A setback or an invitation to learn and grow?

The dust is settling from the kitchen reno: the new cupboards are ordered and I was able to clear a square foot of countertop where I can prepare basic meals. The menu is closer to the ready-made diet I favoured as a University student rather than the healthy gourmet I’ve become. Oh well - sometimes we need to take a step back to be ready to leap forward.

Life’s path is circular rather than linear. It winds up and down valleys, retraces its steps to gain better perspective and often moves in a spiral up and around a mountain instead of taking the most direct route. What feels like a setback is often part of this curvy journey. Stepping back allows for us to take stock of our strengths and of what still needs work. It helps us realize how far we’ve come. It helps us use tools and knowledge in a new way, for a new purpose.

In our fast-food, make-it-quick, I-want-it-now society, we often feel that a setback is a failure. We loose patience with the learning process. We want to know it, apply it, be proficient with it right away. This need to understand it all, and to “get it right” is a big source of stress, anger and frustration. We forget that some things take a lifetime (or more!) to truly understand. We also forget that there are many layers to understanding and that knowing with our heads or with logic is only a small piece of the puzzle.

I have been talking with a lot of people recently who are experiencing setbacks. It takes longer than they thought to reach their goals, and then they find out that they didn’t really like their chosen objective anyway - so what now? Others have a complete life or career do-over to deal with, and not always through conscious choice or decision. Many women feel sad, anxious and depressed because they are realizing that the life they have built for themselves is just not fulfilling - “was the last 15 years a lie? How do I deal with this?”, they ask.

If this sounds like you, I want you to take a look at my Programs. I teach from my own experience what works to get away from the drama of a setback. I help you gain a new perspective, so you can keep focusing on the moment and on the future your heart really wants to manifest. I help you get away from the superficial git-er-done-now and into the flow of your soul purpose. The process takes time - no fast-food about it! - but it’s well worth it. I know, because my clients tell me so, and not just out of politeness, teehee. I see the changes in their eyes and in their energy even before they become aware of it. I am so privileged to be a witness to such transformation, and I am happy, from the bottom of my heart, to be able to serve in this way.

Just as I know that the kitchen will be gorgeous when it’s done, with its splash of red and double the original space to cook and bake delicious meals and treats, I also have faith that this spiritual reno we are going through will have results beyond our expectations. I can see beyond the mess. It’s important, when we feel a setback, to get the tools we need to refocus, to learn the lessons, and get our sense of direction. When we’re done reacting and fretting and cursing… it’s easier to stay centred and plan the way forward toward what we really want.

Do you need help seeing beyond the mess? Talk to me.

Sending you blessings of Love!

I've been beating myself up again...

Dear Diary,

I've been beating myself up again.  I've been working too hard, taking very little breaks.  I love working and creating so much, and I get so deep in my creations that I forget to sit back and admire the work.  I forget to enjoy the creation.  In fact, when I get away from work and creation, it's like a postpartum: there's an empty space, a void, a what now that is so uncomfortable it's almost unbearable.

And then, because I'm so tired, all those beasties come up to play tricks in my mind.  I'm not good enough.  I'm not doing it right.  I'm not getting the results I was going for therefore there is something fundamentally wrong with me.  I'm a sorry example for a human being.  What the heck am I thinking of being a Lightworker and trying to show others how to light their lives.  I should just crawl back in a hole, curl up in a ball and stay there.  Why did I have to incarnate again, just to feel this misery and the heaviness of the human condition?  I don't think I'm up for the challenge.

Oh, the dark recesses of my mind.  They keep me up at night.  They shut me down during the day.  It's like no one can understand just how dark and gloomy it can be.  Just like the sun can't shine through thick stormy clouds, not much joy can come through when the mood is so gloomy.  And because it's dark, it feels heavy and lonely.

But just like I know that the sun is always shining behind those thick dark clouds, I know that Love and Joy are still there behind the veil of the negative mind tricksters.  I can recognize them when they show up.  And now I'm going to do something about them.

First, I have exposed them by writing about them.  Aha - now they're out in the open, and they don't like that.  Like mold, they prefer the dark damp corners of fear and doubt.  They don't like fresh air.  Take that, beasties!

Then, it's time for a long hot shower using a sea salt scrub.  I love this ritual.  Scrubbing the body clears the mind and emotions, and the sea salt absorbs and removes the charged ions in my energy.  I feel refreshed and rejuvenated, in body-mind-spirit!  I will also enjoy using a mix of citrus, sage and sweet grass after the shower.  When I bless my body, I bless my soul.  It's a reminder that my body is the holy house of my spirit.  I need that reminder for otherwise it would be difficult to care for my body.  Speaking of caring for my body, I will also do yoga and get proper nutrition today.  I haven't been very good at caring for my body lately.  Body: please forgive me.  I love you, and thank you.

Then, for every beastie that shows up, I'll assign two angels to escort them out of my mind and into the open, fresh Light.  I'm asking for help from the angels to replace each negative thought by two loving thoughts.  What works well?  What have I learned?  What I have done to bring a smile to someone?

Finally, I will take the gratitude challenge and state out loud all the things, personal attributes, relationships, and opportunities for which I am grateful.  I am taking responsibility for my joy and happiness.  I'm done blaming myself, others, the environment and even God for the mess I'm in.  I'm clearing all that up.

Dear God: thank you for helping me see clearly through this new challenge.  Thank you for giving me the strength and courage to pick myself up again, to find meaning and purpose again.  May your work be done through me, in me and by me.  As I pick myself up again and learn to play more, relax more and listen to you more, may I be able to lift others up as well toward your Loving Light.  And so it is.

And now: play time.  Maybe I'll go to the spa today?  That would be a refreshing break after my long walk in Nature.  I hereby declare that work is done for the day!