"Today I Begin My New Life"

Sorry I sorta disappeared on ya, there.  I've spend the last 4 days in Salt Lake City.  I went for a team training event for my health coaching biz.  The first day was spent with Dave Blanchard, an amazing motivational speaker.  At the center of his talk, he taught about empathy, agape love, how to truly LISTEN to someone to make them feel HEARD and UNDERSTOOD.  I really loved these lessons as I feel these are intrinsic to working with people and helping them with their health and wellness.

One of the stories he told was about a dream he had.  One night he was walking with a huge muslin sack.  A voice told him to drop the sack and look inside.  But he did not want to look in the sack. He knew there were bad things in there. "Look in the sack" the voice said again.  He opened the sack and in them were these metal orbs with spikes all over them.  Each one was a bad memory.  One in particular, he had fallen victim to a pedophile as a child.  He cried as he looked at that orb. He did not want to look at it any longer.  Instead, the voices asked, "Do you think anyone else has suffered this?"  "Yes, of course" Dave replied.  He was then instructed to take the orb and put it into his heart.  He was scared to do this. It meant acknowledging the events, accepting them, no longer ignoring them.  He did as he was told.  He put that sharp, spikey ball into his heart. Suddenly he no longer felt like a "victim".  There was no turning back the clock.  What had happened, happened.  But now....he could use that experience to help others who have experienced the same thing.  A heightened awareness that allows him to look at people with love.

Needless to say, it was a weekend of digging deep into my guts and dealing with some things that maybe I have just tried to carry BEHIND me in a muslin sack so I don't have to look at them.  One of them is my divorce.

Roy and I are getting along....fine.  Everything is "fine". I feel "fine".  It's "fine".  IF you ask me how I'm doing with the divorce....I'm FINE.

Welllllllll......maybe I'm not fine.  Maybe I'm a little anxious about what it's doing to the kids, both now and long term.  Emily doesn't remember us married.  What is she learning about love between a husband and wife? Marriage? So...I'm anxious about it....scared, sad, worried.

This has led me to feeling "stuck" in my health coaching business. I've been shut down. I haven't felt like I could reach outside of myself and help new people.  But you know.... I've felt fear, disconnect, worry, sadness......this can help me help others who are also feeling these things.  We learned to listen, not to create in our minds a response, but to listen to really HEAR the person.  We couldn't say things like, "Me too" and start talking about ourselves.  We could only ask more questions and listen to them, let them talk, make them feel heard and understood. It was an amazing exercise.

The next day was spent on our business-specific training.  I was able to spend intense one-on-one time with so many in my "upline" of mentors.  I received some really, really great advice.

We really ARE just one big family and we all love each other for who we are.  Good thing... because.........

They were just trying to take a nice picture......when the PROBLEM CHILD had to show up. LOL  (I never take myself too seriously....it's incredibly freeing.)

I am so proud of the company I work for.  Our FIRST focus is to love and to help people. To help them get healthy.  To help them get back their lives, get off medications, have energy and ability to participate in life again.

Sunday was spent going to church with a fellow Mormon health coach, an "up-line mentor" of mine.  I am so happy to belong to a church....no matter where I go in the world, I have a home.  Instant home.  And all the meetings are the same around the world.  We are all learning the same lessons on the same day around the world.  The hymn books are the same, the structure is all the same, the way sacrament meetings are run are the same.  I really love that. I felt completely at home on Sunday.

After church, we had dinner (church goes from 1-4 in her ward) and after that, we went down to Temple Square so I could see the temple.  Being Sunday, everything was closed.  But we were able to walk around the Temple Grounds and go to the visitors centers.  Here are a couple pictures:

It was so amazing for this recent convert to be in Salt Lake City.  During the day, seeing the entire valley floor and imagining what it was like soooooo many years ago when the first pioneers arrived.  So grateful for the dangerous mission they embarked on that allows me to practice my faith today.  Being at the Temple Square, I absolutely felt the Spirit around me.  I'm so thankful I got to have this visit.  I know I will be back.

Ok, cats and kittens....I've got more to share with you about Dave Blanchard's teachings and his book "Today, I Begin My New Life" (you should get it!).  I'll be talking about spikey balls, empathy, agape love....the works.  

Fasten your seat belts.  I'm getting "un-stuck".