Self-Activation

Throughout my life, I've heard a variety of people say, in a variety of ways:

"If you want something, go and get it. If you wait for someone to give it to you, you'll never get it."

I've never doubted the wisdom of this advice, but neither could I prove reliability. Ok, if I REALLY wanted something, I might take control of a situation and engineer the results in my favor. This never ended well. The results I got were more like Final Destination; I stepped in, changed the course of the journey and now everything is off. Eventually it must be set right. Unfortunately in life, it should be set right, but it isn't always and people can go through their lives, unhappy and unsatisfied, even angry and bitter, doing what they are suppose to, rather than what is theirs to do.

There is a difference between forcing an event, a relationship, a path and trusting the process. In the first place, there is no ease. The journey is forced and it feels like it. Even though I'm supposedly getting what I want, it is constant work, constant worry and little pleasure. Energetically speaking, all this work to get what I want, regardless, takes it's toll. I am exhausted. How much fun do YOU have when you're exhausted??? Me neither and I'm cranky to top it off.

When I trust the process, I relinquish control but not the work it takes to be successful. Fears and worries melt and the path seems to open before me. In terms of energy, I'm expending less. Interestingly, I've discovered that I am much more intune, I feel as though I am in sync; in the rhythm of of the dance that is my life. For me that also means instead of going-going-going and over-riding my body's signals for mind-body-spirit-emotion rest, I stop and rest.

Sound easy? It isn't. Just because I sense that I am on the right path doesn't mean that all of the work to create what I want to be my life is going to be done for me. I don't live in Hogwart's; dinner doesn't magically appear on the table at dinner time! I have to do the research, I have to study, I have to show up, I have to step into new situations, I have to pay the bills (a bit closer to on-time), I have to practice, and I have to make the calls. But when I do this, the results really feel like mine. I am no longer walking through someone else's life. I have Self-Activated.

I began my experiments with Self-Activation in my Nia classes. Debbie Rosas Stewart and Carlos AyaRosas would give me the cues, "webbed spaces", "sustain", "push the earth away as you step" and I felt the difference. No weights or props in my hands or attached to my body whatsoever. ME. Just me.

(Nice accidental opportunity for the I AM ENOUGH thought!!)

It's work, though. It drains my physical battery so maybe not all the time. After all, my classes don't know how much energy I'm putting out, right?

Potential Spoiler: I'm going to share a trade secret. When I taught aerobics, I learned to "fake it". I could teach several Sports Conditioning, Boxing, Step, Extreme Whatever classes and survive. I survived, but I didn't receive the benefits. I was there, in the front of the class, going through the motions. The point: I was going through the motions!

Self-Activation drains my battery, at first. Like any new activity, mental, physical or otherwise. HOWEVER, if I keep the integrity of my effort, I reap rewards.

POINT: No more faking. No more going through the motions. I want the results, the rewards; I want my life, and my livelihood.

Since I set the intention of doing my best to Self-Activate in my classes, my students have noticed and commented.

Since I set the intention to step into my life, people around me have noticed.

I have changed. I am different.

Am I scared? Sometimes, but I've discovered the difference between being scared (immediate/acute) and being fearful (present over a period of time/chronic) and I am scared sometimes but I am no longer fearful.

How about you? Share your story! Tell me how you have or are Self-Activating and what you've discovered!