When All that Good Stuff Gets to be Just Too Much

Lately, I've been doing a lot of research and studying - even more so than usual.  This is my approach: studystudystudy-readreadread-thinkthinkthink-searchsearchsearch-studymoremoremore. I've been soaking it all up like a sponge.  So many great people. So many great ideas. So many voices.

So much input. So much great content.  There are a lot of really wonderful people out there sharing a lot of really wonderful stuff.   The internet is awesome.

But here's the thing about the internet.  You can get lost surfing the web.  Riding the wave of great ideas. Following the links.  Checking out those next three things in the 'You might be interested in...' section at the bottom.  Scrolling down the search results just one more time.  Checking out that stuff in the Resources list.   On and on.

I have been soaking up so much good stuff, that now I feel overloaded.  It's time to stop the flood of input - even though it's great input.

I realized this when I was looking at my personal altar.   It's a beautiful old round metal tray.   I put on it the things I need to remember until they are habits.  The things that symbolize my intentions.  The things that make me feel good about my journey.  One day, as I sat down to meditate, I realized that my tray was so crowded with great stuff that I couldn't really appreciate anything on it.   It was all very important, but it was just too much.   My 'plate' was full.  Too full.

My head is too full, too.  Too many ideas, too many voices, too many intentions, too many fears.  All of that great input had become high quality distractions.  I am distracting myself with other people's great content because I fear I don't have great content of my own.  I fear that my own wisdom is lacking.  I fear that what I have to offer isn't enough. 

However, just because I fear those things are true doesn't mean they actually are true. So I've decided to do an experiment.

I have cleared my altar.  I noticed the redundancies and have removed the extras. I kept something to represent RECEIVING, something for BALANCE and something for TRANSFORMATION.  That is all.  That is enough.

In addition, I am weeding out my inbox.  I pay attention to how a newsletter feels when I open it and if I feel tight and anxious, I unsubscribe.  No more following the links to podcasts or interviews or the next great online retreat.  Those things are all wonderful, it's just that the timing is off right now. I need to process. I need space to hear my own thoughts and do my own thing. I need to trust my own voice.  I am enough.

You are enough, too.   What things are you using as high quality distractions because you don't feel like you're enough? 

Let them go.



I'd like to invite you to join our Best Self facebook group where we can talk freely about becoming our best selves - and all the messy work that entails.  In addition, I have another group, The Well Balanced Artist, for creatives of all kinds and in all stages of their creative lives, who are trying to balance their art, business and personal lives.   

Letting Go of the Old You

Congratulations!  You already saw the title of the post and you're still reading!  It must be the right time for you.

As I mentioned in my post from the first of the month, transitions mean the letting go of the old way of being.   We let go of who we once were to step into what we want to be.  It can be scary, but I've got you covered.   We'll do it together.  We're keeping it simple and easy. 

Breathe in.  Relax your shoulders.  Exhale and release the old stuff.

Breathe in again.  Deeper.  Open your chest and heart and feel yourself step out into your new way of being.  Exhale and release any anxiety.

Breathe in again.  Hold it for a bit and thank your old self for all the miles and lessons and love. 

Exhale and let your old self go. 

Give yourself a big hug.  Breathe for a minute and let yourself feel free to just BE.  It's going to be a glorious adventure.

I'd like to invite you to join our Best Self facebook group where we can talk freely about becoming our best selves - and all the messy work that entails.  In addition, I have another group, The Well Balanced Artist, for creatives of all kinds and in all stages of their creative lives, who are trying to balance their art, business and personal lives. 

Relationships - Letting Go

This month we're talking about Letting Go.   If you're like me, once you get your fingers in something it's really, really hard to let go.  It comes from a Scarcity Mindset. [I'm working on it.] This is true of Stuff, of Ideas, of Habits and of Relationships.

Relationships.  We have to let go of [release!] relationships that no longer serve us.  These are the relationships with crazymakers, manipulators, two-faced friends & family members, takers, back-stabbers, liars, abusers.  You know who they are.

