Archive for June, 2009.
The news media is providing heavy coverage of the surprising passing of Michael Jackson. Hard to miss it, huh?
I’d like to take a different look at him. As you read on, please suspend your thoughts and beliefs about how he lived, what he created with his music and dance, how he disfigured his appearance, whether he was guilty or innocent of any legal charges and the like. I’d like to ask you to look deeper into the person he was, beyond the human level until you get to his soul.
I believe we are all here on earth to advance our souls in some way. Whether that happens depends on the choices we make while we are here. I’ve found that this simple thought can bring empathy for any person or any action they take, even yourself. It can wipe away judgment in an instant. Hold onto that thought as you look at his life.
We don’t know what it was like to grow up with all the pressures he had. He was performing by the time he was 4 years old and doing it under the rule of his strict father. We don’t know what experiences he missed that could have made him a different person or how those experiences marked his soul. Still, it was from that place that he was shaped.
It’s hard to ignore his creativity. He was diligent in studying others, like James Brown, to learn how he wanted to dance. He became one with the music when he moved to it. It absorbed him in its energy. No thought at all. Simply pure expression through his physical body.
He also wore his social conscience on his sleeve in many of his lyrical messages. This tells me his passion was for making some positive change in this world. Did he succeed? I’ll leave that answer to you.
There are signals that he was a HSP (highly sensitive person). One I heard recently was that he had a very sensitive stomach. Ah! Those of us who are HSP can see it show up in many ways through our body and its systems. Having to handle his sensitivity with so much public intrusion into his life must have been difficult. Imagine it as if it was you. Would you like it? How would your body react?
He was also known to be very shy. How could a shy person be a performer? It’s easy – planning and rehearsing. How often do you rehearse in your head before doing something? I heard that the night before he passed, he had an inspired rehearsal for his upcoming concerts in the UK. It sound like a true final performance! If it couldn’t be bettered, then why stay on earth any longer?
These characteristics point to his being inner-directed, although I don’t know that for sure. If it is true, being in such a public life made it difficult for him to simply be himself. Yet with his creativity and passion for music, he couldn’t turn it off and do something else. Being in that public life definitely amplified the impact of the choices he made. And did those choices advance his soul? I’ll leave that decision to his Maker.
Such pure talent yearning to be expressed. Another tender heart departed to answer for the life lived on earth. Rest in peace, dear soul.
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
We all need time to get away from the routines, daily concerns and worries, be they personal or business. That need is especially strong for Inner Adventurers.
You see, Inner Adventurers hear their inner guidance when they are quiet and still. It is then they can tune out the din of daily life and listen to messages from their heart and soul. It’s like making a downshift into a lower, slower gear. And that can be really hard to do in your usual surroundings.
It works like that for me, too. When I step away from the office and from home, I receive guidance that drills right down to the heart of issues. It can seem like a lightning bolt of clarity followed by the feeling of “Why didn’t I see that before?”
So that’s why I took a short day trip yesterday. My closest friend and I travelled to the Grand Canyon. I’m fortunate to live only a few hours away, so I can spend about 5 hours there with the drive. Not bad. We hiked 5.5 miles of the Rim Trail to experience what the Grand Canyon offers.
For me, the Grand Canyon provides a deeply abiding inner stillness. I become totally disconnected from all concerns when I’m on its edge. Every cell within me relaxes and withdraws from the day-to-day world of technology, transportation and communication. For me, nothing exists except its immense expanse.
Which brings me to another benefit: its vastness makes all other things seem miniscule. It gives that perspective on life as if you were 50,000 feet in the air seeing everything in one glance. Even your greatest concern appears small next to it, as you become one with its silence.
To stand on its rim is a privilege. It’s no wonder they call it one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Where is a place that you have this or similar experiences? Where is it that you can completely let go of everything to reach an deeply instinctual level with something? Is it the ocean? Or the mountains? Or with animals? Or somewhere else?
Whatever it is, take some time to play with it soon. Sense its effects on you and how you shift from the experience. Somewhere in that shift is some inner guidance for you to recognize. Hearing it is easier when you take time to play. Ah, your Inner Adventurer lives!
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
Inner Adventurers not only trust in themselves, but they also trust in the forces shaping life that come from beyond this world of form and beyond what our minds can comprehend. I call it the Universe. Feel free to substitute whatever fits your beliefs.
This kind of trust takes some faith. Not in a religious sense, though. It simply takes faith in something more vast than you are. It takes belief that nothing is a mistake. It also takes a willingness to let go of believing that you are entirely in charge of the outcomes in your life. That means letting go of any arrogance and co-creating life as it happens.
I let go in a big way about 11 years ago. My husband and I were visiting Arizona for the first time to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary by going to the Grand Canyon. Seeing that was another first. Little did I know but I was about to experience even another first.
