Go from stuck to joyful — transform the blues in 7 simple steps! (Mind you, I said simple, not easy!)
This week’s “Playshop” was incredibly satisfying for me, as I got to see how this work is effectively moving those involved. Truly, they are soaring! More about that later.
One of the exercises we did involved physicalizing the feeling we have when we’re really stuck. We turned it into a kind of walk, with a shape we could recognize, a tension we could feel. Then we turned on “Flashdance,” blast-from-the-past music, and found our own “Joy-walk.” Finally, we sat and wrote in our journals about the physical differences between the two.
Here’s what I learned. While these 7 steps won’t change the cause of the “stuckness,” (be it anger, depression, frustration, grief, etc.), they are very real physical cues for allowing joy. And since our brains don’t know the difference between something real and something imagined as far as emotional response, why not create a new emotion using our bodies, and let the rest resolve on its own? I dare you!
1. Look up. (I realized that my year of deepest depression was spent looking at the ground most of the time.)
2. Breathe. As any School of Peace person will tell you, breathing is an incredibly powerful tool for creating inner peace. It involves feeling the chaos, exhaling it, and inhaling peace. Repeat until it works.
3. Smile. Yeah. No kidding. A cure for social jitters, stage fright, and all manner of negativity. It fools your brain into feeling happy!
4. Let go of tension. Relax. Just let it go. In a hundred years, will it really matter?
5. Stop caring what people think. My mother loves to dance in the aisles at the grocery store. She is truly my teacher in releasing the importance of others’ opinions! Why should what they think stop you from having fun?
6. Expect the best. Here’s where the rubber hits the road. If you can do this, you are on the way to transforming your whole life.
7. Trust. That the best really will come about. Turn it over, have faith, and rock and roll!
Coach’s Challenge: Jot these 7 steps down, and carry them with you. This week, when you hit a speed bump, give them a try. Let me know how it goes!
For those of you still reading, I’m bursting with pride in my flock. Read on, and look how they’re soaring!
Each of the women in attendance has been working with me since August of 2012, when they received their Life Purpose Hand Analysis. Since then, they’ve attended monthly group coaching sessions, and now they’re part of our current “Create Your Life Playshop.”
We began Sunday’s session with a round-robin check-in about how engaged we feel with our Life Purpose, and how we know when we’re dealing with our Life Lesson. We all brought different aspects of our lives to the plate, and told different stories of issues we’ve been dealing with. The growth that showed up was phenomenal! There’ve been huge shifts in well-being, and in ways of seeing ourselves and our lives. It turns out, that leveraging the Master Path of our Life Schools has been key. Here are a few examples. (*names have been changed for anonymity).
Amy’s* Life Lesson is about avoiding bad news and healing challenges, as well as reluctance to speak up for herself. When I first met her, I had the sensation that she was carrying her shell around with her, like a turtle. She was grimly holding the bad stuff at bay, although clearly feeling it anyway. Consequently, she was also holding joy at bay. Sunday she said that learning she is in the School of Service has helped her to own the importance of making time and space for herself. Her stories showed how she continues to be able to ground the busy and sometimes tumultuous lives of her family, but it is no longer at her own expense. By facing the issues and speaking up for herself, she’s been able to lovingly detach from the outcomes of her kids’ and husband’s, choices. She has reclaimed her own strength and peace of heart. She quite literally looks like a different person now.
Shelly’s* story centered on how transformative it’s been to claim the Master Path of her Love Life School: Emotional Authenticity. She surprised not only her husband, but herself when she spoke up about what she was feeling, and how she wanted to be listened to. She said it made a huge difference in how quickly she was able to let go of the troubled feelings she’d been carrying. For someone who avoids conflict for fear of causing herself serious health problems, having a new way to effectively release emotional tension, is tremendous.
Andrea* told us one of those stories that makes you want to laugh and cry out of heartfelt empathy. Her Life Lesson is all about learning to empower herself. She has successfully been reclaiming her passions for a while now, but recently had a huge breakthrough around setting boundaries – a set of skills she feels she has spent her entire life without. Her Life School is Love, and her ability to speak the truth in a loving way, is truly inspiring. You can imagine how thrilled we all are for her as she grabs on with both hands to start using this critical aspect of personal empowerment.
You can hear how thrilled I am to watch each of them try their wings, and find they are actually airborne. I invite you to share your story with us as well. Better yet, come join us, so we can hear your story directly!
Want to use this article on-line or for your e-zine? Feel free — just please include the following:
Lindy McLaine, of www.wecansoar.com, helps people in the second bloom of life pinpoint their Life Purpose and create the best possible lives they can imagine. She is using her creativity to attract a community who responds to today’s challenges.by stepping up to the plate and into their gifts, while believing in each other and themselves.
