Simple can be hard

I recently returned from a retreat in Mexico and have been integrating the lessons I learned through the experience. There were many. I gained a deeper understanding of?myself and?the way I and other humans construct?reality. I faced aspects of myself I thought I'd already moved past. I deepened my connection with Spirit and my cohort. It felt like a year inside a week.

While I'm still processing everything I learned and experienced, I want to share two big insights I'm sitting with. Neither is new but they both landed differently and have helped me shift the way I'm doing things since I got home. This is the beauty of retreats and time away from "normal" life. The zooming out, the deep connection with self and others, the breakthroughs that are available when you get a bird's eye view, can shift everything about how you relate to life.

Linear time exists even if I'd prefer not to believe in it.?

I was stepping into this year with HUGE ideas and a packed agenda. It became clear that excitement guides a lot of my decision-making. This leads to taking on more than is possible or enjoyable, and future me suffers from over-committing.?

I came home with?the clarity that?I can orchestrate my life to feel spacious and easy. I can live my dreams on timelines that feel aligned. I can take my time and be patient. The ideas, creative projects and opportunities will continue to abound. Time scarcity begets time scarcity. When I'm clear and intentional, I can create the results?and enjoy the journey. I thought I had a grip on this one, but saw that it will always require vigilance and presence.?

There's no need to make things hard in order to take the easy way out.

Another humbling lesson: I saw how despite my?commitment?to flow through life with ease, I?have?been making things hard by setting unreasonable goals and deadlines and doing things I don't enjoy without thinking about how I'm approaching them. It emerged that one of my patterns is to choose the hard path so I can then throw my hands up in frustration and give up or change approaches, but only after making myself wrong. I see now that, once again, with clear intent, I can choose the path that feels both?challenging?and easy. When I'm tracking and following energy rather than getting in my head about outcomes, the path reveals itself.?

What's comical is that I'm good at noticing these kinds of patterns for my clients, and intellectually I understand both of them, but in practice, I wasn't walking the walk, I was just talking the talk. Now I've noticed them (again) I feel lighter and freer. I have identified?places where I can simplify or let go of things that have been feeling heavy or hard. I'm more HERE than I've been in months, and it's been a joy to get back into flow and play as a result.?

As much as it would be lovely to say that you can notice patterns and change behaviours right away and forever, the truth is that presence requires... well, presence. Without practice, vigilance and a degree of ruthlessness it's easy to slide into old behaviours and create a fog that makes things feel like "this is just how life is".

I'm curious if you notice either of these patterns in your own life, or maybe they remind you of other aspects of how you make your own life hard.?

I'd love to hear it!

Love always,?

LJ

P.S. If you're in or near Montreal and want to take a day to zoom out, drop into connection and learn about yourself, your patterns and becoming a better leader, apply to join us at the Connect Retreat on June 1.