xo,
Sunni
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Do you believe the above intention is truly possible? Really be honest with yourself here.
Do you believe that you can create powerful and impactful change in your life, your business, or in the world with any modicum of gentleness, peace, care, comfort and joy in the process?
When you read the above intention it may almost read like a contradictory statement to you. It did to me at one time!
It just did not compute to me that you could be profoundly impactful and create powerful change with gentleness, and peace.
And that was because I had a very firm belief that anything that is powerful, impactful and creates change MUST be really hard, really painful and full of struggle, suffering, major loss, sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears. Insert every “glory” moment you’ve ever seen in any movie, book or tv show.
It’s a cherished story and narrative in our world, and the stories we believe in and value shape our lives. It’s as simple as that.
When we start to tell a new story, we start to LIVE a new story.
New stories take time to take root. If you don’t believe me, just look at history. We told a story of how women were, and what women were good for and not good for, and just look how the NEW story we’re telling about that these days has taken root.
It is still in process of course, and has a long way to go, but look how far it has come! Same with the stories we told about people of color, about people’s sexual preferences and gender identities and more. Just look at all the shit and injustices we used to put up with as humans because it was “normal” and that was “just the way it is”.
And still… the story evolved.
I set the intention in the above image for this year because I have been thinking a lot about cohesion. Which to me means all parts of me moving in the same direction, towards the same goal—a harmonic resonance in my soul with my own true north.
And that cohesion requires 3 things of me:
1. TOTAL clarity on the goal/vision. (the REAL one, the big picture one.)
2. My DECISION and commitment to that goal/vision (the REAL one, the big picture one)
3. And total trust and faith in that direction/goal/vision. (in life, and in myself)
This doesn’t mean that the goal or vision cannot shift or change, or that you cannot change your mind about things. Nor does it mean that you have to be fearless and without doubt in order to have total trust.
Total trust just means willingness to keep stepping out into the unknown in front of you, it means a willingness to keep opening to what is here and now, and what is to come that you do not yet know. All of which requires vulnerability, and an ability to be in and tolerate that feeling.
And perhaps personally, to me total trust means the decision and determination to stay with myself and my true north despite any and all evidence I see to the contrary. Just imagine if all the change makers in this world had given up before they’d seen the change!
So I am aligning myself to my vision, in the most gentle, peaceful, and profoundly impactful way. Because I get to do that with my life and with my magic.
Our magic is our power of intent. And our level of commitment, faith and trust in that intent, despite all uncertainty.
I used to think phrases like “blind faith” and “love is blind” were dirty words. I didn’t really understand them at the time, but now I do. I was made to believe that those things were pure foolishness. It’s funny that now I see them as truly, the only option.
They’re the only option to me because I am really clear that I don’t control life. The best I can do is conduct. But ultimately I have to trust in the flow, and continually step out into the uncertainty of each new day, just like the rest of humanity and every living being on the planet.
My focus and intent absolutely matters. It directs and it conducts the symphony of my life. But at the end of the day I have to trust the flow.
Well… I don’t HAVE TO. That’s where the blood, sweat and tears, struggle, sacrifice and painful harrowing creation of change part comes in. 😀 If I don’t trust the flow, that’s what I’ll do. That’s what I’ll live in. I’ll be split in ten directions trying to wrangle all of my needs and desires out of life like a drowning child.
I will be lost in aiming for the things I think I need to get me to my true north, instead of aiming for my actual true north and allowing what I need to get there to be given with greater ease and joy than I could EVER dream up from my current state.
So if you want to profoundly and powerfully change your own life and the lives of others with greater gentleness, peace and ease, then you must:
1. Get clear on what you REALLY want.
2. Decide and commit to moving toward that.
3. Start practicing total trust and faith in any ways you can.
Like I said, you don’t HAVE to practice trust and faith in yourself and life. But if you don’t, just know that it’s going to be a lot rougher ride.
There is a scene from the movie CONTACT with Jodie Foster that I just LOVE as a metaphor for this:
she is in the space ship that they’ve built from the cosmic instructions they’ve received, and the cosmic instructions for this transportation device didn’t say anything about any captains chair or safety belts for the person who would be flying in it, but the government didn’t trust this and couldn’t make any sense of this (given our current beliefs as a society) and so they put in big captains chair, bolted down to the floor and ceiling with seatbelts and harnesses and all kinds of stuff.
Jodi fosters character has more natural trust and faith and so she asks them why they did this when the instructions they received said nothing of it. They said they would not let her go without all these extraneous safety measures in tact (as our minds/egos often do!!), so she concedes and just straps herself into all of it.
And when she finally does drop into deep space, speeding through wormholes and light tunnels… she is violently jostled about, she and the chair are just shaking and rattling with utter intensity and bracing discomfort as she attempts to relay her experience to the people of earth through the headset.
But at a certain point, as this violent shaking is happening, she see’s her compass necklace float up in front of her face, the one she’s had since she was a child (her true north, her own sense of direction, the thing we all were born with and all still have but do not trust).
When she see’s this, she realizes she doesn’t need to be going through this violent turbulence at all, and the moment she recognizes it, the bolts break on the chair from the floor and ceiling and all of that horrible rattling just disappears as the chair and her body float utterly peacefully and quietly in the center of the ship.
This so beautifully illustrates how when we don’t trust what we’ve received (as the government/mind didn’t trust the guidance they’d received), we “hold on” and grasp super tight (the bolts and belts), in an attempt to stay safe, which often causes us a lot more pain than is necessary. But when we trust our true north guidance and let go, as she did, we are held, protected and transported with far greater ease.
Plus not being braced and violently shaken around like that freed her up to truly enter the awe and wonder of this experience, to really SEE and FEEL the miracle she was in at that moment. In a way she couldn’t possibly have done when she was holding on.
I love that movie so much, it is one of my favorites and absolutely rich with gorgeous metaphors. I cry every single time I watch it.
It is a movie for dreamers, believers, visionaries, leaders, artists, creatives and change-makers. If you haven’t seen it: DO. You will find yourself there.
