What's in the gallery?
We dissolve stuck and rewrite patterns. We apply radical playfulness to life (when we feel like it!), embarking on internal adventures (credo of Safety First). We have a fake band called Solved By Cake. We build invisible sanctuaries, invent words and worlds, breathe awe and wonder.
We are not impressed by monsters. Except when we are. We explore the connections between internal territories and surrounding environment to learn what marvelously supportive delicious space feels like, and how to take exquisite care of ourselves. We transform things.* We glow wild.**
* For example: Desire, fear, worry, pain-and-trauma, boundaries, that problematic word which rhymes with flaweductivity.
** Fair warning: Self-fluency has been known to lead to extremely subversive behavior, including treasuring yourself unconditionally, unapologetically taking up space, experiencing outrageously improbable levels of self-acceptance, and general rejoicing in aliveness.
What's in the gallery?
We dissolve stuck and rewrite patterns. We apply radical playfulness to life (when we feel like it!), embarking on internal adventures (credo of Safety First). We have a fake band called Solved By Cake. We build invisible sanctuaries, invent words and worlds, breathe awe and wonder.
We are not impressed by monsters. Except when we are. We explore the connections between internal territories and surrounding environment to learn what marvelously supportive delicious space feels like, and how to take exquisite care of ourselves. We transform things.* We glow wild.**
* For example: Desire, fear, worry, pain-and-trauma, boundaries, that problematic word which rhymes with flaweductivity.
** Fair warning: Self-fluency has been known to lead to extremely subversive behavior, including treasuring yourself unconditionally, unapologetically taking up space, experiencing outrageously improbable levels of self-acceptance, and general rejoicing in aliveness.
Chicken 321: overglowing
It is Friday and we are here.
{a breath for Friday.}
What worked this week?
Proxies and cover identities!
At Rally (Rally!), we make up cover stories and use proxy missions.
So this week I was secretly working on a big writing project, but my cover story was that I am Yvette West, Fashion Editor by day and burlesque chorus girl by night, because Yvette, like me, has too many jobs.
On the surface, that’s the only thing we have in common, and yet — of course — it turned out that her challenges are my challenges, and her insights are my treasure.
I dressed like Yvette at Rally too, and yes, costumes are incredibly powerful, and going undercover was wild and fun and full of unexpected treasure.
Next time I might…
Remember that All Timing Is Right Timing and Not Everything Is About Timing.
Rushing is the opposite of trusting.
That doesn’t mean I always need to choose slowness. Sometimes I can pick up the pace: Ketzev 8!
It just means: rushing is at best not necessary and often counter-productive. There is time.
Eight breaths for the hard, challenging and mysterious.
- This week is the last of the Alphabet Carousel Rallies. And the last of four and a half years of rallying. For the first time since 2005, I don’t know when I’m teaching next. This feels very disorienting. I am going to miss this. A breath for letting go to give the new thing space to come in.
- Cards on the table. Asking. A breath for trusting that honesty is always the right answer. It really is the right answer. Even when the monsters are whispering about how This Is A Terrible Mistake.
- Fall Is In The Air. The other day Agent Anna had a fall, and then I had a fall. The literal kind where you end up with scrapes and bruises, though I think these falls may also be an extreme form of tripping. A breath for presence, and for releasing the need to learn through pain.
- Running smack into some old patterns, fear, worry and doubt, in new contexts. Noticing all the ways this is not helpful. A breath for paying attention to what I need.
- Clearing out, in a big way. It’s important and more than a little scary. A breath for trusting that all this making room is exactly what is needed for the new beautiful things to land.
- I really want my future-confidence vis a vis dance (“I am going to be so amazing at this!”) to start showing up in my current dancing. A breath for trusting the process.
- [Silent retreat]. A breath for deep trust, in all things.
- Inhale, exhale. Goodbye (and thank you), mysteries and hard moments of this week.
Eight breaths of good, reassuring, delight-filled.
- Feeling peaceful and happy in my pleasure bubble. Peaceful and sweet. A breath for the pleasure bubble.
- So many things contributed to the pleasure bubble this week. Waltz magic to live music. Gazelle state. Many sweet hours of yoga on the floor. Hiding in the vault. Wild sexy spirals at Rally. Old Turkish Lady yoga. Dancing on Wednesday night and suddenly having good dances with everyone instead of just a few people. Also this week I had the best dance lesson of my entire life, no exaggeration, it was nothing less than transcendent. A breath for this body that I live in, and for treasuring my body with things that are good for me.
- That was a pretty incredible smoothie. A breath for the full-body thrill of taste, texture, temperature, sensation, shared pleasure and delight.
