them to me, if I don't set an intention, allow my disempowering thoughts to flourish and don't listen for inspired action . . . what happens? Nothing good, right?
Business coaches, career coaches, life coaches: would you like to attract new clients right now? I would love to support you in that!
Check inside yourself to see if this inspired action fits for you: I'm offering a risk-free, no-cost, high-value coaching consultation for you to experience this! Sign up for yours today . . .
The more Joyce let go of trying to make her ex-husband do what she wanted him to do, the more peaceful she felt. And, as a surprising bonus, they could more easily agree on arrangements for their children that worked for both of them. Joyce saw clearly that she actually received more of what she wanted by letting go rather than threatening, manipulating and demanding.
I, too, have learned over and over again that trying to make my sisters, my neighbors or my business colleagues do things my way just doesn’t work. And, in the moment, it infuriates me that I do not get to be in charge! Often, when I have surrendered from exhaustion, I have felt amazed at how well things work out without my orchestrating every little detail to my exact specifications.
I feel an actual release in my body. Trying to control others or circumstances use a lot of my precious energy that I could instead be using to enjoy or create.
Letting go opens up delicious space in our lives. As we trust Universal Power to bring together people and circumstances, we become more available to the wonder of the present. Ah, one of the joys of self improvement . . .
I encourage you to try it in this very moment. What could you release into the Life Flow right now?
"Imagine that you could plug yourself into a socket that would tap into the electric current of the universe. Because source energy is indivisible and boundless, this would give you access to an unlimited supply of energy that only you could limit or stop its flow. Well, in fact, you are plugged in, and you are responsible for the level of flow you experience."
– Ernest Chu
From the book, Soul Currency
Oh what rich balm for my spirit as I realize I have been limiting my own flow recently! While meeting with my coach, Peleg, I heard myself telling him about the "burden" of all I have to do in my business right now. And, I was talking about things I love to do - like writing this blog, speaking, teaching.
Somehow playing on Twitter had become comparing myself to everyone on Twitter. I wasn't "doing enough," I wasn't offering anything new, I was just adding to the noise.
Don't go down that road. It doesn't go anywhere any of us want to go!
By synching up with this comparison monster, what I really did: cut myself off from my flow, from source, from my spiritual clarity, from the deep knowing of the intrinsic value of my unique contribution.
With this realization, I am BACK! Back to me, back to my flow, back to my source, back in my own power, without concern for how I "measure up."
Thank God! Thank you, Peleg. Thank you, Ernest. Thank you, Ann.
