The Indigo Connection

Hello from Sunny Florida.  I am enjoying the present moment quite a bit during this vacation.  Funny how I am noticing every little leaf and blossom in a new way.  One of my favorite parts of vacation is my early morning run along the beach.  Today I was listening to my ipod and heard a glorious song you probably don’t know.  It’s called All that I AM by Rob Thomas.  

I’ve put the lyrics at the end of this blog so you too can enjoy them.  Perhaps I’ll play this at an upcoming seminar very soon.  The I AM behind these words is how I like to think of God.  As you celebrate the Easter holiday, imagine yourself on a beach as you experience these beautiful lyrics … and breathe.

ROB THOMAS LYRICS

“All That I Am”

I am the one winged bird for flying
Sinking quickly to the ground
See your faith in me subsiding
See you prime for giving in
I give you all that I am

I am the sound of love’s arriving
Echoed softly on the sand
Lay your head upon my shoulder
Lay your hand within my hand
I give you all that I am And I breathe where you breathe
Let me stand where you stand
With all that I am

“Sometimes you’ve got to let everything go…..purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything…..whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out. “  

 Tina Turner

Did any of you happen to catch Tina Turner’s performance during the Grammy Awards this year?  If you did, you witnessed a splendid example of  this entertainer’s timeless presence.   Tina is one amazing ball of energy at 68 years of age.  I want to be like her when I grow up!

Tina obviously learned an important lesson over the years about how to hold onto her energy.  She stays strong by letting go and moving on.  She litterally MOVES ON – which I am quite sure lets her burn off stress and produce all sorts of happy neurotransmitters.  Her quote says it all.   She has found the gift of peace.

Letting go is all fine and good until somebody hits one of your own hot buttons and you realize that you have a reactive ego that holds on to negative events, experiences and memories.  As much as we try to become conscious, compassionate and aware it still happens from time to time. 

I’ve been trying to understand the patterns behind the people who push my buttons most.  Generally I react most when people are pushy, dishonest, greedy or insensitive. 

Eckhart Tolle in the book A New Earth writes,

“the particular egoic patterns that you react to most strongly in others and misperceive as their identity tend to be the same patterns that are also in YOU, but that you are unable or unwilling to detect in yourself.”

OUCH!  Is it possible that deep down inside I am pushy, dishonest, greedy and insensitive underneath all my better intensions to be compassionate and loving?  I find this hard to grasp and at the same time I hold onto it and let it bother me more.  It’s time for me to be more like Tina - accept my dark side, forgive myself for being human, then let it go. 

I suppose the best thing about letting go these days is the awareness that comes from deliberately knowing I can choose to be free and separate from my thoughts.   I can choose to let stuff drain my energy, or I can observe myself from a different perspective and create a space for myself to just BE while I figure out the next step.  I’m catching myself in the act of having an ego more often, observing it in the present, then letting it go anyway.

Tolle and Tina are angels teaching the same message (Tina just jiggles and dances more!) We can choose admire and learn from them both.  Catch yourself in the moment of reaction, surrender to the present moment and just let go. 

During the last 24 hours most of the United States has been hit with snow or freezing rain.  It’s been a rough week here in Ohio and my back reminds me of the “shoveling exercises” I have been adding to my fitness routine.  Fortunately I realized I can take credit for this in the President’s Fitness Challenge (see www.presidentschallenge.org).

 I had all sorts of things planned for this weekend – a client session, workout at the gym, a fashion show fundraiser luncheon, dinner out with another couple and breakfast with my girlfriends from High School.  Suddenly all of this is on hold.  The roads are bad and things are being cancelled right and left.  Our safety comes above everything.  It becomes the highest priority and everything starts to shift into a smaller and more limited range of options.  Staying put for the sake of safety gives us fresh new time to program in different possibilities.  Suddenly my weekend includes candles, baking bread, simmering soup, lighting a fire reading, and getting out the cross country skiis.  Suddenly I am living in the present with a whole new and different day ahead.  It is possible to be grateful to be snowed in!

Life is quite the same way too.  We often have made some really exciting plans or have dreams for the future that require us to change.  As we embark on these new and unknown things, sometimes we feel a tinge of hesitation.  Is this safe?  Is the environment appropriate for what I’m trying to do?  Is it better to stay put and wait till the storm (or whatever) passes? 

Getting into a holding pattern initially feels pretty good.  It keeps us from making commitments.  It shifts our attention to different things.  It also keeps us from failing and experiencing danger.  Staying put is certainly less work sometimes.  We can make the best of staying safe at home when needed. 

At some point though, a decision must be made to step out even when there is fear or danger.  Do you wait until everyone’s declared the world safe and the roads clear, or are you the first one out?

I like to think I’m one of those people who will be early to emerge from the storm.  I won’t do it foolishly, but I will use discernment rather than fear to drive my decision process.  I’m getting better at feeling safe even in the most challenging situations.  I am also grateful that I own a vehicle with 4 wheel drive. 

Enjoy the present situation, but keep your sights on the bigger outside world too.   Don’t let fear be the only thing driving your decisions.  Let things unfold in spite of the storm and meet the challenges head on.  Prepare for the possibilities rather than staying stuck in park. 

As for me… I think a cup of hot tea would be absolutely lovely right now.