What’s on the Horizon

You can learn more about a man in an hour of play, than year of conversation. ~ Plato ~

We all have them. Those moments in time that have caused us pain, left us feeling rejected, lost, alone, less than, not worthy of love, joy, caring, affection.

And in those moments are the grains of sand that become the stories we tell about the limitations of our lives. Within those moments are the reasons, and excuses, we give as to why we are in pain, feeling rejected, lost, alone, less than, not worthy of love, joy, caring, affection.

We are all born to live in grace. To be loved. To know joy. To have lives of wonder and awe.

But life has a way of happening. And in its happening, we learn methods of coping with pain, loss, rejection and a whole host of human attributes that caused us pain — not necessarily because the other person wanted to cause us pain, but rather, because they were simply acting out of their pain and fear. In our coping with our responses to their words and actions, we forget the beauty and magnificence of our human condition. We forget our capacity to love, to find joy even on the darkest days, to feel love even in the darkest nights.

I have just spent five days in the Choices Seminar training room. Five days immersed in the human condition awakening to it beauty, wonder, awe and magnificence as trainees began to take the journey into the heart of what they want more of in their lives and what they need to do or change or become to have it.

In her opening comments Mary Davis, one of the facilitators and daughter of Thelma Box the founder of Choices, describes Choices as a program that presents simple tools so that each of us can live better lives. The question we all face is, “If better is possible, is good good enough?”

When it comes to living lives of joy, grace, peace and love, better is always possible.

Throughout the seminar, trainees answer questions and work through exercises that help them identify for themselves what behaviours continually interfere with their feeling happiness, joy, peace, love. They learn tools to help them listen better to what another has to say without feeling like they have to make the other wrong to be right, or vice versa, or to feel like they must constantly defend their position. They practice tools that teach them how to ask for what they want, without feeling rejected or invisible and how to give themselves medicine so that they can take care of those they love without always feeling like they are running on empty.

It is a powerful 5 days and no matter how many times I am in that room, I always learn something new about myself, my self-defeating games and the things I do that block me from having the ‘more’ of what I want in my life and in the world around me.

Being part of that circle reminds me every time that we are all miracles of life, all magnificent in our human condition. All perfectly human in all our human imperfections.

It reminds me that the pains we carry, the hurts and sorrows, the anger and grief are not our destiny.

It reminds me that we are human beings on the journeys of our lifetime. This lifetime in which we are free to let go of what brings us down so that we can become the light, the beauty, the magnificent human being we are truly meant to be.

It reminds me that no matter how dark or heavy the past, Love is always the answer.

Being in the Choices room is always a week of miracles. A week of connecting heart to heart. A week of wonder and awe that only gets brighter the more I use my tools and live my life fearlessly in the now.

Choices gives everyone an opportunity to look in the mirror and fall in love with who they see.

What a wonderful gift!

The question is: Are you willing to take the journey of your lifetime fearlessly letting go of what doesn’t work for you anymore?

Namaste.