I am retaking a class from my mentor, Martha Beck. It’s labeled as a class about anxiety, and it surely is, but it’s also a reminder about magic, mystery, play, and kindness.
In retaking this class, I am doubling down on working with my clients on:
- Body wisdom – accessing it, identifying it, believing it.
- Heart wisdom – accessing it, identifying it, believing it.
- Intuitive wisdom – see above, combine above.
We are also always questioning our stories that cause us pain. The ones where culture taught us to squash our body, heart, and intuitive wisdom in favor of what was appropriate, lady-like, or acceptable. <barf>
In addition to those things above, one of my areas of “work” for myself is practicing PLAY and REST.
Martha is eliminating the word “work” from her vocabulary. She says instead, “Play until it is time to rest and then rest until it is time to play.”
At first glance, my insides go: THAT IS IRRESPONSIBLE.
And then I think about taxes and Quickbooks and getting a mammogram and my insides go: THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
But then I do Martha’s Space, Silence, and Stillness meditation (a whole 4 minutes) and I return to peace.
From there, I realize that it’s my choice to rest and play and to see LIFE as both an opportunity to practice rest and practice play.
I can joke with my mammogram technician about getting my boobies squeezed, we can laugh about what a weird thing it is, and then I can celebrate on the rare occasion that they send me a letter saying “Everything with your mammogram was normal. Please come in and get your boobies squeezed again in a year. Thank you for your serious attention to this serious matter.” And I can laugh, make a paper airplane out of that letter and file it in the round recycle can.
I can also use tax time to review my expenses, delight in cancelling so many subscriptions that I no longer – or never actually – used. I can think about coaching engagements from the previous year that worked or didn’t work (and the truth is, they ALL work, just some not at intended). I can remember the year’s adventures with friends and colleagues. In fact, doing taxes this April, I got to re-live my Salmon River adventure that I took with some of the baddest-assed women on the planet. I found so much joy looking at my receipts, and then spending a whole lotta time looking at our photos from the trip (and not doing my taxes – see how that works?!?! FUN!).
And even though it is summer, and my backyard feels like an oven set to broil and also jammed full of mosquitos, I can wander in my backyard for an hour, not working, no even playing, but resting in the beauty of the birds, chipmunks, growing vegetables, blooming flowers, and shady trees. Until the mosquitoes nearly eat me alive and that’s my signal that it’s time to get inside for inside play or rest.
All this is to say, start everything from a place of peace. Listen to your body. Rest in your heart. Play with your intuition. Repeat.
That’s what my clients and I are doing.
It’s what I’m doing and have been doing for a lot of years (some more successfully than others; some definitely LESS successfully that others…but those are stories for a whole nother post).
And when people ask my about being a Martha Beck Certified Wayfinder Life Coach and an ANFT Certified Forest Therapy Guide who takes clients on immersive experiences for hours or days, and ask how I built this business this way, I say:
Start everything from a place of peace. Listen to your body. Rest in your heart. Play with your intuition. Repeat.
Your life won’t look mine. But the life you create will be one you LOVE.
Warmly,
Angie