Hello beautiful friends,
“Patience child, patience. Remember, life is a journey. If you got everything you wanted all at once there’d be no point to living. Enjoy the ride and in the end you’ll see these “setbacks” as giant leaps forward, only you couldn’t see the bigger picture in the moment. Remain calm, all is within reach; all you have to do is show up every day, stay true to your path and you’ll surely find the treasure that you seek.” – Jackson Kiddard
Apparently when I was young I was good at patience. As a little girl I had a playmate who lived just two or so doors away. My little friend had an illness, so sometimes when I went to visit her, she’d be having treatment and I had to wait. One day her mother said to me:- “You’re so patient”.
For some reason this just went “cadoioing!” in my mind. It may have been the first compliment anyone ever paid me because that moment is firmly ingrained in my memory with every detail of my friends back porch and garden.
But patience hasn’t remained so strong an attribute for me as an adult. I’ve become more of a see it, have it, do it, WANT IT ALL NOW, sort of girl, which is fine with some things in life, in fact, in today’s world, many things are right there at our fingertips…. but not everything. Not the big things.
Most great things in life don’t come easily and this is where the challenge arises of embracing both passion and a big dose of patience. Over the years I’ve learnt that the path to JOY like every great truth contains a paradox. We actually need to be both qualities AT THE SAME TIME. Tricky? Well this is how it’s done.
Whenever you’re in creation mode, building a new vision and dream, there’s three parts to your process. The first one is your passion, which fuels your vision, goals and action and the other two parts build your patience muscles. They are the inner journey and the outer intangible magic.
THE INNER JOURNEY
You remember my ‘passion’, my ‘JOYQ Way’ program? Well it’s been haunting me these last few months, dancing around my mind, tantalizing me with it’s charms and promises of deep fulfillment and JOY…… and I’m still a little way from delivering it. Besides work commitments and tying up loose ends, this is why:-
When we decide to set goals, to move in a new direction or to improve or change ourselves in any way, it means changes on many levels of our being.
As Michael Bernard Beckwith says,
“Goals are not about accomplishment. They’re about who you become in the process and what you let go of.”
What happens is, as we set our sights on our goal then everything that’s in the way of us being there, comes up to the surface. In some areas we may need to heal, to change or to let go and in others, to grow and learn new skills. This can equate to the old “getting worse before you get better scenario”, like when you improve your diet and the ‘detox’ headache hits home hard or you make improvements in your fitness and sore aching muscles abound!
The stark reality is that anytime we consciously invite change into our lives, some part of us always has to change, otherwise we’d already be where we wanted to be.
So in the last 3 months I’ve been undergoing my very own personal metamorphosis. As I set my sights and put plans into action, I began to feel unwell, my energy dropped and my vision was well, just blurry. Then my skin erupted with some patches of eczema I’ve never ever had before!
After a couple of weeks of living with this I eventually connected the dots, realising that every time I had a glass of wine or ate lots of fruit my symptoms intensified. So I knew what I had to do.
Cut to now. …..albeit reluctantly, I’ve managed to replace my delicious, sweet, fruit-based, green smoothie in the morning with a delicious green vegetable juice or savoury green smoothie and I’m only having an occasional glass of wine every couple of weeks. Finally, head’s clear, skin’s almost clear and I feel great again.
What happened? As I made my intentions clear and my thoughts changed consistently, so too did my body.
As holistic beings our thoughts are mirrored in our physical body. You can read more about that in my blog “The Gifts of Massage”. Here ’tis again briefly…
Essentially as we think, we feel. When we have a thought our body responds instantly with the release and movement of fluids, which results in a wave-like physical movement in our cells. That’s our e-motions. It’s how we feel, whether we’re aware of the sensation or not.
So as my new thoughts created new vibrational messages throughout my body, they produced changes in the existing patterns of energy vibration and habits that weren’t working for me were simply no longer tolerated in this new environment.
Fascinating isn’t it?
Nature is certainly an exciting force. Change can be difficult though even when the messages we receive are loud and clear. Sometimes too, it’s hard to connect the dots of what’s working and what’s not. It takes a good dose of vigilance combined with awareness.
When the reality dawned on me, I was none too happy about letting go of my banana and raspberry smoothies. “They’re so good for you”, my mind would say.
