A Milestone...

Yesterday was an important milestone. I am exactly half way through this sabbatical. Wait, let me count the months again... yes, half way through! I was reflecting on the road thus far. I really had no idea what would come of this and have always consciously kept my options open all the way through this. I am amazed at how far I have come and how far I still want to go! As I was writing in my journal, I began to think - what am I half way through and what have I completed?

• I am all the way through Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain and The Intention Experiment. In January and February, I was obsessed with this material. Both of these books are modern scientific foundation work for disciplines of spirituality that have been in existence for thousands of years (Buddhism, Hinduism, QiGong, Catholicism, shamanism, etc.)
  
• I am half way through Hands of Light, Light Emerging and Sacred Contracts. The first books were important foundation reading for the second set of books. Ah, the wisdom of guidance! (By the way, if you use these Amazon links to buy these books, I get a bit of money through their referral program.... thanks for your support!)
  
• I am half way through my life and my career - perhaps 2/3.
• I have a doctorate and several other certificates and degrees, and yet there is so much I still want to learn. I look at my bio and I don't recognize that person any more.
  
• I some ways I feel like I have lived several lifetimes and in other ways I never grew up.
• I am open and closed, satisfied yet yearning, courageous and fearful, loving and selfish, angry and peaceful, light and shadow, curious and inattentive. I am all of these, and more.
  
• I feel like the best is yet to come!

Last Monday, I had a great coaching call with Chris. She could see that I am deeply moving into the Individualist/Pluralist stage, where I am feeling the polarity and the pull of what we often call "black and white thinking". She helped me see that I have been setting up and challenged by polarities. Aha! I get it! Now I see why they changed the name of this stage to Pluralist, because of the learning about polarities. LOL!!

So one of the key questions for a person in this stage / for me is: How do I embrace the dichotomy? Chris' advice: It is through trial and error and continually focusing on what I want to create. You know, the ol' "staying in the moment" thing....

One of the challenges that I have always had is to keep an open mind and look for other possibilities. I begin to make an either/or decision, dutifully performing the classically trained "pros and cons" analysis. Because I am out of my comfort zone in the unknown, I often leap to making a decision once I see two choices available. I thought creativity was pushing beyond the first two choices available.

I was pushing deeper on this last idea in my journal this morning. As I was working through the Sacred Contracts book, Caroline Myss kept stressing that "we all have all of these archetypes within us". We have within us a microcosm of everything that is. In spiritual terms we often talk about the "oneness of everything". This concept finally and firmly hit home with me this morning. We are our own unique blend of everything - sort of like our own "unique recipe" and blend of all ingredients. Lately, I have been discovering and exploring "my own recipe" (archetypes).

Up to now, this sabbatical has been about pushing the envelope for myself, going to the extremes to see my potential and test my limits (and, by the way, making some people very nervous in the process). In some ways, this has been the "X Games" of personal development.

In my conversation with Chris, we were talking about pulling back and focusing on balance - between action and stillness, between being alone and with others in relationship, etc. I test my archetypes through my sacred contracts with others in relationship. I need both. This month's theme is about "re-balancing", looking beyond the dichotomy and embracing the full polarity, the entire uniqueness of my own "recipe" and seeking the entire unique "recipe" of others. That I believe is creativity, the ability to embrace and work with all of that. In each moment, we are bringing forth one or several aspects from a range of all possibilities that we all have within us.

In order to re-balance my life, I have started to move into action. I became an employee at Simply Massage, I have been busy scheduling and giving private Reiki / energy balancing sessions with people, and I started training last Friday to become a hospice volunteer. I can be still within and be in action.

When you become a warrior, you learn to meditate in every action.
Socrates in Peaceful Warrior

Love, Mj XOXO