- Along with all the sadness, there is also joy: I’m not [verb]-ing any Rallies, or anything at all for the next several months! A breath for spaciousness, freedom, possibility, the spark of newness, the longing for new adventures.
- A leisurely breakfast with my beloved Max, followed by a long peaceful walk interspersed with wisdom and giggling. I love her so much. A breath for love, and for my wish of daily life being like the Vicarage, which came true for a whole day!
- In the spirit of “and then something even better happens”, I am sailing in new waters where there is Sweetness and Sovereignty and Honesty and Steaminess and Presence and Intention and Magic, all the good things. Not to mention the hidden superpowers of cards on the table. Wow. A breath of thank you for the right companion for a wild adventure.
- Rally Z (Rally! Rally!) has been mind-blowingly full of treasure. It might be my favorite Rally. I’ve said that a lot, but this really is the perfect way to end this voyage. A breath for This Is So Right.
- Thankfulness. Overflowing with thank-you. Haha, I accidentally wrote overglowing, which might even be more accurate. So let’s just say it: I am feeling pretty damn blissful right now. This is a new feeling. I like it. And I am being really clear about the yes of yes and the no of no, and it feels so good. I am enjoying my writing projects instead of fighting with them. Incoming me is a badass. Marisa is back in town! My body fell with luck and wisdom, and I didn’t get hurt, just a couple scrapes. A shot of ginger-lemon-echinacea-cayenne that felt like a whole-body healing. So many lovely surprises. So many things are beautiful. Nothing is wrong. Now is not then. All Timing Is Right Timing. A full happy breath of deep appreciation in my thank-you heart.
WHAM BOOM! Operations completed.
More work on the Sip Hint Learn books. Operation 33 Keys is even better than I’d imagined. Clues about 2015: taking lots of notes. Wham Boom.
Revisiting some wise important words of truth from past-me.
This post about doing things in grand fashion. I can’t believe I forgot about this when it is so vitally important.
Good thing Yvette remembered! Experimenting with this changed everything for me this week.
Superpowers…
Powers I had this week…
Trusting the process. Trusting the timing. Well-costumed. Zanzibar!
Superpowers I want.
I always forget how powerful it is to invent/name superpowers until I’m at Rally where we name them and get them. So I want the superpower of I Always Remember To Invoke Extra Superpowers!
The superpower of Theatrical Spectaculars! The superpower of I get a parade! The superpower of everything…in style! The superpower of Self-Ripening Wisdom. The superpower of Everything Is Happening in a Grand Fashion because that’s how I do things, baby, like a fairground stripper!
Yeah! All of those. And while I’m at it, let’s have some of these too:
I Boldly Glow. Ablaze With Fearless Intentional Choice-Making. I Have Everything I Need. Wildly Confident, Outrageously Beautiful, Wonderfully Tranquil. I Do Not Dim My Spark For Anyone.
The Salve of I Do Not Dim My Spark.
This salve dissolves any temptation to apologize for being who you are, as you are.
When I rub it into my skin, everything that does not enhance my ability to experience my light becomes obvious and unnecessary.
This salve does not only brighten your spark, it also shines light on all of the invisible glue holding together the walls of Things That Are Not True.
For example, you can put on this salve and suddenly see that no, there is no need to lose weight to wear the thing you want to wear, and also the entire concept of “weight” and “losing” it is just bullshit cultural craziness that has nothing to do with truth.
And once you can see that, all the invisible glue, all the rules, assumptions and expectations that we agree to, all those things that keep us from glowing our glow…well, they just start to seem irrelevant.
Of course you aren’t going to dim your spark for these vague internal and external rules that aren’t actually based in anything. Of course the way to unraveling those rules and their false power is by agreeing to glow more.
This salve reminds me of the woman on the plane who said I ain’t a slave to nobody or nothing.
She was right. This is the salve for that. I do not dim my spark for anyone or anything.
Clean and clear knowing. Ablaze with intention. Not angry about this, not resentful, not filled with shame about all the spark-dimming I have done in my life up until now. No. Just knowing truth: here is my spark and I am done with the dimming patterns.
If salve does not appeal, you can have this in tea form, as a bath, cocktail, whatever works for you. Not only is there enough salve, there are also enough ways to receive it.
Playing live at the meme beach house — the Fake Band of the Week!
This week’s band comes via Agent E, and it’s called Distracted By Juice. It’s an indie garage band that does plaintive-yet-loud covers of Harry Connick Jr songs. And you know what’s interesting? It’s just one guy.
Attenzione! Attention, AGENTS.
While I was in my deep panic last week, I used what works best for me: the Emergency Calm Down Right Away techniques.
