It feels like a special morning and yet it's just another morning. I like to have experiences. I really like to have experiences. I'm always at my best in the morning.
Yesterday afternoon we arrived at our rental in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico and last night I fell asleep knowing I wanted to wake up to catch the entire sunrise. I booked the room facing east on purpose. I didn't want to look up on my phone what time that would be, I just wanted to be in the flow of nature's cycle. I woke up this morning with 1 minute to spare before the sun began to peek up over the top. I was so happy. I live for moments like these.
Today is the day my dad died suddenly 16 years ago.
Today is the day my husband proposed to me 8 years ago.
Today is the longest day of the year where the sun reaches its zenith.
Today is a day I've dreamed about made manifest - working while traveling with my family. Writing while listening to waves crashing, drinking coffee on a high balcony with the morning sun on my face.
Today is another day in a lifetime and another experience.
How do you wake up and prepare for your day?
Do you bring your past into your present reality, reliving old memories and conjuring up old emotions? Or do you bring your future into your present reality, loading up feelings of how you would feel if your prayers were already answered? How do you direct your focus?
Mornings are special. Every day I stay in bed until I have rehearsed in my mind the person I want to be. And at night I try to go over how I did and how I could do it differently tomorrow.
Last week my yoga teacher reminded the class of a powerful thing.
Give your breath direction.
Give your pain somewhere to go.
Direct the energy with your intention.
I was working with a coaching client last week and she kept repeating that she needed to let go but all I could feel was her holding on. I realized she didn't have a direction for her letting go. So I helped her with that by creating an offering - using the elements of nature are powerful ways to "let go."
Write a letter and then throw it into a fire.
Put your concerns into a rock or a stick and throw it into a creek, river or ocean.
Give it to the stars, the moon, the sun.
Say a prayer and put it into anything and offer it to the earth, to the sky, to God.
And then once you offer it up, what are you going to bring in to fill it's place? The feelings that faith, love, and trust invoke in your heart are great options for filling yourself up.
Three months after my dad died, I was invited to go on a 21 day Grand Canyon river trip. I got an infection in my leg on day 14. It was pretty severe but I was determined to finish the trip. I was in so much pain at night that I couldn't sleep and so I would orient myself to face downstream.
The moon was near full and intuitively I came up with the mantra "in with the moon, out through the wound." And with my mind, I would imagine the healing moonlight (creation energy/God/nature) coming in to fill my body with light, flooding the poison out of the wound, directing it downstream to be diffused and recycled in the river, and eventually the ocean. I gave it somewhere to go. I directed the energy and made it to the end of the trip without the infection going systemic.
This morning, I gave my sadness and fear around sudden loss to the sun and let the light of the sun come into my heart. We had an exchange. I made an offering and replaced it with the sun's maximum potential, remembering to keep playing life full out. I closed my eyes and filled myself up with that sunlight. And it was done.
At any time, we can "let it go" into nature's elements. We can "offer it up" to spirit. We can "give it up" to God. It only takes a moment with conscious awareness and intention. And then you're done and what you do afterwards makes all the difference - trust that it's done and walk as though you're complete, with your cup full and your heart open.
My dad, my mom, my brother and I love Bob Dylan. To quote his song To Ramona "Everything passes, everything changes, just do what you think you should do."
I think I should keep rehearsing, seeing, feeling, and imagining the life I want to live and then take steps in that direction, celebrating moments when dreams come to fruition, no matter how long it takes.
I think I should honor and feel events of the past but not stay stuck there.
I think I should keep offering up what no longer serves me - to the moon, to the sun, to the fire, to the water, to the earth, and then drink in the blessings of faith that I'm always supported and am here to live and experience love.
I think I should keep investing more in my future than in my past.
I think I should keep doing things that make me feel vulnerable like writing and driving through the middle of nowhere.
I think I should keep taking time each morning to get my head on straight so I am prepared to walk through my day as my ideal self.
As everything passes like the seasons of the sun and the tilt of the earth and everything changes like people who come in and out of your life, what do you think you should do?
The summer solstice is a great time to explore your potential.
_______________________________________________________________________________
It happened again! I'm featured this week on TUT.com's popular blog. An oldie but goodie from a couple months back - always a good reminder...
Comments