Going in Circles?
If it seems like it’s been awhile since you’ve heard from me it’s because I’ve been away from the computer – from the office, actually. I gave myself permission to take the entire summer off. No blog posting, no consultations, no clients.
It was liberating to put myself first, to give myself space to listen deeply to the voice of my heart & soul, meditate, take a watercolor painting class, hike, garden, take a neuroscience course (yes, I’m a total neuroscience geek!), read for pleasure, and focus on my own personal and spiritual development.
While hiking in Red Rock Canyon last week I saw something that reminded me of something important. I’d like to share it with you.
Seeing a shrub with fuzzy corkscrew seeds, which I think is Rocky Mountain Mahogany, but I am not positive, jolted a memory of a phrase I’ve heard countless times by two of my spiritual teachers. Jim Self of Mastering Alchemy would say that we move in spirals of consciousness. Mary Morrissey says that we are always moving in ever upward spirals of becoming.
You are not the same person you were a year ago, a week ago, or even yesterday. Every experience you have is a catalyst for change, growth, evolution. Your life experiences are moving you up the ladder of consciousness. So even though you may feel like you’re experiencing something again and again, each time you encounter a familiar pattern it’s not really the same. You are simply experiencing it from a different perspective, a different vantage point, a deeper layer.
As I contemplated the fuzzy corkscrew seeds and the tools of awareness two of my spiritual teachers have passed on to me, Spirit gave me yet another way of looking at it. When I hike I don’t move in a straight line up the mountain. I traverse the mountain, which from a distance looks like spirals of trails going up the face of the mountain. Traversing makes the hike easier, more scenic and much more enjoyable. Likewise, rivers don’t travel in straight lines. If they did, the water would rush straight through and devastate the landscape. Rivers curve and bend to slow the water’s movement so that the surrounding landscape and nearby wildlife are nourished.
Spirals show up in all of nature. They’re signposts letting us know how the universe and consciousness work, and we would do well to follow their example.
Why is all of this relevant to you?
Because one of the biggest issues my clients struggle with when we begin working together is that they feel like they’re stuck, going in circles, repeating the same patterns over and over. Rinse and repeat.
The good news is that you aren’t going in circles. What is happening is that as a Spiritual Being having a human experience you’re integrating new ways of being and evolving in every moment of every day, and this growth is moving you in an ever upward spiral of becoming the next best version of yourself.
If it looks like you’re meeting the familiar, it’s because life is giving you another opportunity to clear yet another level of a conscious or subconscious block, belief, habit, or pattern.
Alternatively, if there’s something that is yours to do (as in part of the fulfillment of your purpose) the pattern or issue will keep showing up on your doorstep. No matter how much you try to run away, avoid, or pretend the lesson isn’t there, it is. Likewise, no matter how many affirmations you repeat, visualizations you perform, or spiritual or personal self-help / self-development books you read you are stuck with your lessons until you face your fear and surrender to the deep inner work that is yours to do.
Once you say ”Yes” and begin taking steps to lean into the patterns, they begin to unravel, and wonderful synchronicities begin popping up all over the place. This is the universe saying, “Yes, this way to fulfillment, health & well-being, joy, freedom and abundance.”
You see, life isn’t happening to you. It’s happening with you. Life is for you, and it always and in all ways gives you the perfect jobs, relationships, health challenges, etc. to fulfill of your soul lessons, agreements, life purpose / divine mission. Every life experience is showing you what most needs your conscious attention.
What do you need to release, integrate, surrender into, walk away from, learn, allow, express, contribute or become? Might be useful to take an honest inventory right about now, hmm?
Your Life is the Curriculum of Mastery.
If this resonates and you are still reading you are ready for your next steps. Here is a powerful strategy that will help you clarify if the repeating patterns are subconscious or conscious blocks, beliefs, or patterns that are limiting your full authentic expression in life, or if fear is stopping you from taking the steps necessary to fulfill your purpose.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- What patterns seem to be common themes that show up in my life (at work, in relationships, health, finances, other)?
- Where do I sell myself short / settle?
- Who would I be / become if I knew I couldn’t fail?
- What am I afraid of? (hint: this is not a fear like “I’m afraid of spiders).” It’s usually a fear of fully reclaiming your power, being authentic, showing up fully and contributing your gifts. For me, it’s visibility - big time fear! The thoughts that accompany these fears are: I’m not good enough / smart enough / old enough / young enough / not (fill in the blank) enough
- Who am I to think I have something special to contribute to the world?
- My kids / husband / parents (everyone) will think I’m selfish or stupid or silly for wanting to pursue my dream.
- I can’t afford to focus on myself right now. It’s not a good time. I don’t want to deprive my kids of something they enjoy so I can pursue my passion / dream / purpose
Tough questions, I know. But I believe in you. And so does Life. Life wants you to succeed. You’re not you’re here to merely exist. You were born to live your most authentic abundant life. In order to do that you must be like the fuzzy corkscrew seed, and when the time comes, you must trust that life has a plan, let go of what is holding you tethered to a life that is too small for your magnificent authentic soul expression, and allow the winds of grace to carry you to fertile soil where you can plant and harvest your heart’s deepest dreams and desires.
After you answer the questions that I posed to you, please feel free to write back or send me a private message on Facebook or through my website and let me know what questions were difficult for you and why.
And, if you’re stuck and want to work together to clear the subconscious blocks, limiting beliefs, and ancestral / epigenetic, past life patterns to help you get unstuck, give me a jingle!
To your freedom,
Grace