So I want to seed a reminder that this is a thing, and it helps, a lot. Not just with calming down in the moment but with building the kind of habits that allow you to change your relationship with whatever is scary or uncomfortable.
I hardly ever recommend these because the page is already many years old and needs rewriting. However, copywriting aside, this is still one of the best things I have ever made, by a lot. I have two boxes in my office full of the sweetest thank you notes from people, and so many of them are for this.
Come play if you like…
Join me in the comments. Some of us share hard and good, some of us say hi, or maybe we’re on silent retreat. My ritual doesn’t have to be your ritual. Whatever works for you. Almost three hundred weeks of this and there still isn’t a right way.
Everyone belongs. We let people have their own experience. We’re supportive and welcoming. We don’t give advice.
Wishing you a glorrrrrrrrrrrrious day, a restful weekend and a happy week to come.
p.s. It’s fine if it’s not Friday anymore. There’s complete chicken amnesty — join in whenever you like, it’s no big deal. And I am blowing kisses to the Beloved Lurkers. I love that you are here too.
Wish 271: tryst
Personal ads. They’re … personal! Very.
♡
What do I want?
I am thinking about cycles again thanks to an intriguing recent conversation.
Especially this cycle:
I begin doing something to take care of myself, until it gradually becomes ritual, something I look forward to, crave, take comfort in, count on.
And then, after however many months or years during which this ritual and I keeping each other company, it disappears.
Sometimes it comes back because [everything that is mine returns to me]. Sometime it comes back and fades away again.
There are some practices — one in particular, the one that used to be known as Descending To The Red Rug — that have not yet returned to me, or I have not yet returned to them.
I miss them. A lot.
What do I want?
I notice myself waiting and wanting, waiting and hoping, just not ready to start.
Not starting, still not starting, and yet at the same time I feel my desire. Look how I keep opening the door and peeking out to see if I can smell something in the air that says yes.
Last week was Rally Y, the Week of Yes.
There is a lot of yes waiting to happen right now.
What do I want?
I want to remember that even though I find this particular cycle frustrating in the moment, there is nothing wrong with cycles. There is an ebb and flow to everything. Life happens in seasons.
And: Not everything needs to last forever.
I actually think our culture puts way too much pressure on people to stick with rituals. It’s that insidious Ass In Chair mentality. It doesn’t honor the creative process which requires presence, experimentation, desire and play.
So sometimes we ritual for the wrong reasons. Sometimes we allow practices to become rigid or stagnant because we aren’t willing to let them change or even let them go.
We forget about the beauty of spontaneity, the importance of following desire and listening for the new desire is that is emerging.
And it’s hard to receive the new treasure when we’ve turned the Thing That Used To Work into a rule about how things have to be.
What else do I know about this?
Generally speaking, I tend to feel wary when I hear things like so-and-so has “meditated for X minutes every day for Y years” or “done the exact same yoga practice every day since 1972”.
To me that sounds a lot like forcing.
It sounds like not being present with what my body actually needs and desires on a given day, in a given moment, which — to me — is the whole point of practicing things like yoga and meditation.
I don’t want to be someone who makes herself do a practice.
I want to be someone for whom practicing is like meeting a lover.
You don’t do it because you have to or even because they’re expecting you. You go because you can’t bear to stay away any longer.
That’s what I want from practice. Practice as rendezvous. Practice as deep sensual pleasure that pulls me in. A tryst for me and my steady breath.
I want to descend to the floor, breathe with my body, stop thinking about logistics and go back to breathing love for the crazy miracle of being alive.
What else do I know about this?
There is something that serves me in each part of the cycle. In the part where I do the thing I want to be doing, and also in the part where I don’t do it.
And there is also something broken in each part, something distorted.
I want to get back to the beautiful truth of cycles: there is a time for resting and replenishing, and there is a time for blossoming and wild glowing.
I want to step away from the distortions that lead me to make choices based in fear and scarcity instead of choosing from presence.
What else do I know about this?
All distortions aside, ritual really is powerful and beautiful. It’s a container for whatever I am trying to build and grow.
It holds what is good for me.
Dedicated space and time to do things that take support me means I actually get what I need.
Way better than my current default, which is not doing things that take care of me.
As long as I avoid the distortion of “you have to do this or else”, ritual is where it’s at.
What else do I know about this?
I had a sudden realization last night about this. Actually, this is related to last week’s wish about sovereignty in the form of Not Contorting.
This particular practice ritual I’m currently missing was with me in some form basically every day for a little over two years. And then it stopped very abruptly.
In my mind I’ve been thinking that this is related to my busy travel and work schedule.
