Saying “YES!”
For the last 10 years, I’ve been consistently surprised by what life offers me and what my mind makes of these offers. When I speak of ‘offers’ I’m referring to invitations and inspirations that reach me through other people or fresh ideas that come into my mind. You know the ones that kind of shake your reality? The ones that you immediately say NO to, in your mind but then they don’t leave you alone. Those are the taps on the shoulder from the source of all life saying, want to play a bigger game?
Recently, I’ve received a few of these big-ass taps on the shoulder and watched how my mind quickly determined what was possible for me. And just as quickly, I believed what popped into my mind as a GO/can’t GO. As if the TRUTH police or Judge Judy made a determination. More times than not, my mind says NO, nope, nada, it can’t work, not possible, etc.
I can trace this conditioned NO response to an upbringing that embedded in me the answer to every invitation to do something ‘unnecessary’ came back with a NO. I laugh out loud when I think of my dear father’s response to me asking if I could spend the night with my best friend. His response was, “no, you have a bed”. Seeing the cause of this historical NO habit doesn’t help. It still looks and feels true.
It’s at this point of the self-talk conversation where I would live with the answer NO and move on. Now, after the initial NO response, a whispering curiosity comes on the scene, “Could I do that?”
Recently, I received an invitation to attend an event 2400 miles from home. Immediately my mind said NO! My internal monologue continued with a litany of, What? Go all that way for one night? Ridiculous! Get a plane ticket, rent a car, secure a hotel room and what to wear? The idea really did look absurd to some part of me but another part was answering, why not?
This time I said YES! With YES, the ball began to roll and the adventure began to unfold. By saying YES, a rich sense filled me! I was delighted and amused by staring absurdity in the face.
Within moments the entire adventure was planned. It was simple and easy. Who knew this was possible? Not me! I marked my calendar and boarded the plane.
The gifts for me in saying YES to the concept of ABSURD:
- While deplaning upon arrival, my phone alerted me to check-in for my flight to Houston the following day. LOL!
- Participating in an event that was filled with joy and celebration.
- Connecting with people that I don’t usually get the chance to have lengthy, rich conversations with.
- Experiencing fields of tulips and daffodils! A vision that compares to Holland and Belgium in magnificent beauty, I’m told.
- Standing solo in the tulip fields at sunrise. The vibrancy and vitality from Mother Nature was palpable.
- Seeing I really do love an idea that engages a, ‘what the hell’ response!
- By saying YES, so many concepts of limitation fall away.
- Having the opportunity to see that NO is a habit, not life informing me of what’s TRUE.
Looking back with immense gratitude for this learning opportunity, I see how much I would have missed by living in my habitual NO. I see that by following feelings of delight, inspiration follows.
I encourage you to face absurdity head-on and to partner with delight. Your experience of life will grow as naturally as the tulips!
On Offer? More Freedom
Happy 4th of July!
In the United States we celebrate the 4th of July as our declaration of independence from Great Britain beginning in 1776.
What does Independence Day mean to you?
For me, this date is an opportunity to look deeper into the Truth that I am free beyond measure. I’m free to do what I choose, to think what I choose, and to play with life as FREELY as I choose. For me I notice how my mind can suggest a limitation in such a convincing way that I look at it as if it were “sent down with the stone tablets.”
Oftentimes, when I wake up from this well camouflaged thought, I see that it’s only me making up how much freedom I will give myself. No Thing or No One is playing this game with me. It’s just me listening to the convincing thoughts from my very conditioned limited mind.
This Independence Day, I invite you to inquire into any limitations that appear to be true for you. There’s no need to answer or solve anything. Simply questioning the limitation sets the wheels of FREEDOM in motion for you. Freedom is your birthright. Test the limits you create for yourself.
Happy Freedom Day,
Cherie
PS. In my coaching work and workshops, living free of limitations and living with inspiration, in any circumstance of life, is where I work. If you’d like to explore the possibility of getting coaching support, please contact me and we’ll have a conversation.
Intuition/Inner Wisdom supports the evolvement of your human-ness.
First Responders: Noticing and Getting Curious
Recently I noticed that when I considered following a new idea or inspiration about my business, some very familiar thinking would show up almost instantly. I also began to notice the same dynamic kicked-in when considering the holidays or thinking about other things in my life. What I noticed was a flood of very real familiar thinking, very specific to the topic at hand, would show up in my mental conversation. This immediate-believable-absolute-feeling-seemingly-truthful flavored thinking showed up almost on que to tell me the truth about how life works.
As I noticed this dynamic happening more and more, these thought patterns occurred to me as my First Responders. Just like emergency first responders that show up on the scene to support us in times of need, these familiar thinking thought patterns show up on the scene to offer me a helpful dose of my reality. Something smelled fishy; my mental 1st Responders had a bias toward limitation. I found this interesting too!
In the game of life, if you look around, the nature of life is synonymous with potential and possibility. How could something live in my head, be so familiar, feel so definitive, and not be true about life? In understanding more about our human operating system, we live in a world of thought and then see it as real, so this is where my curiosity kicked in again. If my First Responders are not telling me the absolute truth about life, what else is there to see to around the topic I’m looking at? So, it occurred to me to consider there are holes in their stories and to keep my eyes and ears open to seeing something fresh. Guess what? New fresh possibilities are coming to me and it can work the same for you.
Here are some bullet points to raise your awareness to your First Responders:
- 1st Responders are not informing you about how life works. It’s informing you of how you believe it works.
- 1st Responders are reflecting your habits of thinking.
- 1st Responders are not informing you of what’s possible for your in life.
- 1st Responders are a mirror to your current mood. High mood, things look possible. Low mood, things look bleak.
- 1st Responders look real and feel true. Remember, this is all happening in your mind, not in life at the moment. For example, a busted water pipe in the mind is very different than a busted water pipe in front of you. The one in front of you is really happening and calling for your immediate attention. The other only exists in the mind but it still feels real.
- You may always have the same 1st Responders show up on the scene for you, whether they’re historic or futuristic, remember they are still not occurring now.
This is all good news. Why? Because we all get a chance to see more of our humanity as just that, an aspect of being human. Not a problem that needs to be overcome, just something to be aware of. The more you see the role of thought in the moment, the more relaxed you effortlessly become. Get curious. There’s always more to be seen.