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The Friday Spark

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This week’s creative spark is from Filling The Well, Spirited Nourishment for Creative Trailblazers, Simple Ways to Sprinkle a Little Soul Into Your Daily Life by Suzanne Vadnais Monson

Go With The Flow

How do you handle change? Think back to a time when you were in a new situation, changed jobs, moved, started a relationship, or took those often-awkward first steps toward an important goal. What comes to mind as you relive these squirmy moments?

For many of us, change brings out our biggest fears. Something about not knowing what is happening triggers our deepest insecurities. We lose our ability to focus on the present moment because we are convinced the sky is falling. We forget to breathe, lose faith, and imagine the worst.

During times of transition we are given the opportunity to learn more about who we are and the world we live in. What simple steps can you take to help ease yourself through change? Pay attention to activities that help ground you, little rituals that fill you with comfort and a sense that you can trust the flow of your life. When you catch yourself going off the deep end, remind yourself to choose curiosity over fear, and give this simple ceremony a try.

Visit a stream or river and sit quietly at its side. Meditate for a moment on how the moving water isn’t worried about the constant state of flux that is the life of a stream. It simply drifts by on its journey to the oceans. Ride the current, swim with the possibilities, wash away your worries and ride the waves. If there is a particular situation you are having difficulty with, offer it to the stream. Find a leaf or feather to symbolize your issue. Place it on the surface of the stream, while repeating these words aloud: Let this gift symbolize my desire to flow with the changes in my life. If you don’t have access to a real live stream, use your imagination to visualize completing this powerful exercise.

Though it is uncomfortable not having the answers or a sense of what the next step is, it is in the process of exploring new opportunities that we grow. Change. It’s a given. Visualize yourself moving gently down the stream of your life.

Sparkers – Filling The Well © 2006 Suzanne Vadnais Monson for Coaching Toys Inc – Sparkers, all rights reserved.

Let us know how you like this Sparker. Tell us about your rituals for managing change. To read more Sparkers by Suzanne

The Friday Spark – Starting Over

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This weeks Sparker is from The Wake Up Call by Dara Fulkerson.  A wake-up call is our own Self, signaling the beginning of transition, and It wants us to be conscious as the transition occurs.

The Wake-Up Call –
Starting Over

If a life-changing wake-up call has rocked our world, then
starting over in some aspect of life is inevitable. There are several typical approaches: re-create what we had, loved and enjoyed; do
the opposite of what didn’t work that led to the wake-up call; or create
something we always wanted that we believe will make us happy.

There is also an unconventional option: letting go of all
ideas, beliefs, hopes, dreams, wants, desires, shoulds, self-images and visions
of the future – and allowing life to choose what’s next. In our pro-active, make-it-happen culture
this is heresy. But for most people,
some of the best things in life happened spontaneously without advanced thought
or planning. Without our agenda at work,
life delivered delightfully.

Self-Awareness
Exercise:
Make a list of all the
things you think should or shouldn’t be happening in your life, your beliefs
and ideas about the way your life and the world should work, everything you
know for sure, and a detailed description of your dream life. Now, be willing to be wrong about everything
you just wrote and for none of it to ever happen. See if you can relax and trust the creative
source of all life to bring what’s next.

Quote:

“Imagine that you were able to
completely and absolutely give up control on every level. If you were able to give up control
absolutely, totally, and completely, then you would be a spiritually free
being.”

 from Emptiness Dancing
by Adyashanti

Read more Wake Up Call Sparkers by Dara at www.coachingtoys.com/wakeupcall.html

To read reflections and learnings about living consciously visit Dara’s blog at www.thewakeupcall.typepad.com

 Sparkers
– Wake Up Call © 2006 Dara Fulkerson for Coaching Toys Inc – Sparkers, all
rights reserved.