Winter makes way for spring and our annual melt has begun.
Uncovering a learning point within ourselves is the fuel that fans the flame for moment-by-moment discoveries. Gregge Tiffen (Fanned Fire and Forced Love Never Did Well – February, 2008)
Fulfillment is not just getting things right. It is the joy in the learning that comes when you don’t and when you see that you and you alone have a choice.
As often happens, today’s post started on quite a different track. As I followed my thoughts and reflections on the sad state of politics, I was led to a seemingly unrelated experience that I had yesterday. It was one of those moments that changed the tenor of my day. And, in doing so likely shifted what I will create and experience in the month ahead.
In the moment, I simply accepted it and stepped into the energetic flow which carried me through an exciting, and in part challenging, day. Today, I reflect on the experience to see what knowledge I can bring forward.
Most of us have heard the phrase ‘change your language, change your life’. Perhaps, like me, you aspire to be conscious of the language choices you make and how they influence your life. Yesterday in my morning quiet time, I was journaling about a coming event. And, just such a choice presented itself.
I started to write the word ‘looming’ with its seeming foreboding feeling, but quickly “corrected” myself and wrote ‘pending’ instead. I say “corrected” because that’s the feeling that I had. I didn’t want to face the dread I was feeling. Often, I just keep writing, but the polarity of these two words and the feelings underneath were too great to ignore. Which word would I choose? And, how would I honor the feelings connected to the word that I would leave behind?
The point of choice wasn’t about what to do. I’d made that decision. The choice was (and is!) about how I want to be.
I realized that in those decisions were the keys to how I will create and experience the event. Will I create it with a sense of dread and allow myself to be miserable? Or will I create it from a sense of possibility, curiosity, and ambition?
Obviously I found this an easy choice. Yet it became a choice only when I had the awareness to question and be clear about what I want rather than simply accepting without making a conscious choice.
I discovered that it is a choice which we often don’t give ourselves because we lack the awareness to recognize that we’ve uncovered a ‘learning point’. In our all too often rushed lives where we cram in more events than we need for our learning, these ‘learning points’ are often missed. When we are aware of them, we view them with disdain “Ugh! Another learning lesson,” we groan as we slog our way forward. To do so breeds discontent, and we see this almost everywhere we look.
To stop, recognize choices and ‘learning points’ nurtures fulfillment, like giving a spark the air it needs to flame.
Fulfillment is not just getting things right. It is the joy in the learning that comes when you don’t and when you see that you and you alone have a choice.
How well are you choosing?
An 'eye' over the Sangre de Cristos reminds me to see my choices. Grateful to live in such inspiring beauty.