But which “I” felt like an idiot?  And why?  The authentic me or the Inner Critic ego me?  A few days before we opened the play, I was ready to crawl into a hole and quit.  The inner critic was having a field day with this one.  “You can’t do comedy.”  “What the hell is a 45 year old woman doing playing a bee?!?!”   And I don’t even know if I can repeat the horrible things were racing around in my head during the workshop.

On the second day of the voice workshop, we learned how to breathe in order to best support our voices.  But when I tried to do it I failed miserably.  I was trying too hard and thinking about it too much.  Then, when I did the tremoring technique and my autonomic system took over, I breathed perfectly.  Also when we did the various exercises that made us look and sound like idiots (according to my inner critic), exercises that took us out of our habitual ways of moving and making sound, my breathing was effortless.  Apparently, I just needed to get out of my head.

I discovered this past year that I am an introvert and we introverts spend a lot of time in our heads.  Which is great if our minds are open and our heads are filled with expansive thoughts. However, unless the inner critic is kept in check, more likely, there is an endless loop tape of limiting beliefs playing in our heads that is keeping us safe and small.

How have you been challenging those limiting beliefs this summer?  What have you done lately to shake up the routine?  What have you seen and experienced that has taken your breath away with its magnificence?  I hope that you are having a blast challenging those gremlins in your head and doing all sorts of things you thought you couldn’t do.

  • http://www.fitzmauricevoice.com/about.htm
  • http://www.theintrovertadvantage.com/
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwB_zgeNHgA

p.s.  I watched Men Who Stare at Goats the other night and I thought it was very funny and had a great message.  I give it two thumbs up.

I recently read a book, “Zero Limits”, about the Hawaiian healing technique of Ho ‘oponopono.  One of the central principles of the system is that whenever we become aware of something that upsets us, whether it exists in our own lives, someone else’s, or an event like a war or this oil spill, we take full responsibility for it and then repeat the following 4 phrases to ourselves:

I love you.

I’m sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I guess the idea is that if we are all connected and there is no separation, I am BP.  I am Halliburton.  I’m a consumer.  So I’ve been doing a lot of Ho ‘oponoponoing about this spill and pretty much everything else in my life whenever I get the chance.  I have no idea if it will help the situation in the Gulf of Mexico, but at least it feels a little empowering to choose responsibility over finger pointing and rage.

As Einstein said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”  What can we learn from this catastrophe?  How is it a gigantic mirror for anything we need to address in our own lives?  What shifts do we need to make in our thinking to find possibility in the seemingly impossible?

In which areas of your life could you be more fully countable?

What behaviors are you engaging in that are harmful to yourself, your loved ones, and our environment?

In what ways have you allowed inertia to keep you from making the changes you know you need to make?

How can we minimize our carbon footprint?

Peace.

Please check out these links at your convenience…

Ho ‘oponopono

http://www.hooponopono.org/index.htm

Carbon footprint calculator

http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/

Sustainability

http://spiritube.com

Riane Eisler – The Real Wealth of Nations

http://www.womensradio.com/articles/Re-Evaluating-Americas-Value-System/1561.html

Bruce H. Lipton, PhD: What Our Cells Can Teach Us
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bruce-h-lipton-phd-what-our/id307934313?i=83588250

What isn’t working the way you would like?  What do you want more of or less of in your life?  In the world?  What is at stake?

The stakes on this planet are getting higher and higher every day.  With global warming and natural disasters and trade deficits and violence and government gridlock, it’s up to each individual to make the changes we need to make in our own lives.  We are each responsible.  Nobody’s going to fix it for us.  Nobody else is to blame.  We don’t have any more time to waste pointing fingers.  The ego posturing and endless debates are only dragging us further down into the quagmire of domination, objectification, and despair. 

Each of us needs to look into our own hearts and determine for ourselves what we want to create.  What is the legacy we want to leave behind?  What are our unique gifts and how can they be leveraged to make this world a kinder and more sustainable place?  Who are the like-minded people you can team up with?

What is truly important to you?  What are the distractions that are keeping you focused on the inane? Have you traded in your ideals and dreams in order to scramble for your piece of the pie, or whatever leftover crumbs you can scavenge?

Where is the love?  Our joy is our GPS.  For what and/or whom would you lay down your life?  What lights up your heart?  Are you following that passion?  If not, what are you waiting for?  What else is there?

Have you ever really examined and challenged the arguments against change that keep you stuck in mediocrity?  When we shine a light on the fearful messages that our internal gremlins bombard us with in order to maintain our status quo, we usually find that the doom and gloom they are threatening us with is highly unlikely.  Even laughable.

Next time you feel your stomach tightening at the thought of following your bliss, try this.  Do a stream of consciousness exercise, writing down all the objections those inner gremlins are bombarding you with to keep you safe and stable.  Or speak them out loud into a voice recorder.  Get it out of your head and into the light of day and see how much validity there is in these fears.  How much of what you’ve written or spoken into a voice recorder are valid concerns and how much sounds like an over tired 4 year old having a tantrum?  Once those voices have had their say and hopefully quieted down, allow yourself to dream about what your life could be like if you do head down this path.  What you will feel like 5, 10, 30 years on down this road.  What will you feel like 5, 10, 30 years from now if you do nothing towards attaining this dream?

What’s at stake?

I wish you the greatest happiness and the deepest fulfillment.

Why did I choose Verite as the name of my coaching business?  Coaches ask powerful questions that empower the client to find clarity and solutions.  There is no one size fits all quick fix.  The client is the only one who can know what is right or true for them.

When we are living authentically, when we get clear on what is truly meaningful and purposeful for us, things fall into place and the chi can flow freely throughout our lives.   Instead of making things happen, we can do a lot more allowing.  Life gets easier and can be a lot more fun when we are living our truths.