What works

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Wake Up. Become aware of what works, and what doesn't, in your life, and in your world. Jean Houston

I got the quote from my friend Joyce's blog, Peaceful Legacies. Using Step One, Wake Up from Jean Houston's nine step process which will be discussed at her upcoming workshop, Social Artistry. Social Alchemy, Joyce writes an open and candid message about the importance of finding meaning and making meaning in our lives and our world.

Yesterday, I had the gift of meeting up with a woman who is taking the same online course as me -- Feminine Power 2010: The Essential Course for the Awakening Woman. We spent a delightful couple of hours listening and telling, exploring and decoding what we've learned and where we're struggling to grow and shift and embrace and understand and accept.

In FP there is a lot of talk about Radical Self-responsibility -- focusing 100% on what is 'us' in every situation. The I am the source of my experiences and my experiences are founded on my beliefs, way of thinking.

Which got me thinking about Joyce's commitment to blog every day about Jean Houston's nine steps for Social Artistry. Social Alchemy.

And my commitment to turn up here every morning and blog about what is happening, what is not happening, what is going well, what is not going so well, what is exciting, what is draining in my life.

Recently, a girlfriend said to me, "You know Louise, your challenge is you believe in Love. Big L. Little L. You just believe in the power of Love."

Not romantic. Not heart-throbbing love but Love. And it's true. I do. Believe in Love.

Oh, I believe in the romantic kind that makes your heart-throb and pulse. I believe in love that makes you crazy, that breaks your heart into a million painful shards that glitter in the light of love and loss. I believe in all that love and then some.

Because, what's working in my life is never about what is 'happening'. It's always about what I believe in.

And I believe in Love.

When I look out my office window and see grey skies, I know, the sun still shines. I believe it is there behind the clouds, hanging out in the universe, just not in a way I can see today. But tomorrow? Ah, tomorrow is another day and who knows what the skies will bring?

When I sit across the dinner table from C.C. and feel a sense of loss in our relationship, I know, love still lives, love still is part of our equation, just not one we're sharing intimately with each other today. But tomorrow? Ah, tomorrow is another day and who knows what love will bring?

In a guided meditation that was part of one of the classes in FP, we were invited to 'visit our future'. To 'see' as only we can see in the powerful space of our imaginations, ourselves as 87 year old women and to listen to what our older selves had to say.

I saw and listened to myself at 87 and was in awe of what is yet to come. "The adventure is just beginning," my 87 year old self said. "Despair not. There is so much excitement opening up ahead of you. So much you are yet to do, to become, to see, to know, to express, to create. Life is extraordinary and I am the evidence of the greatest possibility of your life!"

Tomorrow is another day and for today, my responsibility is to turn up, pay attention, be accountable, speak my truth and stay unattached to the outcome. For today, my responsibility is to fearlessly step beyond the confines of the known into that space where the unknown becomes visible and I become free to express myself. For today, my job is to be a presence of love, loving deeply all of humanity, taking risks from a deeply seated faith where I am aligned with the goodness of life and love.

What does not work in my life is when my beliefs would have me dim down, live small, live a little bit of all that I can be because I fear what other's may think, or that my living up to my higher good will disrupt the status quo. Life is about disrupting the status quo. Growth comes when I step outside my comfort zones to explore that never-ever land of possibilities beyond my wildest imaginings.

What works is when I express myself, fearlessly and openly. What works is when I step into my day pregnant with the creative possibilities of me expressing myself from a foundation of wholeness, harmony and grace. What works is when I surrender fear and fall, with joy and abandon into Love.