The Power of Being Flexible

"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized."  Daniel H. Burnham

I like that. It’s visionary and feeds the part of me that looks forward to the future and what’s possible. Our intentions, like garden seeds, sprout our plans and actions. We reap the harvest.

And yet, can we become too attached, too committed to our plan that we miss other opportunities? The great funny man, Woody Allen is quoted as saying “if you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans”.  If Woody is accurate, God is belly laughing with me this week.

I started the week with a clear intention in my journal: complete multiple projects in preparation for launching a newsletter [soon!] and several other Fall business initiatives. Then I prioritized a task list and schedule to do just that.

With clear intention and my plan in place, Monday was great – lots of progress. I felt unstoppable. No-thing would interrupt completing this goal.  No-thing except a phone call letting me know that the house had been sold and I have 30 days to move.

What? That’s NOT my plan!

Choice point. Panic and fall victim to what’s happened and the host of emotions and actions that could evoke? OR, take a breath, ask to see the opportunities the situation presents, get support, shift my focus and priorities for the week, and stand in my power to create what’s next? Gulp. That’s my commitment.

My higher intention is to “step into the unknown, trusting that my intention and actions will create the solution I desire or, perhaps, something better that I haven’t yet imagined”. I started from this commitment. Then, created a list of the ideal next house and situation that I wanted. Next, action.

The results? As I write this post, I’m finalizing details to move into the next perfect place. It was offered by a friend somewhat unexpectedly (although I once had a vision of  living there).  Better yet, a great approach to one of the projects I’m committed to finishing will add ease to a tedious task!

The lessons? Stepping into our power requires first a clear choice to do just that.  Our choice is followed by planning; action, while being flexible; and willingness to let answers emerge. This week that’s how I’m creating my Success Zone.  What about you?

Experiment for the Week:  Develop  your ‘flexible muscle’. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and take a few deep breaths, breathing down to your feet and allowing the breaths to ground you.  Do so until you feel relaxed AND very stable – like nothing could take you off center.  Imagine you are seaweed deeply rooted in the ocean floor – nothing can uproot you.  Now, begin to sway gently & slowly from side to side keeping your feet firmly planted (you might imagine a fish bumping you and responding with movement of all of you except your feet).  Now sway forward, backward.  How far can you sway without moving your feet?  This practice will support you in being flexible when the fish and big waves of life bring unexpected motion. I practiced it daily years ago during a particularly stressful time when I needed to be firm, stable and flexible. It continues to serve me well when I need to shift.

The Power of Your Potential

“Today we are involved in major planetary change. We are being pressured and tested to our personal limits by Universal forces. Each of us has the potential of gaining great spiritual awareness and advancement in these times, but to do so we need to understand our potential.” Gregge Tiffen

In keeping with my promise to go beyond the mundane here at Success Zone, this week’s focus is on potential. Not the mundane potential of accomplishing goals in the ‘real’ world, but rather the innate potential that we each have as spiritual beings on the planet.

It’s no accident that I’m writing this at a time when I’ve made the personal commitment to fully live into my power. Gulp.  Right on time, I’m presented with multiple opportunities to experiment with just that. For example, the sweet home that I rent just went on the market. Do I simply rush out and find another place, or wait until it sells and then take whatever I can find in this small community with few rentals? Or, do I feel into what seems ‘right’ for me, ask for guidance, and step into the unknown, trusting that my intention and the actions that follow will create the solution I desire or, perhaps, something better that I haven’t yet imagined?

I’m choosing the later, to deeply trust that my next right place will be revealed. After all, that’s how I came to be in this beautiful, quiet mountain community of Crestone, Colorado, seven years ago. But that’s a story for another day.  For now, let’s look at potential from the perspective that it is in YOU.  Potential is not in a job, a project, or anything outside of you. If you see potential existing outside of yourself, you may be well served by reconsidering where it truly resides.

Think about that: Where does potential reside? Where do I place it in my thoughts, words, and actions?

The root of potential is potent, “having authority or power, mighty, influential, powerful”. So, when we place potential in anything outside of ourselves, we give it (whether person, place, or thing) our power. Hmmm … have you ever considered this possibility?

We come to this life with spiritual power that has been granted us on a Universal level.  That power resides in us as potential to the extent that we are aware of it. We must also be willing and able to call our potential forth and to trust that the source of our power is not the world, but rather an omnipotent force that the world as we know it is a part of.

Our job is to direct this potential, this energy for our benefit, not just in mundane matters, but in matters of consciousness and the soul. To look beyond the mundane to matters such as our learning and growth and the everlasting wisdom that comes with learning at this level.

I’m coming to see that important choices start here with claiming this gift of power that we have been given. Will I allow a situation, another person, what our culture expects, or anything outside of me to have power over my well-being, my joy, or the conditions in my life?  Or, will I seize each event as an opportunity to step into my power as a co-creator in my life?  What will be possible when we make that choice consciously FIRST before any other?

I’m discovering personally that stepping fully into my potential is not a journey for the faint of heart. In a world where we have (mostly unconsciously) given our power to education systems, families, jobs, well-meaning friends, consumerism, and, yes, even religion, reclaiming our power requires courage, tenacity, and commitment.  But isn’t that just what being in the Success Zone is all about?

Experiment for the Week:   Observe your choices for action this week, noticing what actions come from the guidance of your creative power and which ones you may have taken on from something outside of you.  No judgment. No right or wrong. Simply observation, possibly followed by a new choice.  Have fun!

Welcome to the Success Zone Muse

“Speak what you think today in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Welcome to The Success Zone, an eclectic muse you can use for your personal success!

I’m glad you’re here where each week, I’ll share what I think today; offer a quote for your muse to both muse and use; and propose an experiment designed to support your journey.  Let’s get started!

Our approach here is eclectic:  Adj. selecting from various systems, doctrines, or sources; composed of material gathered from various sources, systems, etc. Noun – a person who uses eclectic methods in philosophy, science or art.

Yum, I love being an eclectic, honoring ‘one size (or approach or system or idea) doesn’t fit all’.  That’s what I’m aiming to create here at Success Zone: a place to explore what success means; how its meaning fits with dreams and values; what shifts may be called for; approaches for creating your personal Success Zone; and an assortment of resources for the journey.

Success Zone is about individually and collectively reclaiming personal power, a right and responsibility that we aren’t very well prepared for in our culture. We’ll look at where we’ve abdicated power and how to gain it back through the lens of ancient mysticism, brought forward to practical application in today’s world.

Success Zone is about supporting a shift from the ‘more is better’/’win-loose’ paradigm to the paradigm of care, compassion, cooperation, collaboration, community with abundance for all.

Success Zone is a place where elements of old paradigms will be used to build bridges to creating new paradigms in business and in life.  For example, where learning to manage your energy meets creating success in network marketing.  Did I mention we're eclectic here?

I want to challenge your thinking (and mine!), to poke around the edges of what’s possible, explore how nature and ancient wisdom define and guide us to success. As Emerson suggests this eclectic approach may sometimes be contradictory. Yet, that represents the diversity and flow of life.  Things change. We change.  We can reconsider and adapt. Or resist and be left behind. Always there is choice. 

Experiment for the Week: Identify something you desire more of in your life. Then, something you prefer less of.  As you keep these in mind breathe in deeply more of what you want (see it, feel it, imagine it in your life). Then breathe out what you want less of (see, feel, imagine its absence).  Do this for one minute, three times daily.  Longer if you feel confused, stressed or tired.  This week, I’m breathing in love and breathing out antagonism. What about you?