I also expected I’d pick it up again at the Vicarage, and I didn’t, and that made no sense, but I went with it because everything that happens at the Vicarage is not only right, but extra-right.
Last night it occurred to me that there’s a painful reason that explains why I stopped, and I blanked it out because I didn’t want to think about it.
The last time I did this practice was the last day I saw X. He didn’t join me in practicing, and that was unusual, normally he’d sit and meditate until I was done. And then he turned into Mr. Hyde and I didn’t trust him anymore and that was goodbye. I’m glad that is done. And it’s interesting that my ritual got coated with stickiness from this ending, and I didn’t even realize it.
What else do I know about this?
This is a useful instance of a thing that I do. And a useful reminder that I do this. So many times in life I experience something painful and then I go blank.
Sometimes blank in the form of erasing memory, sometimes blank in the form of checking out and not being present, disassociating. Sometimes blank in the sense that one negative memory leaks out into other objects, experiences or events, and then I avoid things I love because they get accidentally tangled up with the hurt even though there’s no direct connection.
I want to remember that this is normal and understandable. That’s how defense mechanisms work. There is nothing wrong with me.
That’s just me being human, encountering vulnerability, following the old familiar neural pathways.
I am okay.
What else do I know about this?
Everything is new.
Ritual, like anything else in life, can be alive, dynamic, ever-changing.
I don’t actually want to go back to what I had before. I want something new and radiantly beautiful, something that feels like now, something that holds the qualities of ablaze with aliveness.
What else?
I want to do more thinking about this new ritual, this new form. What I want it to give me. What I want to bring to it.
Like some Sexy Honesty. Radical Sovereignty. Openness and Sweetness. Being held by a form.
The compass of qualities will help too. Eight directions, eight qualities, eight breaths.
Crown. Trust. Presence. Bask. Source. Truth. Glow. Boldly.
What will help with this? And where do I want to start?
Set the intention. Nap on it. Dance it, write it, play with it, walk the labyrinth. Take lots of notes.
I can take deeper breaths, getting quieter and quieter until I hear what is true.
Bright colors. Passion. Costume changes. Skip stones with incoming me. Dance. Intensity. Writing. Red lipstick. Eight breaths. My body gets the deciding vote.
And, as always, by saying thank you in advance.
Me: Hey, slightly-wiser me, what do you have for me?
She: This is about the superpower you asked for at Rally: calm bold fearless ablaze-with-confidence choice-making. This is about conscious entry. Doing things with intention, connecting to desire, not just going back to something because it’s a “good habit”.
This is new territory. It’s exciting.
The thing you said about a tryst for you and your breath. That is important. Take time for this quieting. Take time to be with me. Know that I am with you, adoring you, glowing mad unconditional love towards everything you touch.
The superpower of gracefully receiving gifts.
Gracefully receiving my gifts.
Yes. This is the right time for this.
I am ready to come into my superpowers, including the superpowers of knowing that it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks, I Am Okay With Being Seen, receiving gifts that are winging their way to me.
Oh wow, what beautiful wishes.
Oh, wow. What beautiful wishes.
What else do I want?
- Everything is easier than I thought, and look, miracles everywhere.
- I have the best time dancing in my ballroom.
- This doesn’t require my input!
- Ha, it’s so perfect that it turned out like this. Past me is a GENIUS
- I have what I need, and I appreciate it. There are resources to do this.
- Trust and steadiness. I can see why this moment is good.
- I am fearless and confident. I do the brave things and it is not even a big deal, and I still get sparklepoints, yay.
- The superpower of Everything Enhances My Superpowers.
- Ops: A Beautiful Stew. Real Seeing. The Protocols. Sip Hint Learn. The Panache Brigade!
Clues?
Just add a snooze button!
A sign. Literally. It said: “I want to sail around the world with you”.
Incoming me poked me a number of times until I stopped and looked at it. I want to sail around the world with her too.
Progress report on past Very Personal Ads.
So. Last week, aka behold the great contortionist…
I have been doing considerably less contorting, and this is good. More importantly, I’m noticing what situations exacerbate my inclination to contort, and taking notes!
Attenzione! Attention, AGENTS.
I wish to whisper a whisper about the Monster Manual! It comes paired with the world’s best coloring book, which does so much monster-dissolving magic that even if you wait to try the techniques, you’ll still feel better about everything.
Self-fluency is hard enough, we need ways to to interact with the thoughts-fear-worry-criticism that shuts down creative exploring. And when people get the manual, I am able to me spend more time writing here. So if you don’t need help with monsters, get one for a friend. Or plant a wish that someone gets it for you! And bring people you like to hang out here. The more of us working on our stuff, the better for all of us. ♡
Keep me company?