But good food doesn’t always mean that it’s the right food for you….. right now. It’s just so imperative that we respond to our body’s messages and cooperate with nature.
Nature knows best.
And when you do gather the willpower, take the plunge, make the necessary changes AND FEEL BETTER, you find that you don’t want to go back to your old ways anyway because in the process you’ve changed at a biochemical/cellular level and you simply don’t feel like eating and drinking the old way.
So if you ‘re stepping out, stepping up and blazing a new trail to a more beautiful version of yourself and life and suddenly unexplained physical symptoms arise, then rest assured, it’s just a part of the inner transformation. And if you’re in a cruising pattern, content with ‘what is’ AND you have physical symptoms of any nature, it’s always a good idea to look to your diet for a culprit. Here’s my check list of prime suspects:-
1. DRUGS!
The first thing to examine is your relationship with the social drug scene, the big three being TEA, COFFEE and ALCOHOL. The important aspect to be aware of here is that it’s not necessarily the amount of the substance that you’re ingesting – it’s the HABIT OF IT. Some times out of the blue, what we’ve been doing for years however, innocuous it may seem, just doesn’t work any more. Your body has developed an intolerance to it.
2. SUGAR
I once knew a Naturopath, many years ago, who said that the cause of all modern disease was sugar. Now I’m more enlightened I understand. Sugar consumption is associated with acidity, inflammation and malnutrition as too much sugar in your diet literally strips minerals from your body. So reducing your intake of sugar even from the best sources – fruit and whole grains, can help with your bodys’ natural healing. Go SAVOURY.
3. THE BIG 5 COMMON ALLERGENS
Wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts and soy are the main food allergens seen today. As in the first point, it may not be the amount you’re eating but the regularity of it that matters. So it’s a great idea to eliminate these foods for several weeks and see if your symptoms improve. If so, re-introduce them one at a time to determine if sensitivity still exists.
THE OUTER INTANGIBLE MAGIC
“Once you make a decision, the Universe conspires to make it happen.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Yes it’s fabulous, isn’t it? All we have to do is make the decision, then first “Nature” has her say followed promptly by the Universe. However, I may have exaggerated a bit with that word ‘promptly’. There is such a thing as “Divine Timing”.
Once we’ve decided on something and we’re really clear, it’s always going to happen, but not necessarily in the time frame that we have planned or exactly how we planned it. Being impatient and trying to tug at new shoots to make the crop grow faster is just plain madness. You’re just messing with the perfect unfolding of events that may be well beyond your immediate vision.
None of us knows for sure what’s going to happen next. There are so many things beyond our knowledge and perception but there’s one thing that is reassuringly certain:-
The Universe always has your back. So trust. PATIENCE is the answer.
What I’ve learnt is that if I relax and let go, especially letting go of what I think my journey, my life should look like and instead accept where I am now in this moment, then things come to me. By being open, I allow new possibilities into my life that I would never have dreamed of and the ‘way’ becomes clear.
So here’s your final recipe for keeping yourself ‘zen’ whilst creating something new. I can’t promise that you won’t be uncomfortable at times, but understanding the process can reduce those head-spins and hand-wrenching moments and plant the seed of patience.
1. Get really Clear, set your Goals and keep your eyes on the Vision.
2. Take the Actions that feel Right at this moment.
3. If you think nothing’s happening, ask yourself:-
“What IS Happening?”… look inside for change.
“What do I need to Let Go of right now?”
“What am I Learning right now?”
And…
3. Trust and Follow what arises in This Moment. Whatever arises is part of the path to get you to your goal, however windy or obtuse it may appear at times and what eventuates may not turn out to be what you had originally planned. Often it’s better. So…
4. Be Open to Change.
5. Then if you’re still frustrated that plans are taking longer than you’d like, remember it could just be DIVINE TIMING. Be PATIENT, the Universe is at play to bring you exactly what you need and may just have something very special up it’s sleeve.
Remain clear about your intention and do what you can do now.
Then wait …… with excited anticipation.
The big things we want in life don’t necessarily come easily, but they DO come, when we’re completely ready on the ‘inside’ and the Universe is too.
Meanwhile ‘The JOYQ Way’ is bubbling up to life……..
What are you creating in your life right now? How are you with your life’s journey right now? Love to hear your comments below.
Patiently JOYful,