I think one of the reasons it's hard for me to let go is that I feel pretty unattractive.  So if someone pays the least bit of attention to me, I don't want to let that go because I'm certain no one will ever like me again.   One crappy friend is better than no friends at all, right?  What is totally ridiculous about that idea is that I have a bunch of fabulous friends!   People who know me and love me and who are the best friends ever.  I don't need to keep crappy people around.  You don't either. 

Another reason it's hard for me to let go is that I don't like dramatic confrontations.  But here's the thing - and it's a big thing:  Letting go does not require a confrontation at all.   It just requires Letting Go.  As in, 'Stop hanging onto this.  Open your hand [head & heart] and let it goooooo.'   No phone calls, no checking in, no drive bys, no answering emails, no visits, no responses, no reactions, no facebook, no little favors, no contact.   Delete them, block them, forget them.  Then go out with your true friends and have a great time. 

Some relationships are ugly and sticky.  I don't want to minimize the work it might take to get free of them.  If you're dealing with someone like that, I encourage you with all my heart to get some help dealing with it.  You deserve the support from someone local who knows what they're doing and who can be with you the whole way.   Know that we are here, with you, cheering you on. 

So.   What relationships are keeping you from living your Best Life Now?   Which ones can you begin to let go of today?   If you've got a good story of how you let go of one of these, please share it in the comments. 




I'd like to invite you to join our Best Self facebook group where we can talk freely about becoming our best selves - and all the messy work that entails.  In addition, I have another group, The Well Balanced Artist, for creatives of all kinds and in all stages of their creative lives, who are trying to balance their art, business and personal lives.   

Letting Go of Control

Here's what I suck at:  Giving up control. 

Here's what I need to practice:  Giving up control.

Here's why:  Control is only an illusion and I don't need to buy into it.  Also, cool stuff happens when you step back and get out of the way.

Long term benefits:  I'm still figuring this out.   Lower stress level?  More fun along the journey?  Focus on 'Being' rather than 'Doing [doingdoingdoing]'? 


What do you think the benefits of giving up control are?     Please shout it out in the comments. 



I'd like to invite you to join our Best Self facebook group where we can talk freely about becoming our best selves - and all the messy work that entails.  In addition, I have another group, The Well Balanced Artist, for creatives of all kinds and in all stages of their creative lives, who are trying to balance their art, business and personal lives. 

Release

I've been thinking about transformations lately.  I've been feeling a lot like I'm in a chrysalis stage - and I've been really afraid.   I like the caterpillar stage, with its successions of instars:  grow, split skin, grow some more.   Being a butterfly seems so totally foreign - too different, too much of a drastic change.  I know how to be a caterpillar.  I don't know how to be a butterfly.   What if I hate it?

I remind myself that being a butterfly is as much programmed into the DNA as being a caterpillar is.  The caterpillar simply has to trust and move along into the next phase.  

A very important part of moving on is to release what no longer serves.   The caterpillar grows and then leaves the old skin behind to grow into the new one.  Its final skin is the chrysalis, which it also leaves behind.  

We release what no longer serves us to make room for what we need next, what lights us up, what brings us closer to our purpose. 

We let go so we have room for what's coming.

Last week as part of my solstice ritual, I made a list of things I needed to release.  Feelings, thought patterns, things, relationships.  I put it all on there.   

I took the things to Goodwill.   I wrote the feelings, thoughts and relationships on little pieces of paper and then burned them.  Not with a dramatic flourish, but quietly - thanking them for their service and then watching as they turned to ash and smoke and drifted away.   [And then, truth be told, I dissolved that ash in water and made sure it was good and gone.]

It. Felt. Awesome.   Just remembering it now makes my shoulders feel lighter.  I can breathe deeper without that load of junk to carry. 

What do you need to release?    I invite you to write it down or say it out loud.  Acknowledge it and begin the process of lightening your load.  

Sending you so much love!

I'd like to invite you to join our Best Self facebook group where we can talk freely about becoming our best selves - and all the messy work that entails.  In addition, I have another group, The Well Balanced Artist, for creatives of all kinds and in all stages of their creative lives, who are trying to balance their art, business and personal lives.