Blessings

This year we have a convergence of holidays. As we vault ourselves into spring, we celebrate the rising of Jesus Christ’s soul at the same time as the last night of Passover, the exodus out of slavery for Jews. This year we converge as well with Holi, the Hindu holiday celebrating the end of winter, the beginning of spring and the blossoming of love. It is truly a time for blessings. It is truly a time of reflection and perhaps change.

Imagine, if we all thought about these holidays together and internalized their combined meanings. The blossoming of love within ourselves. The end of feeling like a slave to others’ judgements and thinking and a renewed love of ourselves just as we are. The purest part of us, our soul, aligned with the universe and guiding us to where we are meant to be, sacrificing what we thought we SHOULD do for what is truly our heart’s desire.

What would be different in life if we lived this way? Freeing ourselves from what we believe other’s will think of us. Not caring what other’s think as that is about them, not us. Aligning ourselves with the path the universe is guiding us to instead of fighting it because it may mean change. Shedding the weight of judgment once and for all and allowing our true selves to blossom in love.

For some it may mean changing our vocation to align with who we are now, releasing the fear that change creates. Many times we focus on the negative part of change; “how will I live on less money?” “I had a plan though, this changes it.” ” What will people think if I just sell everything and move on with my life the way I want?” When I decided to leave corporate America 3 years ago, my dad was very upset and concerned. His only thought was about the money I was leaving on the table. I told him I wasn’t worried, and I never was. I would figure it out, I would do what I needed to do. Last year, he told me, ” you were right to leave, I have never seen you happier or more relaxed.” The stress that my full time career created within, the stress that I allowed and that I let overtake who I really was is a big part of why I needed to leave when I did. It was no longer about anything except getting back in alignment spiritually, emotionally, physically and mentally. It was about letting go of the identity I thought I needed to become who I was meant to be. I am not sure I was aware that I needed to do all of that at the time, in hindsight, I see it as clearly as possible.

For some it may mean changing how we operate, how we move about in this world. I was definitely more of a “control freak” when I was misaligned. I tried to control the outcome of most situations. Now I realize that is a falsehood. All you can really control is how you react to situations. You can’t control others, although many of us try. You can’t control what is happening around you. You can’t control the situation, as the universe is in control. You can control you. You can control how you react, the steps you take, but too often I was trying to control a particular outcome. Now I know, the universe may have a better path than I have, a better outcome than I think. I create an intention and do my work to align with it knowing that the timing and the actual outcome will flow. Many times in our effort to control the timing and the outcome, we resist the stream of well being that is flowing. This can be so hard for us, as so many of us believe that we have created the exact life we wanted. And perhaps we have. What we have missed out on is the “better” outcome that could have been co-created with the universe. I now live more by the principle of “this or better.” This is certainly a work in progress from this self-prescribed over-achiever and control freak. During this convergence of blessings, it is clear to me that I am not in control, no matter how hard I want to be.

For some it is about loving ourselves with the ferocity that we love others. We tend to believe that it is selfish to love ourselves, to care for ourselves before we care for others. From my experience, there was no self love before. There was self-care, but it was never about loving myself, it was always about recharging. Now it is about truly loving who I am no matter what; no matter my weight, my grays, my laugh lines, my age, my emotions. Moving from always being self-deprecating (which was a defense mechanism, say it before someone else did) to not beating myself up for things was a huge game-changer. Self-love is the first and only love that truly matters. Once we have that, we put a vibe out that is about love, joy, gratitude and it is reciprocated.

For all it is about truly focusing on the blessing of situations. What are we learning? What are we changing? What joy and gratitude, what appreciation can we have in place of stress, sadness, anger, frustration? These holidays converging today allow us to truly focus on the blessings in our lives. These holidays converging today allow us to focus on gratitude and appreciation for where we are in our lives, where we are going in our lives and who we have walking beside us.

Blessings.