The Power of Quitting

To Be As Crystal Clear as this Lake below Zapata Falls ...

You are meant to understand your dual polarity needs: the work and the play, the private and the professional. If you keep just one single polarity, you diminish productivity. One gives you the energy to accomplish and enjoy the other.”  Gregge Tiffen (Impatience Fishes In An Empty Pond – June, 2008)

Decades (oh, how I would like to say ‘years’!) ago when I was fresh out of graduate school, I didn’t have this wisdom. I was hell bent on using my urban planning skills to make the world a better place. I regularly (and proudly) worked intense 70+ hour weeks, continuing the habit I created in grad school taking a full course load while holding a full time consulting job.

Five or so years into that way of life, I was exhausted and miserable. Ready or not, I felt challenged to confront the reality that I was working hard but hardly living. At about the same time as this recognition came, a series of events at the agency where I was Deputy Director (I worked my way up the ladder fast!) left me feeling uncomfortable and unable to fulfill my role. And, so I resigned.  I didn’t understand until much later that through those uncomfortable events, the Universe was conspiring to support me.

I read. I rested. I slept (really slept!). I played, went to therapy, and travelled. I spent days on the Pacific Coast mesmerized by tide pools. I was introduced to metaphysics, Gregge Tiffen, and what has become a lifelong curiosity. I fell in love, experienced a breakup, and met the man I would later marry.

And after six or so months, I was ready to re-engage professionally, this time with a commitment to work and play.  Creating a different life was possible because I had the courage to quit, walk away from the so-called ‘security’ of a paycheck. And, many years later I made the same choice, ending a marriage.

Yucca in blooming splendor!

Today, I exercise my ‘quit’ muscle when I find myself in situations where my experience is complete. That can look like satisfaction upon completing a project or, at the opposite extreme, it can be when a situation doesn’t feel right and I no longer choose to put my energy there.

‘Quitting’ can also be simply taking a break, as I did this past week, engaging in a ‘stay-cation’ to hike and enjoy my cousin’s visit. It can be stepping away from a ‘problem’, knowing that I can return later with a fresh perspective (though they often resolve themselves before I do!)

In our culture we tend to look down on ‘quitting’ as the shadow or ‘bad’ side of being engaged. ‘Quitters’ have no honor. Perhaps though it’s time we develop a new view: quitting as a valued skill that has its place in our life skills tool box, keeping us on course so we don’t find ourselves, as I did those decades back, in a life that others (employers, family, friends, the culture) would have us live. Rather we are living and learning in the life that is authentically and uniquely ours.

A view of the Great Sand Dunes from Blanca Peak. On a clear day you can see forever ...

Voice Your Power

Sunrise over the Sangres

The use of your voice, in the simplest of conversations, activates an energy flow and an energy pattern.  Gregge Tiffen (Open Secrets: An Honest Performance – June, 2011)

This week I experienced a profound energy shift. When I looked back at the experience, I noticed that the shift seemed to have been activated by words I spoke in the quiet of the woods. 

I awoke the day of a scheduled appointment in a nearby town with a sense of ‘don’t go’ so strong that I couldn’t ignore it. The day before I’d had a touch of angst about going, but I set that aside (or perhaps I ignored it). I went through the litany of reasons not to cancel, including the probability that I’d pay for the appointment because I’d be cancelling so late. 

I thought of the many times in life I’ve ignored a strong pull to do or not do something, and the consequences of my ignorance. I decided that as soon as the office opened, I’d call and cancel anyway.

Decision made, Luke and I set out for our morning walk.  After a beautiful long walk in the cool morning and enjoying the sun as it rose over the mountains. As we often do, we ended our walk at the labyrinth. When I reach the center each visit, I acknowledge and give gratitude to the six directions and what I see as I turn my attention to each: the mountains of the east, the tree of the south, the valley to the west, the forest of the north, the vast sky above, the solid earth below. I did just that and felt the lightness and joy that a labyrinth walk brings as I walked the circles back to the beginning.

And, as it generally does, that lightness and peace was a part of me as we came in for breakfast.  As I began to think about the day, now a blank slate since I was cancelling the appointment, I noticed that the energy had shifted.  I felt drawn to keep the appointment, run the other errands that I do when I go to this particular town, and treat myself to lunch by the river.  I took a few breaths and checked in to be sure.  None of the foreboding sense of ‘don’t go’ remained.  I moved onward into the day as planned, one that turned out to be quite pleasant and an easy flow.

I can’t prove or perhaps even know for certain that my voice in the woods initiated the shift. But, it certainly seems that way to me. That is just how powerful we are!

I’m reminded to be mindful in all the words I speak, whether to the woods or to another or even to myself.  When I’m truly honest with me and look at results and patterns that are not as much to my liking as the day above, I can find clues in words spoken without that care.  And, that’s a story for another day.

