What if we released the past once and for all, stopped living inside of our old stories, and created new, better ones, all in this very moment? What if it’s possible, like flipping a switch, to change the way we think, believe and act in our lives, and follow our desires for abundance, success and love? I’m declaring 100% responsibility for this transformation for myself today, and you can do the same.
I just finished reading The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. I underlined, highlighted and dog eared until I realized that I was doing that to every page. It’s been a while since I have read a book in a day and a half. I will start my second read today…it was that good.
I could make this article about summarizing the book but I think I will give you my huge “Aha” instead. It’s about awareness. Oh my God, I know, so boring right? I can hear you saying, “Laura, you write about awareness in every single one of your articles, don’t you think we get it by now?” Well, even with a disciplined practice of awareness, I still get significant aha’s that are shaping the course of my life. Awareness is a lifelong, moment by moment tool. It comes and goes like the breeze, and we only benefit if we are paying attention.
So today I am paying particular attention to how I tend to mess things up in my life, just when they are getting and feeling really good. Gay calls this an Upper Limit Problem, and you should buy his book so that you can explore your own.
The last couple years I have had major breakthroughs in three areas; reclaiming my self-worth, finding and using my voice, and in the area of creative expression. Teaching, writing, and to a lesser degree paining, have been the mediums that I’ve used and found a great deal of bliss in. I found what I love to do, and started a mission of doing it, hoping that answering Gay’s questions; what do I most love to do, and what work do I do that doesn’t seem like work, would lead me to the abundance, success and love I desire.
This all sounds wonderful, but what I’m learning is that to walk this path I have to be a serious warrior. You don’t just release your past with gratitude and forgiveness without moving through some really heavy shit. But I have tools now, special shit shoveling tools, that are proving their worth and effectiveness every day.
Gratitude is one of my tools. It’s a common theme in most self-help books. I know you know this drill. Be grateful and it will be this focus in your life that brings you more to be grateful about. The thing is, have you really paid attention to how many times in a day your thoughts drift to things like worry, fear, doubt, and judgment? Do you get that you still need to work on this?
The practice of awareness includes the process of catching ourselves in our thought processes and changing them, in the moment, to something more helpful, healthy and effective. We need to tip the teeter totter to the side of grateful, but first we need to realize how far over it’s tipped to the other side. I’m finally getting the fierce discipline it takes to really make gratitude my default pattern of thinking.
Another tool I have is body awareness. I add the word body to awareness because it is the practice of paying attention to the sensations, signs and signals that my body give me that helps me know if what I’m doing or what is happening needs focus, or action. Watching our thoughts is one important form of awareness, but feeling and listening to our body is another very important form. It’s how you will cultivate your intuition and make decisions about all the things that matter to you.
Gay helped me understand many of the old patterns and habits to use my tools of awareness for. I knew how to be aware. He told me what exactly to be aware of. Now I can use this powerful combination to break free from old roles and patterns I have played out for decades, and start to create new ways of being in my life and relationships. I’m excited to put his teachings into practice. The game was changing before I read his book, so now I know I have the missing puzzle piece to flip the switch.
The last important tool I have is a combo of positivity and purpose-driven motivation. I think this last one, this “half full” attitude I’ve had most of my life, has been the magic fairy dust that creates what I want. When you sprinkle positivity and on-purpose action onto your desires, dreams and goals, it’s like the yeast in your bread recipe; you need it to make that puppy rise to it’s potential.
The decision to release my past and actually finally make attempts at living in a new way, free from being identified with and sucked into my stories, happened in a moment. Maybe something Gay said, maybe after years of stewing, maybe because it was a Friday at 5:00 p.m., I don’t know. What I do know is that it can happen that fast, and you can embrace the change fully, that fast.
With a great amount of passion, I truly desire to not live one more day being about my past pain and trauma. I feel a ginormous amount of inspiration to be about helping people wake up into possibility for transformation in their own lives. I’m immensely grateful for my past and the way it has taught me all the important tools I needed to create, write and teach about healing; to do work that I love and that doesn’t feel like work.
Today I’m taking responsibility for my future and invite you to do the same thing for yours. I’m a kick-ass, active co-creator with the Universe in my life. Now that I know the power I have, it’s my intention and pure bliss to share what I know with you. And I am asking you to be a partner in my journey, to hold me accountable to what you hear me saying. When we collaborate in the process of blasting each other’s “Upper Limits” and creating the abundance, success and love we desire, we can be unstoppable.
I love one of Gay’s teachings about how to make this happen in your relationships. He says, “Cultivate at least three friends with whom you can form a No-Upper-Limits conspiracy. The word conspiracy comes from two Latin roots that together mean ‘to breathe together.’ That’s the kind of conspiracy I want you to create. I want you to feel the power of two or more people in harmony, working toward a benign goal that’s good for all. You and your conspiracy will gently remind each other that you create the quality of your life experience out of your beliefs. You’ll remind each other to examine those beliefs to make sure they’re giving you room for ultimate success in love and life.”
Finally, from this amazing book…we will help each other open up to feeling more love, abundance and success than we’ve ever before enjoyed.
My goal is to create a kick-ass conspiracy of warrior souls. Will you join me?
Please comment here about ways in which you have been able to release the past and practice awareness in your life. Or how you’ve struggled with the same. I look forward to this conversation.
Laura Probert, MPT is the owner of Bodyworks Physical Therapy and Soul Camp. She has a mission to inspire hope and possibility for healing. Find more about her writing, healing and kicking passions here: www.bodyworksptonline.com
