The Indigo Connection

How’s your soul glowing these days?  Have you taken time to deliberately charge up the intensity of your soul?  How does one charge the soul anyway?

I have always taught that in order for your spirit or soul to truly glow, you must first develop a closer relationship with yourself and what you hold dear.  Clients will argue that there’s just no time for such fluff in their busy lives.  Funny how they’ll fight to scoot important “me” time to the back burner, when it’s exactly what is needed to get the soul back on track.  Taking time for creative fun is vital to truly embrace life in the present.  Fortunately it is a lesson I learned early in my adult life and pass along whenever I can.

The wonderful book, The Artists Way by Julia Cameron provides many simple and effective ways to nurture your precious self.  The 12 week Artist Way program suggests that we all take ourselves on a special “artist date”  – an hour or more to pursue something creative, interesting, entertaining or indulgent, EVERY SINGLE WEEK.  Think about it – one hour out of  appoximately 112 waking hours in a week is really not that much time.  Are you willing to invest less than 1% of your waking life to something meaningful to your soul?  

Every year, for over 15 years now I have set aside 3 days to recharge my soul in January.   January is a bleak time for me because I am someone who loves plants, nature, gardening and the outdoors.  Fortunate for me that another frustrated garden-lover, Libby Bruch of Quailcrest Farm set up a garden symposium held at the lovely Inn at Honey Run in Millersburg, Ohio every year in late January.  When I first heard about it, I thought it sounded wonderful, but quickly dismissed the possibility.  Eventually after coaxing from my mother, I finally gave in.  This first 3 days away came when my kids were just 2 and 5 years old.  I felf very guilty about leaving them to attend something that was completely optional – not required or necessary for my work or family.  I felt even more guilty using my precious money and vacation time for this.

Yet once I took myself away – it was very clear to me that this was exactly where I needed to be.  I could finally relax and be myself without the pressures of home, work and motherhood.  I could connect with other gardeners and the special girlfriends who also attended the seminar.  I could learn about fascinating topics that I could take home and apply to my life during the remainder of the year.  After that first January getaway - the Garden Symposium was what I did every year, without question.  There was no longer the guilt.  It was my way of recharging my soul for the new year ahead.

How about you?  How would you choose to invest some special time, even a single hour, just for yourself?  Maybe you would listen to old records, bake bread, walk in the snow, create jewelry, draw, write poetry, or visit a museum?  What else could you imagine enjoying? 

Cast aside the guilt and see what happens to your life and your energy level when you take time to recharge your spirit.     I suspect people will notice a new intensity to your glow. 

Most people will admit to procrastination now and then, myself included.  Sometimes procrastination happens because there are too many wonderful things to do, and so many choices for how we will use our time and talents.  But more often than not, we find ourselves dragging our feet when the job at hand is unpleasant, complicated, enormous, difficult or not well defined.   In those cases that procrastination is a symptom of fear – and fear is one of the most unpleasant emotions we can ever feel.  Fear is lonely.  Fear has a hard time finding a solution and fails to engage the Law of Attraction.

I’ve just experienced a week of feeling an array of doubts and fears about some challenges that are part of my work.  One of those challenges was knowing I was scheduled for a formal filming of a 5 minute video podcast demonstrating myself in action as a speaker and coach.  This was a new task in new territory.  I obsessed about it for quite some time, especially about what my content would be — then the light came on.  I would create a demonstration using EFT to treat procrastination.  By treating myself for a common problem, I could also help lots of people who suffer from the same thing.

Practicing the treatment sequence really revved me up!  Soon I was able to make a list of smaller things I could do to prepare for filming: write a rough script, memorize my content, practice it with my timer and webcam to smooth out the bumps.   I probably practiced the presentation 30 times, each time getting easier.  I realized that the treatment was working for me.

The filming is done now.  I don’t have that video yet, but realized the content is good and took another bold step by recording a shorter version of the treatment sequence for my blog.   I now feel much more relaxed on camera.  It isn’t as hard as anticipated.  The danger is not real.    I am ready to record more content on my camera at home because I know it can help people and extend my services to others.  How’s that for a transformation?  I had said before that 2008 was going to be a BRAVE year for me and I feel it happening now. 

Let me know if the video gave you a boost into BRAVE ACTION too.  Leave a comment here, or send an e-mail to betsy@theindigoconnection.com

I don’t generally choose to pay much attention to political rhetoric – until this week, when I heard something refreshing – a candidate who took the chance to be a vulnerable leader.  A person who took the risk of speaking from the heart instead of from the head.

 You probably know who I’m referring to – she’s that democrat in the running.  I still consider myself undecided, but I certainly admire what she revealed that day – that she is human, vulnerable and passionate about the difficult choice she has made in her desire to be the top executive.  Some might say that this was just another act of political positioning and theatrics.  I firmly beg to differ.  As someone who reads the energy behind communication – the words, the tone, and most importantly the place where the energy comes from, I perceived that her words came directly from her heart, in the moment and without scripting.  Her voice softened and the tears welled up.  Her words went straight to my heart.

 I wonder if at that moment she suddenly found herself wondering if she had made an impulsive and deadly political mistake.  By taking that chance of speaking from the heart, without the script and letting a weak side show, she presented herself as vulnerable.  Would she be rejected for it?

Many months ago I chose to engage in some coaching with someone who specializes in developing leaders.  As we worked together, I expressed that I wanted to be a vulnerable leader.  I don’t think this was a word combination my coach had heard before and I had to explain.  To me, being a vulnerable leader is letting your guard down, opening your heart and being true to yourself in word, act and thought.   Being vulnerable in the best sense allows the human side to shine through and a solid connection to be made.  Being vulnerable is also risky.  What if people don’t like what they see and hear?  That can be so crushing to the true self.  Putting that true self out there and being crushed is so scary that most people never do it – only the incredibly strong ones.  The ones who truly love and accept themselves.  I choose to be one of those strong ones and it is my mission to cultivate that quality in the people who work with me.

 Who knows where the politics are going or how I’ll ultimately vote.  What I do know is that I will always be attracted to the vulnerable leader who uses that heart energy to send the pure message.  God bless the vulnerable leader.