Coming from a childhood of uncertainty, I have adopted an almost obsessive dependence on having a plan and being prepared. I was the kid without an umbrella in a rainstorm. I was the kid in full winter gear the first day of 80 degree weather. I was the kid the teacher had to constantly remind about the permission slip, long after all others had turned in theirs. I was the kid with no clue about how to make a life run smoothly. In my adult life, I've come to enjoy the rewards of being prepared and organized and feel uncomfortably off kilter when I'm not.

I recently completed a weekend intensive in my life coach training program at the Southwest Institute of the Healing Arts (SWIHA), consisting of a Friday evening and all day on Saturday and Sunday. These weekends are exhausting and filled with amazing information relating to personal growth and life coaching. The wonderful thing about being at SWIHA for any class or workshop is that I always receive loads more than the course content.

Prior to this particular weekend, I'd been feeling under the weather for a week and built up much angst and anxiety around how I would get through it. The biggest problem being, I didn't want to just "get through it". I am deeply committed to the life coach training and aspire to squeeze out every drop of learning offered. How could I simply physically survive the weekend when I truly desire to dive in and play enthusiastically with others in my coaching tribe and with the new tools being delivered to us? To add to my growing sense of unease was the fact that on Friday, we were to coach members of the public attending an evening event at the school (YIKES).

A post mortem on the reality of that weekend illuminates an underlying blessing. Because I was feeling less than 100%, I had no energy to spare. Instinctively, my body discerned there was no energy to waste on over thinking, jitters or beating myself up. Somewhere inside me, executive decisions were being made without my conscious awareness. My internal Board of Directors additionally proclaimed our usual program of “self prescribed boundaries of protection” must also fall to budget cuts. As a result of all this glorious downsizing, I received the full benefit of each and every exercise we practiced: as a coach and a client. The entire weekend becoming a valuable lesson in the power and beauty inherent in the act of letting go.

One of my favorite bloggers, Silver Rose wrote, "When there is no resistance, all the things you’ve been asking for over the years, those things that have been held in escrow waiting for you to allow yourself to receive come flooding into your life. Things that would have taken me more hours than I have to orchestrate are happening for me, easily and effortlessly. The same is available to you."

I am now branching out and searching for new opportunities to balance the gift of letting go with my much loved habit of preparedness, having new comprehension that a life too scripted or planned out may not allow for divine guidance and spirit’s direction. For me, that is incentive enough.

Is there an area in your life where you can practice and play with the idea of “letting go”?  I'd love to hear about it.

Loving me,
Suzanne