Lessons we get to learn

I am home safe and sound from our road trip to Vernon where I attended an amazing Spiritual Retreat with two of my very best friends. I nearly killed us all on the way there though – but more on that later…

How did it go for you these last few weeks of choosing love, compassion & gratitude over needing to be right, judgement and complaining?

As that was the intention we set 2 weeks ago on the last Tap In and blog post, I can assure you that I incorporate these teachings into my own life as well.

I can only speak for myself but…

aligning with love, compassion & gratitude came in extremely handy for me these last few weeks

I often get that “look” from people when I suggest “aligning with love” when they are struggling. And if someone is brave enough to speak up for what most people are thinking I will get the question “That is great to aspire to…but how do we do that when we are angry, exhausted, hurt, in pain or any of the other emotions that come up for us in our everyday life?”

 Today, this is my answer to this question…

 “What if we could see every single aspect of our lives as a lesson to be learned?”

• We can learn from the good and amazing things in our life.
• We can learn from the bad and hurtful things in our life.
• We can learn from the ugly and suffering things in our life.
• We can learn from the hardships and miracles in our life.

 Everything has something to teach us…

 Are you open to the discovering what that could be?

If you are – then aligning with love, compassion and gratitude will be necessary in this process of finding the lesson in all things.

 However, if you instead align with fear, blame, shame, guilt or judgement, then the lesson we could have learned will be lost… until the next time it shows up – and that is when we find ourselves saying “Why is this always happening to me?”

 Gary Zukav in his book “The Seat of the Soul” refers to our lifetime here on this planet as “The Earth School”

 In every moment of our day, we can either learn something, or not.

The choice is ours.

 When we open our awareness to this concept we can experience so many lessons in our day. We can experience small lessons, profound lessons, big lessons and hard lessons. We will experience our feelings, our needs and our desires on a deeper level. We will experience emotions such as frustration, confusion, heartache & disappointment. We will also experience miracles, synchronicities, wisdom and beautiful serendipities.

When we are willing to learn from all these various lessons in our day we have the opportunity to transform the lesson into spiritual growth which is when we align with love, compassion and gratitude. Whether that is aligning into love with yourself, someone else or a particular circumstance, the alignment is all about moving past the story of blame, shame, guilt, complaining and judgement.

When we are not aware that everything in our life can be a lesson, we align with our ego-personality. 

What happens when we align with our ego-personality?

When we show up in our ego-personality, our tendency is to blame others, blame ourselves or blame the circumstances around us. Our ego can and will come up with all sorts of stories to keep us from aligning with love, compassion and gratitude.

Our ego thinks it is protecting us. Aligning with love, compassion & gratitude opens our heart and that is an unknown scary feeling for the ego. When our ego protects us in this way – what it is really doing is keeping us in fear. The ego is often more comfortable in fear – because it is a known feeling. Whether the fear shows up as anger, sadness, shame, guilt, blame, rightlessness or pain in our body – it is fear.

When we ARE aware that everything in our life can be a lesson, we align with our Soul

or the true essence of who we are 

What happens when we align with our Soul?

We show up with the intention to align with love, compassion and gratitude – then the fear (and the ego) fads away and when the fear fads away, our heart opens and the ability to see the lesson materializes.

 I had an opportunity to experience many of these lessons on my drive to Vernon

 I talk a little bit more about this in the Tap In recording but basically when I was driving, I was missing all the signs to slow down on the winding mountain roads and as a results I was going way too fast and I nearly killed us all. There were multiple “worst case” scenarios all around us in that instant – that for some reason faded away. All I can say is even though I was “missing the signs” I was in alignment with love, compassion & gratitude and the “best case” scenario unfolded. The only thing that makes sense in my mind is that we were divinely protected and besides a few skid tire marks on the highway, we came through it without a scratch – to the vehicle and ourselves. In fact, I just kept on driving (slowing down now of course)

The strangest part for me is how unfazed by the whole experience I was. No fear showed up. No need to blame or shame myself came up. I just kept on driving (not for long though as Kelly requested taking back the reigns of her vehicle very quickly 😉

I didn’t go into “what is my lesson in all this” mode quite yet. I listened and heard both Joanne & Kelly’s fears come to the surface of what had just happened. I still remained, to my amazement, quite unfazed by it all. We actually were able to all laugh about it.

In the past, I would have shifted quite quickly into ego mode, where I would have felt ashamed or embarrassed of my actions (or inactions). I would have judged myself and fallen quickly into the river of blame, shame, guilt and self-criticism. 

Not this time. I remained in that space of love and compassion for all of us and thanked the Universe for sparing us those “worst case” scenario’s.

I didn’t think about it at all during the retreat and it wasn’t until we were leaving the retreat – that the question started arising for me. “Hmmmm… what was my lesson to learn in that experience?”

Honestly, it took me a few days to really grasp the fullness of the lesson. My ego started speaking up and side tracking me. My daily intention to stay in alignment with love, compassion and gratitude helped me through these times. Eventually, everything came to light for me. Of course my message was to “slow down” not just driving but in my own life but it went deeper. I love what I do and so the message to slow down often doesn’t hit me until I’ve reached the point of burn out.

My lesson learned is to watch for the signs of exhaustion and slow down before burn out hits. This will require more awareness on my part and a willingness to slow down.

I could not have learned this if I was stuck in my ego of embarrassment, shame, fear or guilt

 Our biggest lessons learned are when we align with love, compassion & gratitude

This lesson came to me in a way that was powerful and could have been devastating.

I have the choice to either learn from this whole experience or not.

This week, I am asking you to go inward and ask yourself what lessons you are meant to learn in this lifetime

or in your day

Don’t go inward and blame, shame, judge or guilt yourself (or others)

 Shift from ego of fear, into your Soul space of love and…

•  Go inward with love for yourself.
• Go inward with deep compassion for all that you are and have lived up to this point.
• Go inward with gratitude for your willingness to see every moment of your life as a lesson to be learned.

 Lean back in wonder and awe and see what lesson the Universe has for you today

 This Week’s Intention Setting

1. “Today, I stop blaming myself and others and I choose to see everything about my life as a lesson that I GET to learn!”

Next week is the Sept long weekend and in the spirit of “slowing down” I take off every holiday Monday. This means we have 2 solid weeks to work this intention into our day and into our life.

Give yourself a break if you don’t get the meaning of the lesson right away – this is not a quick fix practice. It requires awareness, willingness, attention, time, compassion, and patience to align with the energy that will open you up to the lessons to be learned.

Some days it comes quickly and sometimes it may take days, months or years – don’t give up on yourself. This is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the ride   

If you are interested in any private coaching or Ayurveda sessions; Contact me at 780 722-3442 or email me at leslie@wellnessdefined.ca

Namaste;

Leslie

Now…let’s tap this in…