Consider this an open invitation to deposit wishes, gwishes, personal ads. In any size/form you like, there’s no right way. Updates on past experiments are welcome too, as is anything sparked for you.
Commenting culture: This is safe space for creative exploration. We are on permanent vacation from care-taking and advice-giving. We are here to play.
Let’s throw things in the pot! And: Amnesty. Leave a wish any time you want.
xox
Chicken 320: Wild and Free
It is Friday and we are here.
{a breath for Friday.}
What worked this week?
Asking for what I wanted.
In all ways.
Especially in the form of pauses, intention-setting, taking a moment. Also seeding as many wild wishes as I wanted.
Oh, and costumes. Garments, as Incoming Me likes to say. Also remembering that anything can be a costume.
Next time I might…
Use a buffer phrase.
Often I find myself in situations that are uncomfortable for me, and I don’t say anything, because I can’t figure out how to word it in a way that doesn’t come across as angry or defensive.
I wait for the right words, they never come, and then weeks later I realize I’m still stewing over this, wishing I’d spoken up for myself.
There’s a list of buffer phrases I keep on my phone. I’d like to remember to look there.
And I’m adding a new one: “Can you tell me what just happened, from your perspective?” Or: “It seemed like X just happened. What was that about for you, I’m curious.”
That way I can gather intel which might help me decide how I want to respond.
And either way, I can still say, “Hey, I’m noticing that I feel uncomfortable right now.” That is never wrong.
Wait and get quiet.
Turn inward, take a red light, choose the pause.
This is related to last week’s wish about the yes of yes and the no of no.
Eight breaths for the hard, challenging and mysterious.
- Fear about a health thing that is probably fine. A breath for the pattern that says “Panic first!”, and for replacing it with Rest First, Safety First, Breathe First.
- You know what’s hard and amazing and beautiful and healing and also hard? Honesty. A breath for just speaking what needs to be spoken. Or in my case, writing it. How about: a breath for sharing what is true for me right now, and trusting that this will be okay.
- Paying the price for not taking care of myself, combined with frustration because I know that this is always the answer. It is so interesting and mysterious that I choose away from what I need (and like) the most. A breath for releasing.
- Dancer me doesn’t function well during Rally week. I mean, she gets to play like crazy during spirals which is the best. Social dancing though, I lose my center. A breath for paying attention to what I need.
- Making some big structural changes and some small symbolic ones. Mostly with work stuff but in all ways really. All of these shifts are good, and I am still noticing residual fear about how they will be received, how this will change me. A breath for deep trust.
- Receiving. That’s the quality for this month on the Fluent Self calendar of Salves (with the superpower of gracefully receiving gifts). This is something I really, really need to work on, and this week gave me many opportunities to meet my stuff about that. A breath for undoing and for letting in.
- I am hyper-aware of the times in which I am not speaking my truth. An incident at a dance this week for example. Something semi-creepy happened and I immediately went into some old, deep patterns, as evidenced by the fact that instead of standing up for myself, I smiled at the person whose behavior caused me discomfort. It’s like, in that moment all I want to do is placate and keep placating until I can get somewhere safe. So let’s make the safest of safe rooms for small scared me who learned this unsovereign behavior because she thought it would work best at the time. A breath for the process of remembering that Now is Not Then, and I can be brave and tell people what is not okay.
- Inhale, exhale. Goodbye (and thank you), mysteries and hard moments of this week.
Eight breaths of good, reassuring, delight-filled.
- My god what a spectacularly beautiful week, full of all kinds of completely unexpected treasure. A breath for the good, and for being able to see its shining goodness.
- Honesty can be sexy. Not sure how I did not know that before. A breath for discovering this and feeling what it is like.
- Receiving! I am working with this, and things are moving. Also this week involved an astonishing abundance of beautiful things to receive, so: bonus gift in the form of endless opportunities to practice! It feels so good, like breaking through a sensation of a tight dark place and feeling the sunshine on my face. A breath for happiness.
- At the Righting Retreat this week (which, by the way, is nothing short of breath-takingly amazing), I seeded the superpower of Good Surprises. You would not even believe how many high quality good surprises this week brought me, and how good they were. My favorite good surprise from this week was when the person I was missing — missing is a small word for that — cut his trip short by a whole week and came back to me. A breath for many invisible exclamation points, and for the pure pleasure of a Really Good Surprise.
