Happy New Year!
I love the beginning of a new year because it feels fresh and full of new possibilities for adventure. What I don’t love is our culture’s obsession with resolutions. Did you know that it’s estimated that only 19% of people actually keep their resolutions? Why? Because they are based on external “shoulds” rather than soul-based desires. On one level we know we should eat healthier, exercise more, etc., so we create that as a resolution. But it’s only when we let go of the external should and instead feel the internal fire that actual change can occur.
I gently suggest to stop should-ing all over yourself, and instead, take steps towards the things that you would like to create in your life through mindfulness and intuition. This is a more loving, surrendered way of being.
We have been taught that we need to execute our day based on external cues. We’ve completely lost touch with our inner rhythms. In fact, we constantly fight against them. For example, some people are night owls and feel the most creative in the middle of the night. Others prefer to go to bed early and are up before dawn. Society says that we need to fit into its 8-5 box, no matter how uncomfortable it is. The result is that we’re tired and uninspired because we’re not able to take advantage of our body’s most productive timeframes. We do things because we’re told we have to, not because we want to.
If there’s a deep desire in our hearts, it’s there for a reason. We don’t need to strong arm ourselves into taking steps towards it if it truly is a heart-based, soul-based desire. We need to get out of our heads and into our hearts and listen to our inner guidance. Everything we need is already inside of us. Our job is to remove anything that comes between us and that inner Knowing.
The act of letting go of a scheduled plan allows for divine timing to take over. Often, the reason that we aren’t able to accomplish the things that we set out to is because the timing simply isn’t right. We can rush to get to the bus stop but if the bus isn’t coming for another month, it doesn’t do us any good to get there early.
There’s a bigger plan to everything we do that we aren’t privy to. Beating ourselves up because we aren’t further along isn’t going to do us any good and is actually very detrimental to our mental health and our progress.
I'd like to give you a personal example of how things can work when you follow the calling of your soul.
Last year, around this same time, I had the thought that I should transcribe my journals from 2016-2018, the time of my dark night of the ego. The idea of making it into a book was too scary to think about because the material is so personal, so I decided to just take the first step and work on the transcription. I know that taking small steps forward is best, otherwise overwhelm can thwart the process.
Normally I would transcribe in the evening or early morning but on this particular day I decided to transcribe a few pages over my lunch hour. As I was transcribing, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number and normally I let unknown numbers go to voicemail but for some reason I decided to answer it. The woman on the other end talked very quickly and it took me a minute to ascertain who she was and what she was calling about but I finally gleamed that she was a book coach of some sort and was asking me if I was interested in publishing a book.
Whaaaaaaaa?!
But it gets better.
At first I didn’t catch the woman’s name because she was talking so fast. I asked again and she said Ariela. The name that I use for my soul is Ariel. Pretty damn close and the coincidence was not lost on me. I didn’t really know what this lady was selling but I was saying yes.
I ended up meeting with the woman and we did not mesh, but I knew that wasn’t the point. The point was that through the synchronicities, my soul was telling me that I was to move forward with the book idea. And I did. Shortly after that, I received an email from Hay House Publishing announcing their Writer’s Workshop. In the past, this workshop has been conducted in person and the travel costs have made attending cost prohibitive, but this year, because of COVID, it was online and I could afford the registration fee. As a workshop attendee, you are able to submit a book proposal for a chance to win a publishing contract. After attending, I decided that is absolutely what I was going to work towards. I had six months to complete my book manuscript enough to put together the book proposal.
I decided to hire a book coach to help me through the proposal process and to keep me on task as I worked towards my goal. It was going to be challenging because of my day job work schedule. I wasn’t sure how I was going to fit it all in. I also wasn’t sure how I was going to afford the $5000 for the book coach. I put down a deposit as a show of commitment to the Universe and prayed that the rest of the funds would come to me if this was the right path for me to take.
The following week, I went to the mail box and opened an envelope from my bank. It contained a check for $3400. I stared at it with unbelief. I literally rubbed my eyes. Ha! I have a personal loan through the bank and this check had something to do with the amount I had paid for the insurance for the loan. I couldn’t believe it! How often does a random check show up like that?!
I wasn’t sure where the remaining money would come from but I trusted that it would show up. I told one of my best friends the story about the check showing up and she asked how much more I needed. I told her and she immediately offered to lend me the money. I was shocked and beyond grateful! She was literally an angel! I accepted her offer and secured the book coach. I was moving towards my goal of sharing my dark night story with the purpose of helping others through their dark night. It wasn’t but a couple of weeks later that I received the funds to pay my friend back every penny that I borrowed from her.
Now that the book coach was secured and the path laid out as to how I was going to complete the book proposal by the due date, I had to find the time to actually do it. This was the challenge. I work full time and I have a daughter and I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my time with her. I knew I was going to have to do this early in the morning before work.
Because of the pandemic, I was working from home. This meant I didn’t have to worry about dressing up or commuting to an office. This allowed me use this time for writing. My plan was to get up around 4:00 am and work on the book until I started my day job at 8:00. I would shower on my lunch hour (unless I had a meeting in the morning that required me to be on camera). It sounds challenging, but it wasn’t. I felt deep within my heart that this wasn’t just a project, it was a calling. Because of this, I wanted to treat it with honor and respect and I wanted to allow my soul to guide me. I set an alarm, but quickly realized that I didn’t want to or have to. I would wake up around 4:00-4:30 am without an alarm and would jump out of bed, excited to work on my book. There were some days that I would crash around 3:00 pm but most days my energy stayed high. This went on for 6 months until I completed the proposal and submitted it.
It was an incredible accomplishment for me! The process of going through two years of journal writings from the most difficult period of my life was so challenging and beautiful all at the same time. There was so much healing that took place. Even though it seemed like not much had changed in my external world, I realized how much I had learned and grown from that experience. There is a quote from The Divine Feminine Oracle Saraswati that captures the essence of this perfectly. It says, “...anything we create that purifies us in the process of making it is a blessing. Our art should be judged not on popularity but its power to transform us.” Beautiful.
As we begin 2022, I ask you to consider a more intuitive, soul-based approach this year. Spend some time in quiet contemplation. Ask your soul what it would like to experience this year. Is there anything that it would like to express or create? You may get an answer, you may not, but let your soul know that you are open to doing something new and let it know that you will pay attention to signs showing you the way. Your soul will drop bread crumbs for you to follow, like Ariela the book coach, and your job is to follow the bread crumbs. Be open to new opportunities and new possibilities. Try to let go of any limiting beliefs that your head might tell you, such as “you don’t have enough time.” When you are creating or producing something from a soul level, it is outside of the normal realm of time. When you create from the soul, you create from love.
Wishing you a soul and love-filled 2022!
Lara