A friend had recommended that we visit Sedona on our car trip to the Grand Canyon. Well, it sounded beautiful from her description so we worked it into our itinerary. Our mouths dropped open as we approached the scenery, its massive scale and intense color. (If you’d like to see what I mean, just put “Sedona” into your favorite search engine and look at the pictures.)
At our first stop out of the car, I felt the strong heat of the desert. I took a 360-degree look and felt something shift inside me. On an impulse, I walked to my husband and said “We’re going to live her someday.” He looked back at me thinking I’d lost all my senses, as if the heat had gotten to me in that short period of time.
Well, I let go. Not in a way of giving up the truth that my body knew so keenly. I let go of how it was going to happen or when. There were many things to be worked out to make a cross-country move like that, and I certainly didn’t have any answers. What I never let go of was believing it would happen.
In just over 6 years from that day, we were moving to Sedona. Many obstacles melted away to allow it to happen, each in its own way and time. All the while, I kept believing. And now I live only a few blocks from where I first declared that we would live here. Both of us are happier than ever before.
You don’t have to know every next step, for whatever is best is delivered to you. Simply hold what you want with faith and trust, and without attachment. If it is to be, it will happen. The Universe will make it so.
Inner Adventurers embrace the mysteries of life and use them to their advantage. They surrender the struggle of day-to-day living and co-create with forces above and beyond their control. They simply are escorted to all that they need to advance their soul in this lifetime.
What trust!
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
How much faith, belief, hope and confidence do you have in yourself? It’s a signal to your progress along the path to being an Inner Adventurer.
I didn’t used to have much trust in myself. It seemed like every time I tried to step up to something bigger than was in my life right then, I failed miserably. Sometimes my body would let me down, such as not having enough energy to go as far as I needed. Other times, I’d stumble over my words or my brain would lock up and nothing would flow at all. It seemed like I was destined to mediocrity.
While I was receiving all the signals, my problem was that I was adding them up to mean the wrong thing. My answer was connected to my story and not to my innate abilities. Not realizing that then, I stayed connected to my distrust and cynicism about how life would turn out for me.
Learning to trust myself took time and practice. It started with my self-care. I became more concerned with the basics: rest, nutrition and proper supplements. It made a big difference. Things started to get easier. So I tried stretching again. While not a complete success, it was much more successful than I’d experienced in the past. It was my glimmer of hope.
I also learned that what I think becomes what happens. If I thought I’d fail, I did. If I thought I’d succeed, I did much better. This was a tough one for me, as I was brought up by parents with a strong negative outlook on life. You know, the “nothing is right; everything is wrong” perspective. Still, with practice, it faded into the background to be gone forever.
How much do you trust yourself? You can usually tell by one simple pattern. When you approach something new, how much do you prepare? Is it exhaustive, so you know everything there is to know? Or is it light preparation, leaving yourself open to what happens in the moment?
Over-preparation signals distrust in yourself. Why else would you rely so much on every detail and stuffing your head full?
Instead, I ask you to try light, easy preparation. At first, it might seem foolhardy or like self-sabotage. Ah, with in living in the moment, you learn so much more about life and about yourself. And familiarity with this new way of doing things breeds comfort in not knowing everything.
Inner Adventurers know that trusting yourself is not foolhardy or self-sabotage. In fact, they realize it is the best place to put your trust. Use your level of self-trust as a measure of how far you’ve come to being an Inner Adventurer.
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
Even Bob Dylan knows this:
Trust Yourself
Trust yourself,
Trust yourself to do the things that only you know best.
Trust yourself,
Trust yourself to do what’s right and not be second-guessed.
Don’t trust me to show you beauty
When beauty may only turn to rust.
If you need somebody you can trust, trust yourself.
Trust yourself,
Trust yourself to know the way that will prove true in the end.
Trust yourself,
Trust yourself to find the path where there is no if and when.
Don’t trust me to show you the truth
When the truth may only be ashes and dust.
If you want somebody you can trust, trust yourself.
Well, you’re on your own, you always were,
In a land of wolves and thieves.
Don’t put your hope in ungodly man
Or be a slave to what somebody else believes.
Trust yourself
And you won’t be disappointed when vain people let you down.
Trust yourself
And look not for answers where no answers can be found.
Don’t trust me to show you love
When my love may be only lust.
If you want somebody you can trust, trust yourself.
Copyright ©1985 Special Rider Music
Lyrics courtesy of BobDylan.com
One thing is for sure: Inner Adventurers stand ahead of many other types when it comes to self-care.
Are your curious as to why that is so? Well, the reasons are plenty.
First of all, the Inner Adventurer is keenly aware. That means not only to the events and happenings in their outer world, but also to the signals they get from their inner world. Sensing a clue from a need, whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual, is much more acute than for other folks. Once that signal makes itself known, it’s difficult to ignore.