- Gifts! At the last Rally (Rally!), my cover story aka proxy mission was that I was there to do a photo shoot called Wild And Free. So this week I’m at Rally Y aka Rally Why, and Foxy Jess was here. She of course knew nothing about my Wild And Free photo shoot from last time, and yet she brought me a gift in the form of a mug, and guess what it says? All Good Things Are Wild And Free. Another gift: sparkly pink nail polish from Agent Starlight (Natanya) that was a gem on a mission. So perfect! Another gift: The dance at the ballroom that I was so excited about fell through but I knew not to worry because I could feel that another gift was waiting in its place, and it was. A breath for all the things that are so right.
- Everything about the Righting Retreat has been magical. The costumes! The proxies! The epiphanies! Good grief. Not only did I get way more writing done than I ever imagined, I also got way more Righting done than I even knew was possible. The writing was sweet, the energy was intoxicating, the giggling was first class, the conducting was a delight. I loved everything about this week. A breath for joyful companionship with a seriously great group of people.
- Overwhelmed by sweetness, but in a really, really, really good way. I am bringing as much of me as possible to this experience, committing to openness and presence even when it feels raw and vulnerable, because it is right, and much to my surprise, I keep discovering entirely new depths of sweetness and stardust.
- Thankfulness. The Most Not-What-I-Want Wednesday transformed itself into The Most Magical Wednesday. Everything I put in the compass came true, and then some. I can’t stop smiling. Progress on the big projects at my house. We booked two more weddings at the ballroom, yay! Wise counsel from Incoming me. Lovely surprises. So many things are beautiful. Nothing is wrong. Now is not then. All Timing Is Right Timing. A full happy breath of deep appreciation in my thank-you heart.
WHAM BOOM! Operations completed.
Finished the latest Sip Hint Learn book (it is delicious, and now in editing mode, something to look forward to!), and am already deep into the next one. Operation 33 is holding steady. Looking forward to announcing my events for next year. Rewrote a page I didn’t like. Said some things that were hard, and all is okay. Wham Boom.
Revisiting some wise important words of truth from past-me.
This post called some thoughts on dealing with loss (April 2010) holds one of the simplest, sweetest and best techniques I know for presence.
Presence is magical, and it isn’t only useful for loss. It’s useful for everything. I used the naming caper from this post several times this week, and found it very helpful.
Superpowers!
Powers I had this week…
I had the superpowers of knowing my truth, surprising myself, and of [yes I will wear this blindingly hot dress to work because guess what I don’t need a reason or an occasion to be wildly outrageously expressive in the way that I want to in this moment].
I know.
Superpowers I want.
The power of acting on my knowing: clear, clean and immediate. And the power of I Do Not Apologize For My Idiosyncrasies!
The Salve of Wild And Free.
This salve does so many things at once.
As soon as it touches my skin, I begin to breathe more deeply. It’s a bit like finding yourself in a beautiful outdoor setting, and your whole body just kind of instantaneously resets itself. Your nervous system reorganizes and you notice that everything is quieter, calmer, steadier and more sparkly than it was before.
Or maybe it always was, except you weren’t.
There’s also this rush of energy, to me it feels a bit like gazelle state, or like springtime. I feel poised, ready, alive. I thrill at each new sensation. New ideas bubble up inside of me.
I have what I need for whatever adventure comes up. As Bryan says in the context of yoga, “this requires no more strength or flexibility than what you already have, come as you are”.
When I use the salve of Wild and Free, I soften into myself. I trust my wise body. I say no to all the bullshit expectations about how I should live, and I begin to follow my guided indicated desires and next steps.
If salve does not appeal, you can have this in tea form, as a bath, cocktail, whatever works for you. Not only is there enough salve, there are also enough ways to receive it.
Playing live at the meme beach house — the Fake Band of the Week!
This week’s band comes via Lucky Lola, and it’s called How About Tulips, they have this awesome song called Would You Like A Tulip, and I can’t really describe what they sound like, because they don’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard. As it turns out, this band is just one guy.
Attenzione! Attention, AGENTS.
While I was in my deep panic last week, I used what works best for me: the Emergency Calm Down Right Away techniques.
So I want to seed a reminder that this is a thing, and it helps, a lot. Not just with calming down in the moment but with building the kind of habits that allow you to change your relationship with whatever is scary or uncomfortable.
I hardly ever recommend these because the page is already many years old and needs rewriting. However, copywriting aside, this is still one of the best things I have ever made, by a lot. I have two boxes in my office full of the sweetest thank you notes from people, and so many of them are for this.
Bonus announcement!
This book of poems, why do you not have it? It’s called Measured Extravagance, a sexy, complex and intriguing combination of two of my favorite words.
