The "inside out" of change

Events in the last two years of my life have challenged and shifted thoughts about myself that I came to believe were true. OK, so that is a nice way of saying, "Holy shit...it's been a wild ride from shock to not yet awe!" Loss of what I thought was financial security through what I thought was a huge mistake adds up to a lesson my spiritual teacher imparts at each contact, with an Einstein quote backdrop: "We can't solve problems by using the same thinking we used when we created them." What is usually the problem, once we get "under" the circumstances? Erroneous thinking about who we really are. So, what does it take to machete through the jungle of shoulda coulda woulda's that crowd out the still calm voice of truth?

That is the question of the century, maybe all centuries. What I know is that I have been challenged like this before in my life and it felt then like it does now, like I'm being turned inside out, to then go outside in. Some of the best gifts of my life came on the heels of that ride, machete and all.

Awaiting the awe and loving you all, Linda

On February the 11th, I experienced a miracle in the making, the birth of my grandson, Hoyt. As I watched,  my Goddess daughter, Rachel, moved gracefully through the dynamic morass of excruciating pain, humbling joy and exquisite tenderness. I could barely grasp her seeming willingness to let the process take her on the first ever totally out of control ride of her life. And at the point, right before Hoyt arrived, she looked up at all of us present and stated "I can't do it, I can't do it!" The midwife and her assistants sent up a cheer and as Jason (her husband) and I looked quizzically at them, it was proclaimed that the "giving up" right before the birth is a universal happening...women all over the world are known to say that very thing soon before the new creation is delivered. Of course I remember that very moment when I was in the final stage of labor with her, but didn't realize it was a universal "truth" about that point in the process.

In the afterglow his birth and a week tending to the new family in my family, I started ruminating on this universal truth of the ultimate creation. Of course, I'm "in the business" of facilitating creations and I began recalling how many people, including myself, had come to the point of "I can't do it" at some, usually the final stage, of the creation process. A client recently asked me "why is that?" The best answer I can give is that something has to die when something new is born. In the case of giving birth to a new baby, a new behavior, a new way of thinking, a new relationship...a part of our "old" self dies. And the new takes the vacated spot.
Just wondering, on this day, how many have experienced the "I can't do it" before the breakthrough...love to hear about it.
As always, thanks for listening (and commenting, I hope)
Love, Linda

Sustainable Change: Profile in courage

Last week, in my Coaching work, I was emphatically reminded of the courage sustainable change requires. During a group exercise, a well of not so hidden anger was tapped and the energy shifted dramatically. Coming from my background, it's a sign of positive movement when people allow themselves to just say what's really going on inside them, even if that is "negative". I don't know how we can change something we don't know exists. But when the cards are laid out on the table more openly, it presents quite a challenge for anyone who believes themselves to be at all responsible for the "negative."

Almost 50 years ago, in one of his infamous life lesson speeches, Jack Kennedy spoke about the Chinese symbol for crisis. He pointed out that the symbol was comprised of two characters; one representing danger and the other, opportunity. His point? What looks like crisis, upset and a way things are changing that we don't want them too, is also an unprecedented opportunity for us to change. Change what? The only thing we have control over changing, ourselves. Our attitudes, our perceptions, our point of view, our "eyes". And that, my friends, is a profile in courage.

So today, I salute any of you in the midst of that "crisis" and want to remind you that there are unimaginable gifts on the other side. Face one moment at a time and keep those you trust close.

Namaste, Linda

"Sustainable" Beginnings

      Last August my brilliant husband, Lance and I had our first conversation about creating a new website for "Options For Growth." Over the next six months, we brainstormed ideas, outlined a structure, created & recreated the principal concepts, put text up, took text down, brainstormed again, etc. etc. Well, you get the picture. I began to think I should just change my middle name to Patience! But Lance and I know about the creative process and remember to trust, if not always like, a juxtaposition of direction and evolution for the best result. And today, time to celebrate the completed result!

   Of course, with the completion, comes new beginnings. New blogs, contacts, updates, additions..and hopefully  even work! Just focusing on them initiates another cascade of overwhelm before I've finished my celebratory glass of wine. And then I remind myself gently about "sustainable" beginnings. It's the one beginning at a time approach. It's remembering to meet each moment as a beginning by interrupting the automatic tendency to treat it like 257,849 other moments before. Or to look down the road at all the beginnings I think I see and focus on the one right here. Right now. At this moment, I'm writing my first blog for the launch of my first Options For Growth website that is, hopefully, reaching you...in more ways then one.

Thanks for listening!