Walking the beach with her dog, May collected pieces of glass, feeling as sharp-edged as the broken bottles that had washed up on the sand. Restlessness had crept into the core of her being. Dissatisfaction was hovering. Doubts, as familiar as her favorite pair of jeans, kept nudging. And it didn’t make any sense! All the layers of her life were feeling good. She liked the new direction she had set in motion.
With Zoe running ahead and sniffing with her tail wagging, May tried to figure out what had caused the change in her mood.
It’s natural for us to try to find the problem, to point our finger at some experience or someone. Then it feels like we can do something. Taking action soothes us.
It’s more challenging, but much more joyous to recognize these vague, crawly feelings mean we are in a shift. Because ‘we are feeling good on our current path’, our personal spirit calls on us to seek still more shine in our life. Another deep dream is breaking loose and the energy field around us is responding. It no longer flows like a gentle breeze. It’s swirls as it gathers the elements that will feed our desire.
In this very moment, we are giving birth to a new reality. We’re in change. No wonder we’re uncomfortable! Even though it’s what we’ve been wanting!
We can nurture our budding new reality by doing anything that inspires us. In that way we celebrate and activate manifesting energy. As we travel any road that is connected to our personal spirit, we can be sure we are moving toward the wonderful that is making us feel out of sync. The road we choose to explore will intersect with the shift we’re experiencing.
Let the mystery of your journey unfold. Pay attention to serendipity. Breathe deeply and let insights flow. Change is about to become an opportunity you’ve been wanting.
Check in every Saturday to follow May as she explores the practical, the magical,
and the energy insights for finding the shine in her life ~
Next time: The Power of Your Truth
Jeanne McElvaney
Author of “Ignite Changes Using Energy”
Events Coordinator of Unwind+Explore
It was the day of the collage class, and May woke up with her stomach in a turmoil. She suspected it was a touch of the flu or a reaction to the crab she’d eaten the night before, but wondered if it was nerves. She got out of bed suspended in a moment of subconscious choice… succumb to feeling too ill to attend the class… or rally, push through, and show up.
Our bodies are amazing in responding to our deepest needs. Without judgment, it gives us what we need to feel safe, empowered, and loved.
May had been determined to ignite her creativity with the class at 1:00, but her entrenched feelings were stronger. They were there to protect her from going to an experience that might possibly leave her feeling exposed and vulnerable. While she saw herself ready to jump into her possibilities, her body had stepped forward with the wisdom of a caring parent. Fully connected to her dreams, passion, potential, wishes, personal spirit, fears, doubts, shame, and beliefs, it had given her a good reason to avoid the class.
Sitting with a cup of soothing licorice tea, May chose to keep seeking the shine in her world. She was going to be at that class! First, she soothed her body with promises: ‘we’ll leave if we don’t feel better, we’ll get a mocha coffee on our way home, we’ll take a lovely, long bath before we go.’
It was an excellent beginning!
Next, she honored her body. Finishing her tea and stepping into the bath, she acknowledged it for offering her a way out. She recognized it wasn’t trying to stop her from growing but was, instead, an ally just in case she was too scared to move forward. May appreciated her body. Even thanked it!
Then, lying in warm water, she reassured her body. Gently moving her hands across the water, she talked about being truly ready for the adventure waiting for her at The MAKER Space. She mentioned the ladies who seemed so welcoming and encouraging. She confirmed the time was right and asked, “If not now, when?” She reconnected to herexcitement about spending time in her new “art studio”.
As May floated in relaxed time, her imagination began feeding her with delightful, delicious ideas for collage. She said to her body, “Look what we could do if keep stepping forward?” Enthusiasm buzzed like honeybees in a lush, springtime garden, and her distressed stomach eased up. Then it went away.
Talking to our body is powerful!
Check in every Saturday to follow May as she explores the practical, the magical,
and the energy insights for finding the shine in her life ~
Next time: Finding Rituals to Guide Us
Events Coordinator of Unwind+Explore
You get to be happy. You get to thrive. And when you allow this possibility, you begin connecting to what makes your life shine.
All of us have had events in our past that instinctively guided us to managing our lives. We stumbled in P.E. and the laughter of our classmates started a lifetime of holding our bodies closerather than leaping with exuberance. We were verbally abused in our home, and began taking care of ourselves by staying small.
What served us when we felt powerless becomes a fence around what we believe is possible. Being happy, thriving, and allowing the shine in our life becomes our own Cinderella story. Others can go to the ball, but how can we make that our experience?
Action! Any action.
For May, the breakthrough happened in her second guest bedroom. When she walked in with her vacuum and determination to create a place for her collage work, she could only imagine fitting her folding table into the corner. And truly, this was daring! After all, she was about to introduce a deep, still-tender dream into her everyday world where others could see it. That’s always a big step. It’s Cinderella showing up at the ball full of hope.
Placing the folding table in the corner was throwing down the gauntlet, declaring her quest to be in the happy of creativity. It was facing an unknown wound that insisted May creativity stay hidden to feel safe. On an every day kind of Wednesday morning, May faced her fear. As she dusted cobwebs out of the corner, she felt inspired to paint the room. Her wound urged her to quash the thought, but she chose to charge forward.
Leaving the room in a mess, May drove to the paint store and wallowed in the wonderful array of color-samples. Holding a gentle, pale sherbet, she saw the seldom used bed moved into the garage. With a lovely, yellow sample, she saw the dresser repainted to hold her supplies.
Any action is perfect. Small steps are powerful. And one thing leads to another because the shine we seek is urging us to go beyond the ways we have learned to manage our life.
Check in every Saturday to follow May as she explores the practical, the magical,
and the energy insights for finding the shine in her life ~
Next time: Listening to Your Body Wisdom
Jeanne McElvaney
Author of “Ignite Changes Using Energy”
Events Coordinator of Unwind+Explore
Cooking dinner, May was aware of a deep difference in her thoughts. Instead of feeling pulled away from the change she’d set in motion, she was experiencing a gentle meditation. She chopped vegetables while mentally cataloging all the things she’d stashed away that could be used in her collage class. As she sautéed chicken, she was thinking about how she rearrange the seldom-used guest room into a craft space. Slicing pineapple, Mayrealized YouTube might be a rich source of information about collage.
She wasn’t aware of it, but May was changing her story. For years, her inner chatter was about lack of money and tight time. It whispered fierce condemnation about being selfish when she thought about doing something for herself. Anyitch to take action was immediately overwhelmed with a litany ofwhat she didn’t know and couldn’t do.
Her story wasa tale about desire caught in a web. And we can’t struggle out of that web. We can’t use will-power and determination or insightto set our desire free. But we can change our story. And when we change our story, we change our life because the story we keep repeating to ourselves and sharing with others is our way of defining ourselves.
As May settled into her evening, she added another, powerful element to her new story. She let her imagination run wild. Rather than being her usual reasonable and practical self, she sipped her tea and built castles in the sky. She played with possibilities without trying to figure out how to make them happen.
In giving herself permission to imagine, she set her current thoughts, feelings, and beliefs free. This was changingher story. It was planting the seeds for a different kind of future.
Check in every Saturday to follow May’s journey to find more shine in her life.
Next time: Creating shifts with gratitude
