Harder than any Mountain. The real work of this summer.
Summer is the season for intense activity and growth.
This doesn't necessarily mean you want to run a marathon or climb the highest peak in Tennessee (as I will be doing next month) — unless that is what you are truly called to do from your heart.
The fire and creative energy of summer is available to support us in doing hard things that require energy for both destruction and growth.
Shedding the tethers of the past to recalibrate your inner compass into the present is just as intense — if not more so — than climbing a big mountain or running a long distance. Unhooking the anchors that drive repetitive, self-defeating patterns requires the intense energy of the paradox of willful choice and surrender to the unknown of what comes next.
I have experience with all three (climbing, running, and recalibrating over and over), and I can tell you that learning to get out of my own way was the most excruciatingly painful thing I've ever done — even more painful than any of the trauma and hardship I lived through.
The first time was the hardest because I had to release all of the blame to reveal where I was holding onto the patterns of the past, trying to fix the pain of the past in the present. This process of recalibrating my inner compass to my inner wisdom — the unbreakable force of love that resides in my heart — is a continual process. A way of living that is no longer painful, but instead filled with gratitude, opportunities to practice courage, and wonder at the majestic miracle of Aliveness.
Our world is awakening, and so are you. Whether you feel it in that context or not, we are all moving through a great change — the epilogue of Kaliyuga, a time when the veils of opacity have been lifted. We may be blinded by the light of revelation and awareness, but we still have a choice: hold onto Love or Hate, Humanity or Inhumanity, Oneness or Duality, Individualism or Collective Benevolence. Our planet is shedding and our species is recalibrating. We are all in the chaos together, floating on a sea of possibility.
What you hold onto — where you choose to put your attention and awareness — is the only thing you will be able to see when we reach the other side of this sea of change. Choose wisely. Choose as if you are choosing for the rest of your life and for all of our descendants.
This summer, with the powerful energy of work and growth available to us, make the hard choices. Choose something different. Give yourself the gift of a bigger perspective and a return to your heart.
In recovery, we have all these funny little tricks for rewiring your brain toward new choices:
Brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand.
Sit in a different chair at your kitchen table.
Drive a different route to a place you go regularly.
Sleep on the opposite side of the bed.
These are the easy choices — and if that's what is available to you right now, start there.
Harder is choosing to experience withdrawal from your own self-defeating habits:
Put. The. Phone. Down.
Give up complaining for 30 days.
Live one day as if it were your last — what legacy do you want to leave, and what will you use your precious 24 hours of energy for?
Create space for boredom.
The turning point in the long spiritual journey from head to heart is when we become aware of how we seek comfort in the very same things we are seeking comfort from. Choose to experience withdrawal from your own outlived coping mechanisms, and live as if you are already on the other side — in the land of freedom, joy, and power.
Your breath and your interoception are your two greatest allies on the journey inward and toward recalibration. Your awareness is your superpower. Energy flows where awareness is focused — turn it toward your breath, and let your breath lead you to your inner locus of control.
