So. We’ve been given an extra day.
Bonus!
Or maybe it’s more like this:
You can, if you feel drawn to try this, imagine or pretend or choose to believe that you’ve been given an extra day.
Why not? You could try that on. As an experiment. An internal investigation.
What could you do with an extra day?
Especially if this day was secretly a door.
Or an opening.
You could have a tiny adventure.
Possibly by proxy.
You could discover something new about how you approach the world.
You could give a small chunk of time to getting to know more about a mysterious project or the germ of a tiny sweet thing.
You could rewrite a pattern or an internal belief.
Just a little. Just to find out what it’s like.
And you wouldn’t have to change very much.
One word. One piece. Maybe two.
What if this is the day when you find out what you are like when your system is running a new string of internal programming?
Like this.
A word that’s been coming up a lot in the comments and at Rally recently is “achievable”. As in:
Thing X, that I desire, is not achievable.
That sentence may be true in this moment. And it also serves to both reflect and reinforce an internal rule.
So what if we altered — just for a day — one piece of that rule?
If we decide that we’re not going to do away with the rule altogether but just play with it a little, how about one of these?
Stop at the one that has the least resistance for you but still gives you pause.
That’s usually a good place to enter any practice.
- “This thing I desire is not achievable yet.”
- “This thing I desire does not appear to be achievable yet.”
- “I am not yet clear on how this thing I desire could come into my life.”
- “I am allowed to desire this thing I desire, and there is probably something important in this for me. The essence of that desire could be achievable, and I can find out how.”
- “Even though I haven’t figured out yet how this thing I desire can become achievable, there could still be a way that I don’t know about yet.”
- “Even though it appears that I have lots of internal rules about how things can happen, I am learning about the sense of safety and security that my rules give me, and I am getting curious about other ways that I can give myself safety and security.”
- “I do not know what is achievable, but I can still plant wishes and learn about the part of me who sees possibility as well as the part of me who is invested in not having this.”
And then find out what happens.
Who is the version of you who doesn’t have that hard and fast rule about what is achievable. How do you even define [+achievable]?
What happens to you when you interact with internal structures and forms, and make space for you to learn about what’s possible?
In my experience, even tiny shifts in approach can lead to astonishing things. And that’s as good an experiment as any for an extra day.
It doesn’t matter what you try. The point is that we play.
We’re making room to find out.
This is the work of self-fluency. This is interior interior design. Very, very interior.
It’s a day of leaps.
Of course you don’t ever have to take a leap, because there are always less scary ways to create change. No leaping required.
But if we think about the leap as a gap or an entry, the leap becomes a portal. A chance. Maybe even a fairy door.
I will see you on the other side.
Play with me! The commenting blanket fort.
Let’s plant some gwishes for the Day of Leap. You can also silent retreat if you like.
I’m going to try to think of one thing I might do/think/try differently. And you’re welcome to do the same, or make fun experimental plans for leap-worthy things.
Usual comment zen applies. We all have our stuff. We’re all working on our stuff. It’s a process. We play. We make room for each other. We are patient and present.
Love, as always, to the commenter mice, the Beloved Lurkers and everyone who reads.
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Some things happened yesterday that have left me feeling stressed and sad today. Not the way I want to feel on the day before the Day of Leap, let alone on the Day itself. And yet, here I am.
So, I am playing with: Co-existence. The possibility of joy, peace, faith and confidence co-existing with the sad and scared and stressed. The possibility that one end of the spectrum does not negate the other. The possibility of intra-personal companionship and cooperation. No, wait, cooperation sounds too should-y. Companionship. Myself companioning myself. I’ll focus on that.
I think my Leap Day will be Shiva Nata-focused, so I can make big leaps that don’t feel so big. I have a few areas of stuck that have been approached from every angle I can think of and I would love to make that Shivanautical connection on them so I can know what I already know, already.
My leap day is my last day in my current condo. Any other year (that is non-divisible by 4) it would be March 1 tomorrow and I’d be moving in to my new, much better place. Instead I’m stuck here for an extra day.
My leap day was supposed to be the start of the yoga teacher training I enrolled in, but the dates got changed to early April.
So, I’m playing with leap day as a way to explore my relationship with timing and change.
Day of Leap! Bonus! Yay tiny adventure! 🙂
This is exactly what I need. A day to shift things. To go through a door.
I have been playing with believing that the thing I desire is achievable, even though I don’t know how yet, and this post appears to be a clew! A clew to lead me through the portal to a place where this is possible, and I can find the way!
I can’t wait to Leap!
I will be starting off my day of leaping by going and getting a massage, which is awesome because only a few weeks ago I couldn’t bring myself to spend money on doing something like that for myself.
I’m going to be experimenting with how it feels to think of this as an investment in myself and in the ideas I’m growing in the world, rather than as a luxurious indulgence. One which I should be practically crippled or have a limb hanging off to be able to justify.
What if I treated my whole day as door for investing in myself, focusing on using the resources I have now to make the day more enjoyable and pleasurable? What would I do?
YES
I love it.
A loving, playful, lighthearted approach that can also be undertaken in a teeny tiny way (so as to avoid monsters).
and it’s erev.
did i get that right?
the evening before the day?
also the day before the month.
anyway – it’s the time before.
and that time deserves some space in the time-space continuum in the mind-space.
but now i’m just rambling.
What I did for this day – I have been canceling appointments. I cleared some space towards the end of this week so I wouldn’t be running around like a madwoman. And I feel calm about that.
