From my place of personal retreat
This morning I awoke to my body’s own alarm clock for the sixth day in a row –
no buzzing cell phones, alarms or blaring radio. Turns out, my
body functions quite well on 6 to 7 hours a sleep as long as I get that
sleep consistently. From my big beautiful King bed with a view
of the ocean, I listened to the gentle pitter-patter of the soft rain on the
roof top, stretched my legs while embracing every stretch deep in my calves all the way to my the tips of my toes.
I
breathed deeply and concentrated on the sound of my breathe releasing
from my body. And then I eased out of bed thinking about how cool it is
that I have seen a butterfly every day of this week-long personal
retreat – a butterfly the symbol of transformation!
As
I made my morning coffee and took in the expansive view of gorgeous Penobscot
Bay at near high tide, I smiled at how fortunate I am to be greeted by
this view each morning. I thought about how much I love to
watch the tide roll in and out - how calm and centering it is. Honestly, I could watch the tide roll in
and out all day. And it strikes me that this is a perfectly acceptable
thing to do when on retreat.
It fills me up as the tide rises to fill
the ocean bed, giving the sea creatures new life and places to explore.
And when the tide descends out to expose the ocean floor, I feel my challenges or perceived problems flowing out with the
tide creating fresh space in my heart and mind for what comes next. Low
tide is perfect because it gives us fertile places to explore and we
always discover something new and interesting. Low tide leaves tide
pools behind to foster that new life and discovery and we always have
the certainty that just as the tide rolled out and exposed something, it
will come back in to high tide and fill us up. Perhaps our most
important lesson from the tide is to learn to go with the flow. To
experience the beauty both as the tide rolls in to fill up the basin and
as it rolls out to expose new life and opportunities and things yet to
be discovered.
I love that thought. I love this day. I am a lucky girl. Today, like the tide, I will go with the flow.
What’s the point?
I came to Maine on personal retreat. And none of these things I just
described noticing in full would have happened had I been back in Minnesota in
my day to day life. So I am celebrating that. I am celebrating me today.
This retreat didn’t start out as such. In fact, it started out
as a business planning expedition and I had hoped that a friend and future
business partner might accompany me here to climb
some big mountains, celebrate my transformation,
and ponder how we might help thousands of people transform their bodies
and lives. Yes, in my mind, it was to be a trip of
big and bold discoveries answering the question: What next? All, while
climbing the big and bold mountains of Acadia National Park.
When
it became clear that this business planning exploration wasn’t going to
work out, I decided
to come to Maine anyway. I immediately and enthusiastically recruited
friends and colleagues to join me for all or part of the trip now deemed part vacation and part business planning. I was
determined to have a climbing partner so as to climb some really big mountains
in Acadia in my new, fit body and spirit. I was a woman on a mission.
About the same time the trip neared on the
calendar and none of my friends and colleagues were able to make it
happen, my life started to get a bit crazy. My sleep slipped to
4-5 hours instead of the needed 6-7; my work life started
to feel a bit out of control and it was clear my growing business needed
me to solve some big challenges; and I began to struggle again with
emotional and compulsive eating issues – out of the blue after 1 ½
years of plan success. It occurred to me that all of these things were signs that I was slipping out of the
center of the equation of my life, and I wasn’t sure how to live in this
new body and new life sans 200+ pounds. I needed a time out. A place of
personal retreat, all alone, to refocus my energy around
Lori in the equation, chapter 2.
What does life look like, feel
like and need to “be” like sans the 200+ pounds I have been hiding
behind for most of my adult life? How do I maintain this record weight
loss as the fanfare surrounding my success dies down and it is just me
standing in the kitchen? And, perhaps most importantly, how do I make
certain that when life’s challenges and opportunities come my way I
remain in the center of my life open to the possibilities before me? How do I ensure that, just like I was open to the opportunities
when I met O’Neal Hampton and Leif Anderson who guided me on this
transformation journey, I can see the new opportunities (perhaps a romance, a new
business, a new partner…) and am ready to grab hold and take the leap?
How do I stay true to myself and my values when relationships challenge me testing my love, fortitude, boundaries, and my ability to let
go and let God? These are the questions that fill my heart. My very happy
heart. But nonetheless, it occurs to me that I don’t yet have the
answers. They lie within me and it is time to explore. This, is my chapter 2.