Inner Adventurers are also very creative, yet practical, in the solutions they develop for these needs. A few minutes away from the crowd can calm overstimulation. Stepping outside into the bracing cold weather can awaken the sleepy mind. Inspiration can pulse through the body by walking in the warm sun. A few minutes with eyes closed can center and ground you. What creative solutions do you employ?
The ultimate intention of self-care for the Inner Adventurer is to harmonize life. In harmony, all aspects of life come together to sing a wonderful song. Some parts can be softer and other parts more bold. What’s most important is those parts fitting together in the music of your life. Isn’t that really the goal of self-care to begin with?
For instance, I have parts of my being that can exist in absolute discord. Those parts are my Type A personality and my sensitive body. My Type A is in continual pursuit of external results. It pushes me to be active (living in Do-Do Land, as I heard it called recently) and can ask me to stretch beyond what my sensitive body can take.
If I only listened to my Type A, I end up frazzled and burnt out. So the main focus of my self-care for quite some time has been on harmonizing these two opposing aspects of myself. I’ve learned to soothe my Type A in order to allow my body to get the rejuvenation it needs. When I do, I’m richly rewarded with increased creativity and a magnificent feeling of inner peace. Worthy benefits, wouldn’t you say?
Self-care is the greatest investment you can make in yourself. Yet, many of us have self-care challenges. I’ve found that those challenges can be swept away with personal understanding of what gets in the way along with the commitment to daily practice.
You can get started on the understanding and practice by joining my monthly call on Self-Care Solutions coming up next week. Just click on the title above for all the details (scroll down to the second call listed on that page). You’ll get to share time with other Inner Adventurers and find your personalized solutions in the robust handout that comes with the call.
Isn’t the time ripe to invest in yourself now?
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
I just experienced a remarkable process with a talented, aware coach.
Recently, I realized I was still being held back by some ancient patterns and thoughts from my conditioning as I grew up. What a realization! Don’t we all have them, though? What is important to appreciate about them is that you can choose to do something about them NOW instead of continuing to live with them.
I was fortunate to gain the acquaintance of Anne Walsh, a fellow coach from Galway, Ireland, just a few months ago. She introduced me to a process she uses to dissolve the tightly woven webs of our limiting beliefs.
Using my body as wisdom and our common connection to the collective consciousness, Anne worked her magical methods with me. Her own HSP nature enhances her methodology. She is intuitive, collaborative and gentle. Never pushing…only observing and relating to me as another sensitive person. Ah, what a joy to have that experience.
We surfaced the pattern I brought to our call and dug for its roots in the thoughts and beliefs I related to it. Each of those has a connection to my body. So we made time to locate and fully feel each one. Then we set a positive intention in place. She followed that by a state of being with a physical cue that would return me that state whenever I chose to go there. She even followed up with me a few days later to assure I was on the path I had elected to be on.
Since that experience, I’ve been more present to what is going on, more tuned into my body and at ease with life flowing as it comes, even when it is not so pleasant. I’m also less reactive to those stressful moments that could have caused an outburst in the way I handled them in the past. Just some early proof that this process works in amazing ways.
Has it been difficult for you to break old patterns or kick some thoughts out of your life for good? Then I strongly suggest you come to the call I’m presenting on this topic on June 16th. For all the details, click here. And it’s fr.ee!
One thing is for sure. The Inner Adventurer knows the value of questioning.
There are two purposes for questioning. One is limited and the other unlimited. Let me explain so you can see the difference.
A person can question an idea, another person or the like with the intent of finding out where they agree or disagree. We all like to know where things line up with our own thinking and beliefs and where they don’t. This is the limited kind of questioning. It easily turns into a form of judgment that ends up in separating bad from good, good from better and better from worse. It separates people, too, by using similarities and differences as the criteria that determines whether one connects with another. 
Then, there is the unlimited kind of questioning. It is curious and inquiring with the purpose of surfacing more information about something or someone. It looks at the origins of beliefs and the genesis of behaviors. It explores and discovers, uncovering what is reality while it embraces dichotomy and differences. This form of questioning yearns to be with the tension of disparate ideas juxtaposed against one another, for it is in that tension that truth is born.
This is the type of questioning I came to know as I moved through my personal growth. I wanted to know why I thought certain things. When I questioned them, I found that many of my beliefs and behaviors were adopted from those who influenced me as I was growing up. In that realization, I could choose whether I wanted them as my own. Some I accepted. Others I modified or rejected, only to ask myself what I truly believed about that issue or how I chose to behave.
With each subsequent question, more self-limiting patterns fell away. My life gradually became my own instead of the pale shadow of someone else. I was moving from numb and unaware to courageous and conscious. That’s the source of freedom.
True freedom comes from asking. Inner Adventurers know that freedom.
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
