They say that we've moved into having portfolio careers where we have more than one string to our bow. Most blogs posted here tackle change management, personal development, communication and influencing with a smattering of purchasing and well being thrown in. In other words what the large majority of my coaching and facilitation involves.
In today's blog I share, by request, a short story I wrote that others have found to be insightful, and which strays beyond my normal offering - the essence of which aligns with everything I do.
Love
was a wave and she was a very lonely wave. She had travelled the globe in search of something more than the life
she had. Surely there must be more to
life than rising and falling and being dictated to by the bright glowing circle
in the sky.
She’d tried to ask other
waves if they felt the same as her but they never stayed around long enough to
give her an answer. From watching them
she thought they looked satisfied enough. The sounds they made when the wind whipped them against the cliffs in
far flung places certainly sounded like enjoyment to her. Although she did wonder about that as she’d never
had the courage to actually have a go herself. Instead she chose to hang back and watch as other waves moved forward
and took the momentum. She had tried to
change her shape like some waves so that she may take the surfers into her very
centre and yet she hung back scared of hurting them. She’d also tried to do that thing with the
air to make her very edges all white and foamy. But she withdrew fearing she’d not be able to go back to how she was. She also envied those waves who had the
confidence to carry large ships towards their destination in their wake.
It
was on one such day when she’d really had enough. She really was useless she felt and couldn’t
do anything all the other waves could. Either she didn’t have the courage, the experience or the
expertise. She also didn’t have anywave
to ask questions and share it all with. It was in this heavy and depressing mood that she felt her self dragged
down. Dragged deeper than she’d ever
been before.
Deeper, darker,
colder.
If she had felt fear in the past
it was nothing to how she felt now. Down
and down she went,.
Deeper, darker, colder.
Her thoughts slowed right down, as if time itself was starting to move
into slow motion.
Deeper, darker,
colder.
Until
she finally came to a stop. She couldn’t
see anything, she couldn’t feel anything and she was struggling to think
anything.
She realised she was very
tense and tried very hard to relax and allow some space between every fibre of
her being. As she did this she realised
that she felt a little better. So for
the next few - she didn’t know what they
were - they could have been seconds,
minutes, hours, days or even weeks. So all
we can say is that as time passed she felt lighter.
She practiced very hard allowing space
in-between every fibre of her being. She
couldn’t do it all at once. She had to
pick some part of her and concentrate very hard on that part and just breathe
and allow space inside. It was as if
part by part she was getting lighter and brighter, and was it her imagination
or was she feeling a little warmer too?
What
she found however was as soon as she started to wonder about what was
happening, how it was happening and try to make it go quicker she started to
feel the cold, she started to emanate less light. Each time she then had to take a breath and
start all over again. Slowly working her
away around each part of herself.
Over
time she was able to hold on to this lighter and brighter state for
longer. She found she didn’t have to
concentrate quite so hard and could still manage to maintain this lighter and
brighter state.
Finally
she managed to be the lighter and brighter state. It was as if she had changed. It was as if she was no longer the wave trying
to be brighter, trying to be lighter she was simply a bright and light wave. She puzzled over this for some time. She felt like she was still herself but she
somehow knew she was different. The
added brightness and added lightness had in some way changed her.
Of
course what she had failed to notice was that once she was this different state
she had also started to rise. Until
finally she neared the surface and noticed her own lightness reflected in the water
around her. She came to the surface and
took a deep breath and allowed the rays of the sun to warm her.
She looked around her and could see many
waves all with the same lightness and same brightness as her. She felt an acceptance from them that she had
never felt before. An acceptance for who
she was and not what she could or couldn’t do.
She
stayed with the other waves for many moons. She did many things she’d never tried before. She especially enjoyed the rushing into caves
and being dragged back out with the momentum of those around her. She even had time to perfect the tender
holding of surfers as they danced within her very core.
After
one particularly exciting day she started to feel different. She started to feel even brighter and even lighter. As if even the very binds that were holding
every part of her together were being pulled gently apart. Having been in the deep, dark and cold place
before she didn’t consider this scary and even felt some excitement about what
was happening. And so she simply allowed
the transformation to take place. Until
it was as if she was everything and everywhere all at the same time. There was certainly more ease, even more
light, and bright just wasn’t the word for it. She just was, and realised that she had always been all that there is - LOVE.
Postscript: a Landscaping Your Life website was launched in November 2015 - so for more on this effective process do please go and visit.