How delicious is that phrase? It might have to be a new superpower. I will also take some extravagance on its own, as well as some measuring. I do love measuring. Acquire this book of poems, this is my suggestion.
Come play if you like…
Join me in the comments. Some of us share hard and good, some of us say hi, or maybe we’re on silent retreat. My ritual doesn’t have to be your ritual. Whatever works for you. Almost three hundred weeks of this and there still isn’t a right way.
Everyone belongs. We let people have their own experience. We’re supportive and welcoming. We don’t give advice.
Wishing you a glorrrrrrrrrrrrious day, a restful weekend and a happy week to come.
p.s. It’s fine if it’s not Friday anymore. There’s complete chicken amnesty — join in whenever you like, it’s no big deal. And I am blowing kisses to the Beloved Lurkers. I love that you are here too.
Wish 270: Behold, The Great Contortionist!
Personal ads. They’re … personal! Very.
♡
What do I want?
Each evening at Rally (Rally!), we pick a superpower (or many superpowers) we want.
It’s a little bit like these weekly wishes: part asking, part invoking, part being curious about what it might feel like to live this….
At Rally X, I played with all kinds of wished-for powers, but the one that most surprised me had to do with not being a contortionist…
What do I want?
Here it is, my desired Rally superpower:
I do not accommodate people.
Instead I accommodate myself, and trust they will accommodate themselves, and it all works out perfectly for everyone involved.
It was clearly the most brilliant wish in the entire world, and it also immediately unleashed an entire Greek chorus of monsters telling me how incredibly selfish and obnoxious this desire is.
Which is hilarious because: Behold! Another contortion!
Either I’m contorting myself (and stifling both my desires and the intel available to me about what I want and need) in order to accommodate others, or I’m contorting myself into the distortion that not doing so is selfish.
Sometimes seeing what is actually going on is very surprising, even when you already suspected this was the pattern.
What else do I know about this?
It is useful to notice all this contorting.
It is useful to notice how often I’m not only misguided but completely wrong when I try to accommodate.
I contort myself to fit what I perceive someone else wants or needs, and more often than not my guesses are way off base.
More than that. My guesses actively screw things up, just like in dance. My job as a follow is to be present and not-anticipate. If I try to guess what’s going to happen, we lose connection and we lose the magic.
What else do I know about this?
Contorting is wildly unsovereign. It is basically the opposite of sovereignty.
Last week I watched myself contorting all over the place.
I noticed as I actively gave up on things I wanted, out of fear that it might put a colleague in a bad mood, all because I assumed people wanted my company, and for some unclear reason their perceived want took precedence over my actual want.
Last week I observed myself contorting to try to fit someone’s schedule, instead of just speaking truth, clearly and without attachment to any particular result: “I’d like to leave at X time. If that works for you, great. If not, I’ll make alternate plans.”
That’s what I would rather be doing instead of contorting. Sharing intel. Allowing people to respond how they respond. Not trying to figure it all out.
What else do I know about this?
This is related to my ongoing wish about Radical Sovereignty: accessing my clear yes and my clear no, and being true to them, immediately and without apologizing for them.
And to my wish about Boldly Glowing.
And this one: “To be true to myself in a way that is more visible, more palpable, more colorful and more alive. With intensity and panache!”
This wish is just intensifying the previous wishes. This is the next step.
Behold the Grand Contortionist!
I have started narrating my contortions as if I am in a circus act.
It is a way of drawing attention to the fact that oh hey, I am in my pattern again, without piling on guilt, shame and judgment. It’s just me being silly.
In my head, the announcer voice is very deep and resonant:
“Behold! The most impressive contortionist in the world! Watch how she yet again bends herself into an uncomfortable shape in a misguided attempt to please others! Behold the Grand Contortionist! Observe how small she can make herself! Applause for the great skill she displays in accommodating others instead of herself!”
And then I giggle.
Sometimes I also change this to “Behold, The Great Distortionist”, when I catch myself in an untruth, for example that other people’s requests for my time should for some reason take precedence over my own need to take space for myself to preserve my sanity.
What else do I know about this?
As always, noticing is enough. Wanting is enough. Being present with it is enough. Play is enough. There is nothing more I have to do right now.
What else?
Releasing the need to be the Great Contortionist will bring me so much pleasure, so much delight, so much joy.
I’m sticking with the current compass of qualities for this. Eight directions, eight qualities, eight breaths.
Crown. Trust. Presence. Bask. Source. Truth. Glow. Boldly.
What will help with this? And where do I want to start?
Set the intention. Nap on it. Dance it, write it, play with it, walk the labyrinth. Take lots of notes.
I can take deeper breaths, getting quieter and quieter until I hear what is true.
