For those of you in the States, a very happy Thanksgiving… and for the rest of us, let’s celebrate another day of gratitude for the lives we have been gifted!
I want to share a personal gem from my journey with you today – another message from a place I call The Women’s Fire.
This is a gorgeous spot on our woodland in Scotland, where three years ago, standing in the centre of a stunning circle of trees, I had a very humbling vision of a project that life inspired me with. The name that came with it was ‘A Call To Stand… for life’ (ACTS for life).
It was humbling because of the way I felt when I received this vision – a hugely expanded heart and deep gratitude for life. It’s always a sign to me of the rightness of something.
But despite this incredibly affirming experience and the creative inspiration that burst forth over the next few weeks, a part of me was too scared to act on it. So I put it on the ‘back burner’ and got on with some less scary stuff around my business.
Looking back through the frustration of not having stepped fully into my vision, I realise that this was in fact a perfect path of preparation for what was coming. I needed to learn how to deal with my fear in the face of stepping forward.
So I began to find a way to let this precious seed of inspiration that had been planted, take root. I needed to tend carefully to the soil and create a nurturing environment for it to have a chance to blossom. I started to tune into the part of me that was creating inertia, trying to protect me from taking a risk and keeping me small so I didn’t expose myself to perceived danger. One ‘block’ at a time, I began clearing the limiting remnants of my ancestral line and the residue from our collective story as women. I learned just how much compassion I needed to have for the younger part of me that was feeling so vulnerable. I needed to tend to her and give her the sense of safety that she’d been screaming for every time I took a bold step forward in the direction of my dreams.
Then a couple of months ago I had another big surge of inspiration to move A Call To Stand forward. The time had come to take action on this feminine calling and so I started sharing my passion and began to take the first steps I could see ahead of me.
And it’s been astonishing to see how easy it is for the scared part of me to start getting anxious again. Only this time the fear came back with a vengeance and dropped me into an unexpectedly deep pit of unworthiness and self doubt.
But this time it was quite different, fascinating even. Because even though I knew I was in a deep pit, I knew it was the perfect place for me to be. The seed that had grown to bud was bursting with desire to blossom and a part of me, terrified of being seen, had tightened her hold protecting the bud from coming into bloom.
On the funny side, I now affectionately call the pit I fell into the ‘pit stop!’ It’s a rather contrasting and un-feminine metaphor I know, but let me explain.
I let myself BE in that ‘delicious’ pit of old conditioning and got see the impact that these illusionary beliefs and contracting emotions were having on my journey and why they existed. And by having compassion for myself exactly as I was and removing ALL judgement, I got to find the resourcing in the experience and was able to change my tires, refuel my tank and top up with water! So it turns out it was entirely necessary for me to fall in the pit – to learn how to love the unloved parts of me and then to re-Source and re-integrate myself for my onward journey.
The reason I’m sharing this is because I know that I’m not alone in this experience and that you will have your own ‘pits’ to reflect on. When you fall in, make it a ‘pit stop‘. Take your time to let the experience inform you and re-Source you in your journey forward.
Ok enough of that metaphor – it definitely doesn’t work to think of us going really fast round and round a race track actually!
So coming back to a more feminine and appropriate metaphor of the bud and the point of this message, I want to highlight how we can allow ourselves to move from bud to blossom.
The truth is, we can’t become the empowered feminine leaders of our visions without meeting, clearing and integrating the fear-based blocks that have been keeping us tight in the bud. The clearing happens in the process of stepping forward and taking a stand, because that’s when we meet our resitance. When the resistance surfaces we need to welcome it and learn to love and nurture the parts that are afraid. As these parts hold the key to our true self expression, we can’t leave them behind. We need to help them feel safe enough to take the journey with us. And that’s how we get to blossom.
In fact that’s how we get to take a stand for life; by taking a stand for ourselves first and allowing ourselves to blossom.
Here’s what I believe: Life wants YOU to become who you really are and to step forward in the world with your gift. Who are you not to? Why would you withhold your blossom in a world that needs everyone of us to return our gifts?
So on our somewhat universal day of thanksgiving, I invite you to invite in your gratitude for life and take a stand for your own blossoming…
I can’t wait to share more about my new project ‘A Call To Stand’ in the New Year. The bud is being nurtured for some blossom in the Spring!
Love and many blessings,
Joey x
By the way, if you haven’t yet picked up my free webinar ‘Awaken Your Gift’ it’s still available here. Awaken Your Gift.
Oooh. Blossoming. I like it! Looking forward to seeing what kind of blossom it is…:)
Me too Jane!