Luke sporting his 'summer cut' at our favorite spot on Cottonwood Creek.

Learning Is Your Power

Early morning haze as the sun rises to shine on Blanca

The more we empower other people or conditions, the less we use the invested power in ourselves and the less we understand about what we have available. Gregge Tiffen (Pleasure Is Short, Wisdom Is Infinite – May, 2008)

You do know, don’t you, that the Universe invested tremendous power in YOU?  It invests that power in each of us, forever and ever. Amen.

We live in a world though that would have us forget this truth. We interact with other people and with systems in such a way that we come to depend on them. When we lose our awareness that conditions as experience are here for our learning, we give our power away.

I write this blog with pen and paper. In order for my words to get to you, I rely on a computer, an internet connection, and more technology services than I can understand. A glitch happens somewhere along the way. I learn to work around it and, along the way, have the opportunity to manage my temper.

Deep within, often outside of my awareness, I trust that the message will get through. If it doesn’t, I trust that as well. Unless I empower them, the ‘glitches’ take nothing from me or from my power. Each week I intend to offer something of value from my experience. You determine what that is for you.  Independent of you, I determine whether I am satisfied. (That said, I love your feedback and comments!)

As I look out to the world beyond me, I wonder if the angst and anger visible in our world isn’t a result of investing this power we were given by the Universe outside of ourselves rather than in our own learning to use that power?

We know much (or we wouldn’t be granted the gift of being on this planet at this time).  Yet, we are each here to add to what we know by applying our knowledge in new ways and learning from the experience.

Stop for a moment. What is your greatest challenge right now? Where are you in relation to that challenge? How much of your energy is invested in thoughts like ‘if they would …’ or ‘if only it …’?  How much of your energy is invested in you with thoughts such as ‘what if I tried …’ and ‘what can I learn from this’?

What if we asked these questions from a place of faith that all things are working together for our highest learning?

My truth is that there are no guarantees. Yet when I approach my life’s events from this place of learning (no matter how long it may take me to get here!), I always (and in all ways) come out ahead, even when the apparent outcome may not be to my preference or my liking.

This week I invite you to notice where you are investing your power.  And, if your investment is outside of you, to gently question, experiment and discover the power of learning in (re)claiming your power.

On behalf of the forest, a tree greets the morning sun.

Power Source

Stormy weather ...

The Power of potential is not the power of humans, but rather the spiritual Power invested in us on a Universal level. It is the Power of consciousness being aware of its omnipotent force in the Universal scheme of things.  Gregge Tiffen (Deserve Success and You Will Command It – March, 2008)

The planet is a friendly place. The world is hostile. It has never been otherwise. It is designed for mass subjugation of the populace. The laws of the system are designed to keep you in check. However, every single individual is powerful. Patrece on behalf of P-Systems (Self Enhancement Series for Cindy, April, 2007)

The first several hours of this day found my mood matching the weather: unsettled and stormy.  The day is gray. The wind is howling. Rain and sleet have fallen periodically since before dawn. It’s a snuggle-in sort of day, and I’m grateful that my only need to go beyond the back door is to take the canine pack out to stretch their legs.

As I get quiet to ask for clarity, I find two things tugging at my heart: one personal, one global. Personally, I’m missing home and wanting to be back in my own environment. Four plus weeks is a long time away, and my body is weary from pounding pavement rather than the mountain roads and trails of home. Although he’s adapted to a very different life here, I’m guessing that Luke too longs for the leash-free life of home.

Beyond my own personal desire, as I observe the world, I’m struck by the intensity of the discord. It’s not new of course.  It occurs to me that real change requires not just a political revolution (though perhaps that’s a start!) but an evolution of the spirit where every individual has the awareness and courage to operate from their spiritual power. This power is not from the mundane world, but rather the gift to each and every one of us from the Universe.

We’ve been disconnected from awareness of this true Power, unplugged from Source. This is the way of the world and its systems, made by man to serve man, but not mankind. Humanity suffers.

Despite the world, spring dawns ...

So, it’s no wonder that there is so much angst and anger. We’ve been duped into believing that this world is our source and that the pie is not big enough for all to share. Some can have. Others cannot. 

We blame. We fear. We fight.

On this path, we lose.  Momentary victories of one group over another do not sustain any of us over the long term. We need look no further than the vitriol in our national political discourse or that of radicals of all persuasions to see this today.  History is replete with examples of winning and losing. Even the “war to end all wars” didn’t.

We are hungry for leadership that understands and is not afraid to acknowledge the Source of individual power. We need to harness that understanding to build systems that do the same.

Sometimes real change happens only after we’ve hit bottom.  Perhaps that is the good news. As I survey the global political environment and take in the daily news (or so it is called), I wonder “are we there yet?”

... and Spring blooms. Onward!