Lori in the equation #2
And so here I am. Alone. On personal retreat in one
of my favorite places on earth – my friend’s gorgeous coastal home
overlooking Penobscot Bay less than an hour from Acadia National Park. I
am edged between the sea that I love so very much and the mountains that I
have grown to love for all they represent about this journey. I am in life
transition - a place of endless opportunity! And
while I could in no way have predicted this life transition 1 ½ or 2
years ago, I am thrilled to embrace it and ponder what next? My goal is to love
the questions themselves and to live into the answers - as one of my favorite writers
and poets Rilke so eloquently said.
Rather unexpectedly and perfectly I am
doing it for Lori. It is about only Lori. And it is providing me the
time, opportunity and space to look deep into my heart and soul and
determine what I want, what I need, and where I go from here. It is
perfect. It is exactly how it is meant to be...and where it is meant to
be.
What will happen for me this week and beyond is yet to be determined. But, I
have embarked on this “One Brave Thing” experiment to encourage myself
to do one brave thing a day while here and to blog about the experience
in an effort to challenge myself and continue to push my limits. But more importantly, because I CAN!
It is fun for me now to do new things, try new things, be open to new
things. Frankly, it's all I want to do.
This newly transformed Lori LOVES life right now and is
empowered by a new belief and guiding principle that she can do
anything, absolutely anything, she sets her mind to. The opportunities
are endless. I now live from a wholehearted, passionate and connected
place, living and loving with my whole heart, my whole self exposed sans
200 pounds. It is scary at times. This is new territory for sure. But it is from
here – from this place of total and complete authenticity and
vulnerability – that I will blossom and thrive and hope. I also believe it is from here that I will inspire others and change lives –
including my own.
So here I go. Exploring my next chapter and determining how
best to be true to myself and hold myself in the center of my own life,
while doing all the things that I want to do and help all of the people
I want to help. It is from this place that I expect to fall in love,
change the world, and who knows how or when or where. That’s the
exciting part! And yes, perhaps, the scary part. But remember, “I’ve
got this!” “We’ve got this!”
Peace by piece
Just before I got on the plane this past week, I read a blog that
touched me deeply. It was titled, Peace by Piece, by Chris Assaad, and
the opening paragraphs captured my attention as if it were speaking
directly to me and just the right moment. It read:
“Life is a
journey, a process that unfolds one moment at a time. One of the
greatest challenges that we as twenty-first-century human beings face is
living in this world of doing and striving, while at the same time
honoring the here and now, the moment that we’re living in at present.
We
all have sky-high dreams and ambition to reach the top of the mountain,
but so often we forget that it is the quality of every step we take
along the way that will determine not only if and how quickly we reach
our destination, but also what our experience of the path that takes us
there will be like.
As has been said many times before, it is
not the goal itself we are really after, but how we will FEEL when we
get there. It is not the soul mate that we really want, but the
experience of love, connection, and intimacy that we will be able to
share with them. It is not the job itself that we are after, but the
sense of accomplishment and security that will come with it. It is not
the shiny award that we really desire, but the feeling of being enough
and the validation of our ability that it represents. And the great
mystery of life and the spiritual path is that all of those feelings are
available to us RIGHT NOW, not out there but deep within us.”
And so it is. I go exploring, seeing, being, experiencing and listening to my
heart. Ah yes, mountains will be climbed (big ones conquered solo), and
there is something so perfect and so powerful in that. I am exactly where I
should be. And you know what else? I am enough. I am all that I need. And
wow, does that feel incredible to say, write and believe for the first
time in my life. I am indeed enough.
*Stay tuned for my one brave thing a day blogs coming soon.
Congratulations for all the wonderful self-discovery and insights, Lori. I am excited to talk to you when you get home and share in your enthusiasm and happiness. You've always been enough - you've just not been able to see it. So, hurray for all your hard work to find those "feelings available to [you] RIGHT NOW" and here's to a bright future schedule of rolling with the changes. So much life to discover and share in those tide pools..... Bravo, Lori!
ReplyDeleteVery, very, cool thoughts, Lori. I am proud to say I know you!
ReplyDelete