Would You Like to Dance?

Obstacle – obstruction,  hindrance,  impediment.  Refers to something that interferes with or prevents action or progress. An obstacle  is something, material or nonmaterial, that stands in the way of literal or figurative progress: Lack of imagination is an obstacle to one’s advancement.

This week has been one hell of an emotional rollercoaster.  A couple of disappointments in a row and there I am in that place asking myself the dreaded questions:  Do I really thing I’m going to make a living at this?  Does anybody really see a value in it?  Should I try to do something else?  Invariably the same answer always comes:  I was born to do this. 

But what about making a living at it? Well that’s quite another story.

I love what I do as much as I love breathing so it always breaks my heart when people come to me to work on their issues and then decide to stop the work before they’ve gotten where it is they say they want to get.  Or they come for the initial session and leave feeling energized and excited for our future work together only to discover later that financially it’s not doable for them.

There is so much trust one needs to have to sustain a business that requires people to pay you to help them to get what they want in life and in the process look at the thoughts they hold that stand in the way.

It’s extremely disappointing to open your heart and mind for someone only to find out they’re too frightened to take the journey.  Not to mention the impact it has on my finances.  And when I say impact I mean that I have to start going without things because of it.

If enough of this happens in a short time span I find myself where I was this afternoon, feeling deflated and defeated and staring at my altar with my gaze fixated on my statue of Ganesh who is, in Hinduism, the remover of obstacles.  Right before my mind starts down that well worn path where I ask for that kind of intervention a voice in my head says:

Do not ask for the obstacle to be removed.

Embrace the obstacle and dance with it.

Dance?  Really?  I’d rather not, I say.

Silence.  They’re waiting.

And so I did.  I was so rigid and uncomfortable at first.  We waltzed my obstacle and me, and as the discomfort grew so did the awareness that there was no choice but to surrender.  I let go of the resistance and in so doing, let go of the pain.  And then I noticed that the obstacle was totally supporting me while we danced.  My feet were not even touching the ground. I began to understand what a disservice I had done to myself all of my life by wishing for the obstacles to be removed; by not understanding that inside each one of them was a healing and a pathway to a stronger, wiser version of me.  Strength and wisdom that would serve me so that I could serve others.

And so we dance and I Iearn:
that in order to teach perseverence, I must learn it myself.
in order to help others let go of limiting thoughts, I must learn to move through my own
that the most beloved teacher comes disguised as obstacles and that underneath it all everything is working for my highest good

And it is with another layer of understanding that I announce my latest venture:

A three week teleclass called:

Taking Care of Your Business When It’s Not Taking Care of You: How to Transform obstacles into growth.

Thursdays June, 10, 17, 24.

7:00 – 8:30 PM Eastern Standard Time

$65

I hope you’ll join me.  Ganesh will be there too.  More details to come as the time gets closer.