The Energy of Greatness - Being Centered

I am discovering this truth, no matter how far you have come, how much you have learned, or where you think you should be, there is always more to learn, more ways to grow.  Your greatness is not measured by how far you think you should be. Who you are is not measured by what you feel is a setback, in fact it is not a setback but another opportunity to grow.  To look into your heart and hear what it is saying.  So stand tall in your greatness and listen to the whispers of your heart.

I have had to read this several times this week to remind myself of the truth.  Words I have written and shared in a presentation this past summer, but had forgotten as this has been a week of questioning for me, which all started with a challenge I got from a friend last week.

Let me explain.  I have an energy about me.  Anybody who knows me, or has met me has probably figured this out.  However, the energy I have is BRIGHT NEON and scattered all over the place.  As I walked through this journey, my energy became more intense, but not centered and at times can be overwhelming. The times I focus and pull it into cohesion are powerful and draw others in to hear what I have to say about their greatness and how it can change their life.  So as I went to my friend and shared with her how I was living with intention she challenged me to focus my energy.  To take it from neon to a cool calm blue/green (my analogy) and to draw it in and channel it and then watch what happens as it becomes more powerful, but focused!  So I thought about this and accepted the challenge thinking I can do this, easy!  But I discovered this week it is actually easier said than done (she kinda warned me about this as well).

Here is what has happened that led me to the excerpt above...I tried to channel my energy from a logical standpoint and did not allow it to flow out from the heart, in the process I started to feed myself all sorts of negative self talk about why I have not already gotten here, why another growth process, shouldn't I be done with this yet?!?  So where did I end up...anywhere but in my greatness!

I have stayed here for about a week and not allowed myself to move back to my heart.  While it has been painful to stay here, it seemed even harder to fight through it to allow myself to feel these feelings. My friend said the "storm" would hit, she was right.  I discovered that when I channel my energy into a cohesive, streamlined, calm state, you have to feel more deeply.  When I allow it to be scattered, the feelings somethimes stay at a surface level, thus never reach to the depths of the heart, but when you "draw in" your energy, you feel deeply and completely which can be an intense place. I spent about a week "taming" my energy from a logical standpoint (my head) and it felt easy, but I soon realized I had to go deeper and that is when it started to hurt!  But here it is, when you are looking to make a change that is truly from the heart, you cannot do it on a surface level...you will not get to where you are supposed to be!  True change starts within the heart and works from the inside out.  I cannot truly center my energy by just subduing my physical expression, or logically making a decsion to do so, but rather letting the calm settle into the deepest crevices of my heart and manifesting from there.  It is in this place that the true calm, the energy in a positive way will flow with cohesion and cease to be scattered.  It is also in this place that what starts out hurting, ends up as a new level of growth that I know will lead to new levels of greatness as well!  Funny thing is I spent almost a week in a "funk" as I had one friend tell me and talked a massive amount of neagative self talk in the process and she was not shy in telling me so, but I needed to hear it!

So today, I will "reset" and allow myself to feel deeply, to hear the whispers of my heart and to settle into the familiar place of greatness that I know who I am and the truth.  In this place, I will cease to strive for the calm and just listen to my heart instead, it this easy no, it is worth it definitely!  While it is rough going at times, I am glad I have accepted this challenge and in the process the growth that will come with it.  I know that this piece of the journey is going to lead to bigger, greater things, and in fact already has with the opportunity to share my journery with several others.  Sometimes this journey to greatness is a love/hate relationship, but in the end greatness will always prevail if you allow it to.

Living Intentionally

A couple of weeks ago I made the decision to step in up a notch in my life and to live intentionally.  I have been on the "18 inch journey" now since December 2011 and have seen dramatic changes in my life, both in how I approach life and how I look, but I questioned at times, was I applying all I have learned?

As I asked myself this question and pondered it in my heart for several days, some interesting things happened.  Quite by chance the opportunity arose to share pieces of my journey with several people.  As they listened what intrigued me most was their response that I seemed happy.  While this was nice to hear, it was what they followed up with that hit home to my heart...they retracted the "happy statement" and instead said, that it was not happy, but more than that, it was a positive energy, one that could be felt, touched. This is when it hit home in my heart, that my life, my everyday living in my greatness, of filtering life through my heart versus my head was impacting others.

It was in this place of realization that I knew that all the work I have done has finally taken taken root and my life-normal day to day life (nothing dramatic) was an example of what living in your greatness, living intentionally was all about.  At this time, I also came to understand that was time to pass the torch in a manner of speaking.

The passing of the torch has come about in that I have been approached by people who have watched me from afar via social media, some for quite some time and others more recently.  They have seen what has taken place in me, and have now approached me ready to start their own journey.  The same statement is made to me over and over, they "feel" the positive energy, see the changes and want it for their own life.  It is in these conversations that I know that living my life intentionally is making the choice I have spoken about many times throughout the course of this blog to filter life through your heart-no matter what happens, and to know your greatness and who you are each day.

I like to say that through all of this that I have no setbacks and that each day is "perfect", but I would be lying!  This way of life, of living is not some magic potion I take each morning, some magic words I say, but rather making the conscious decision to know who I am, in recognizing my own greatness, and then to recognize the same in others. Living intentionally is just that-having intention and following through with what you know to be true. That when you stumble and make a decision to react, to reset yourself and start over. Is it failure, no, not in any way, it is just part of the journey.  The true joy comes when I get to share this with others who are seeking and to watch as they discover their greatness.

So what is next?  This is the question that is now in my heart.  I am sure that I am called to share my journey with others in several ways, a book, presenting in person, and maybe even in a one on one setting.  I do not know the how or when, but I know that this is what I am supposed to do.  The exciting part will be to watch as the next year unfolds and to see where this "18 inch journey" takes me next!