Checking Out the Woods
The issue is exposure. Exposure is required every day of your life. If you keep your exposure under wraps, there is nothing that can be done. … You have kept the purse hidden away and zipped up tight. Your presence is not available. That is a sad reality and is one of the first things to look at in terms of how you accept universal opportunities. Gregge Tiffen (An Empty Heart Makes An Empty Purse – November, 2008)
As we approach Thanksgiving here in the U.S. thoughts about receiving join my overall sense of gratitude for life. I’m reminded of another of Gregge’s pearls of wisdom:
We have an abundant Universe. We have an infinite Universe. We have an omnipotent, creative Universe, and all these things are available to us. We are willing to receive and willing to give thanks as an integral part of creation. (Gregge Tiffen – The Power of Giving Thanks – November, 2007)
I often write of the relatively quiet life I live here in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I love this life and I’m deeply grateful to live in the extraordinary beauty of nature that surrounds me. Nature and quiet feed my soul in ways I never imagined. For the past couple years, since closing the bed and breakfast and allowing my coaching practice to wind down, I’ve lived in my mountain bubble - writing, reading, reflecting on life, walking with Luke, and maintaining home and hearth – a ‘semi-hermit’ lifestyle that I’ve come to love.
Recently though, I’ve experienced a sense of restlessness, part boredom perhaps, along with missing more engagement with the world. I also recognized that cash has mostly flowed in one direction (out) and that I need to increase the inward flow.
So began an inquiry familiar to me from times past: ‘What’s next?’ Over the course of several decades, revisiting this inquiry from time to time led me from public service to real estate development to marriage to consulting to coaching to divorce to my move to the mountains and to the bed and breakfast. (Whew!) Each experience held great learning, and each provided for my needs.
An important element of any ‘what’s next?’ inquiry is to look at where you are now. A candid, honest self-assessment is key to manifesting a powerful ‘next’. For me that’s meant considering that my lifestyle choices limit the flow of abundant opportunities that can come my way and recognizing the laundry list of excuses I developed to protect it. (Ouch!)
Gregge’s words about ‘exposure’ provided the pin prick that popped my semi-hermit bubble. Today, I’m saying ‘yes’ to possibilities that come my way more often. Rather than making excuses for not attending a workshop out of town, I registered, packed up and drove to Santa Fe. Rather than giving in to ‘it’s too hard to travel in winter’, I’m soon off to see family that I haven’t visited in several years. Rather than using the ‘I’ve never done that’ excuse to avoid exploring a possibility, I’m asking ‘how might I approach this?’.
Although I don’t know ‘the’ answer to ‘what’s next?’ (or even if there is a single answer), the willingness to increase my exposure is presenting an array of interesting new connections, synergies and possibilities. It’s good to remember that receiving is not a spectator sport. It requires reflection, willingness, opening to possibility and action. We receive. And, then, we give thanks.
And Now I’ll Rest