“Do one thing every day that scares you.”–Eleanor Roosevelt
The other day I posted this question on my page on Facebook:
What is one thing that scares you? Is it possible to lean into the discomfort of it just a teeny bit?
And breathe?
There. How bad was that?
I love rattling the cage just a bit to get some (stuck) energy moving. I love even more when it moves people to respond: to ask, answer, nudge back. Right away someone piped in with a query:
How do you choose just one thing?
Good question. Here’s an expanded version of my reply:
When in doubt pose it as an open-ended question: “One thing that scares me right now that I can lean into is…”
Go with your first impulse. Keep it simple. Choose something that doesn’t overwhelm you or fry your circuits.
The point is to practice softening resisting patterns by “feeling” them fully to the degree that you can handle them; by inserting compassionate awareness into those icky, uncomfortable dark corners of your life – without fixing or judging them. That’s the work.
Over time, the issue or pattern will begin to dissolve all by itself; to lose its grip on you and lead to a spaciousness in you that wasn’t there before.
That’s a pretty good trade-off I think. 😉
If you found this message helpful, please forward it to someone else (or share, tweet, pin… ) and let’s build the clearing energy together that will help to lighten all of our loads!