What I’d love for this day – an hour in the morning for a little adventure and writing time. Some extra space. With colors!! And colored enveloppes.
The not-yet-achievable things to have a little think about :
– a finished paper
– more time for dancing and moving
– a super force field that protects my writing and will help me through the defence of the phd thesis
*** blows fairy dust & kisses ***
I had intentions of working (deadlines! classes! ack!) but instead decided to take a little detour into self-care and had a really lovely almost-nap that was replenishing. And then I mucked around the future site of my garden, which is both literal and sort of proxy-ish.
Love leap. 🙂
Gwishes:
* Cute and comfy landing slippers.
* A suitable adventure for me and my cloak (beyond the leap). Maybe something sketching-related? (Doesn’t have to involve physical travel.) Or making time to read/write some fantasy work? (The hinges on that door are both rusty and squeaky, and the stained glass windows in it cloudy. Hmmm.)
Some things I currently feel sad and conflicted about, in relation to what feels like their massive out-of-reachness:
* watching tv/movies with spouse/friends
* finishing story N and exhibit T
* becoming functional in Mandarin
* rebuilding my singing voice
Ways I could interact with the sadness and tension:
* construction and decoration of safe rooms
* ponder small gestures to these things — perhaps one evening once a quarter? That won’t appease the all-or-nothing monster, but might be enough to placate some of the resentment/guilt/envy demons?
* write to or about it
Ways I could celebrate the extra-ness of leap day:
* visit my favorite bakery (especially given that their holiday-related offerings often make me chuckle)
* write postcards to friends with the date writ large
* extra encouragement from both Past Me and Slightly Future Me re how compassionately and graciously I am able to deal with the day’s challenges
February, you went by so very very very fast. I’m glad you’re giving me an extra day with you before I move into March.
I think my day of leap experiment will be about congruence. It’s a concept I’ve been intrigued by but haven’t played around with much yet. Certain things are giving me clews that maybe now is the time, so for the Leap I will try to just notice what’s congruent and what isn’t. No shoulds, just notice.
I have planned something very risky and potentially life changing for leap day. A big leap into newness. It’s the second big risky life-changing thing this year (actually this February) and the first turned out to be fantastic.
Today, I was stranded at a big expensive shopping mall, usually the kind of place that gives me the willies and makes me feel all outsiderish and alien. And today, somehow, I had fun! I had lengthy, human encounters with genuinely helpful lovely salespeople! I found things that were exactly right — I even got two designer pieces at hundreds of dollars off that totally suit me, but bring my dressing up to a new level.
I also screwed up by forgetting to turn my phone on for an important call that I’d got up the nerve to arrange. I beat myself up for missing it, but at some level realized I’ll manage ok without the aid of that conversation.
I fired someone I like and respect who was bad for me. Hard, but I did it.
What I want to plant: Instead of jumping ahead to the worst case scenario (and all the anxiety that entails), learning to leap to imagining the best!
L’chaim!
I think for the Day of Leap I will be playing, once again/still, with perception. What do I know? What do I think I know? What is an alternate perception of this situation? How can I shift the energy related to stuck projects, or my relationship regarding this period of big deadlines?
And also, playing with perceptions of safety, of enoughness, of play itself. Of knowing this is the thing I need and desire (whatever the thing is, but also the Floop itself) even though there may be a conflicted-wanting hidden inside it, or parts of me that are invested in the status quo.
If I had a magic day, a window, a door, an entry, all to myself, it would be: restful, quiet, productive. Feeling engaged with doing, and with feeling, and with recovery from what came before. With knowing that exiting is not forgetting and related things.
I am so excited for tomorrow. For possibility and exploration! Rewriting, exploring, percepting ahoy! See everyone on the flip side 🙂
I have been so looking forward to the Day of Leap. Although it turns out that today is much heavier than I would have liked it to be, I’m experimenting today with being here for myself in what is.
And wriggling with excitement and joy and anticipation for the Floop!
I’m in a rut, and I can’t even see where or how or what EXACTLY is rutted.
(I am sick today, and have been for a few days, which usually sours my mood and outlook a bit, so I’m trying to have patience with myself and recognize this frustration as partially illness-induced claustrophobia)
Still the thing(s) I desire are definitely achievable— I would tell anyone with the same desires to go forth and make it happen—- but I’m not sure how. And as I try more and more avenues toward reaching my desires, I merely bog myself down with more work, more to juggle, thus feeling more deeply rutted.
Ultimately I’m wanting financial freedom, more play in my life, more time in the things I love and with the people I love…. and instead I’ve amassed this pile of extra jobs, side projects, future-tickets-out-f-the-rut, that now I feel MORE rutted than when I first identified the rut.
I am TOTALLY soliciting advice here; somehow my inclinations are perpetuating this groundhog’s day, when really I just want to LEAP!!!
A fresh perspective would be much-appreciated!
Thank you!
@OhanaMama
** hand on heart sigh for ***
acknowledgement is a leap!
a big leap.
i am not sure this helps but my day is totally quiet and non-mega-leap-ish, another day that is not perfect.
But there is a tiny bit of space and redemption in knowing it’s an extra day ANYWAY. Any other day this day would not be here. So anything that gets done is a plus.
Any nice things i manage to tell myself are a plus.
Well not sure this is helpful.
More * hand on heart sighs* and *Fairy Dust!* for your gwishes
Hannah,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful response and kind words! 🙂
It made it smile—- which helps a lot today.
Whenever I find myself thinking: “Desirable thing X is not achievable,” I noodle around with this question:
What if I were wrong about that?