Bright colors. Passion. Costume changes. Skip stones with incoming me. Dance. Intensity. Writing. Red lipstick. Eight breaths. My body gets the deciding vote.
And, as always, by saying thank you in advance.
Me: Hey, slightly-wiser me, what do you have for me?
She: This is huge. Do you know what you become when you are no longer The Great Contortionist? You come into your grace. You are a better dancer, a better beacon. You are a beautiful resonant bell, and an all-around happier person. And everyone in your life, everyone who encounters you, feels better just from being around you.
Quitting this job is the best thing that will ever happen for your circus career, as it were. When you aren’t the Contortionist, you are the queen and the signmaker and the one who crosses bridges. When you aren’t the Contortionist, you are the dancer and the dreamer and the one who follows her wishes. You become a star, in the sense of constellation.
Do this. There is nothing more important than this. And don’t worry about all the times you do end up contorting. It’s just a few last gigs. The main thing is that it’s conscious now. You can see the contorting, and the conditioning that has led you to this temporary career move.
Your next big challenge is to RECEIVE. To learn how to excel at that. And you can’t do it as the Grand Contortionist. So this is right.
The superpower of gracefully receiving gifts.
Gracefully receiving my gifts.
Yes. This is the right time for this. Everything has been building up to this. Like I said two weeks ago:
I am ready to come into my superpowers, including the superpowers of knowing that it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks, I Am Okay With Being Seen, receiving gifts that are winging their way to me.
Oh wow, what beautiful wishes.
Oh, wow. What beautiful wishes.
What else do I want?
- Everything is easier than I thought, and look, miracles everywhere.
- I have the best time dancing in my ballroom.
- This doesn’t require my input!
- Ha, it’s so perfect that it turned out like this. Past me is a GENIUS
- I have what I need, and I appreciate it. There are resources to do this.
- Trust and steadiness. I can see why this moment is good.
- I am fearless and confident. I do the brave things and it is not even a big deal, and I still get sparklepoints, yay.
- The superpower of Everything Enhances My Superpowers.
- Ops: A Beautiful Stew. Real Seeing. The Protocols. Sip Hint Learn. The Panache Brigade!
Clues?
Destroyed by sweetness. Infinite depths of stardust. That crazy beautiful moon. How right this all feels.
Progress report on past Very Personal Ads.
So. Last week, aka the yes of yes and the no of no…
This wish helped reveal some contortions, and it also led me to an exquisitely beautiful yes. I think it might be one of the most important wishes I’ve ever made.
Lots of yeses this week. Lots of experimentation with the kind, loving no.
I also found that it is much easier to trust in All Timing Is Right Timing when I’m actively following my yes.
Attenzione! Attention, AGENTS.
I wish to whisper a whisper about the Monster Manual! It comes paired with the world’s best coloring book, which does so much monster-dissolving magic that even if you wait to try the techniques, you’ll still feel better about everything.
Self-fluency is hard enough, we need ways to to interact with the thoughts-fear-worry-criticism that shuts down creative exploring. And when people get the manual, I am able to me spend more time writing here. So if you don’t need help with monsters, get one for a friend. Or plant a wish that someone gets it for you! And bring people you like to hang out here. The more of us working on our stuff, the better for all of us. ♡
Keep me company?
Consider this an open invitation to deposit wishes, gwishes, personal ads. In any size/form you like, there’s no right way. Updates on past experiments are welcome too, as is anything sparked for you.
Commenting culture: This is safe space for creative exploration. We are on permanent vacation from care-taking and advice-giving. We are here to play.
Let’s throw things in the pot! And: Amnesty. Leave a wish any time you want.
xox
Chicken 319: Come in.
It is Friday and we are here.
{a breath for Friday.}
What worked this week?
Permission to rest without needing to know why.
This week involved a lot of recovery time.
Usually this only happens with a fight. This time it just happened, and I enjoyed it.
Next time I might…
Wait for my yes.
This is related to this week’s wish about the yes of yes and the no of no.
When I was true to my yes this week, things were magical.
When I did things out of curiosity (“hey, everyone’s going to this pig roast, so what the hell why not try it”) even though I didn’t have a yes, it got less fun.
Except those moments also brought me to my real yes, so all was — and is — good.
Eight breaths for the hard, challenging and mysterious.
- So very tired. I want to be back at the Vicarage napping and walking by the water. A breath for rest.
- I spent four days being around people! What? I know. So now I have to hide. A breath for This Is How I Am.
- An important fix-it-ey thing is happening at my house, and it means it is too noisy to be home. A breath for patience and for safe spaces.
- Despite my astounding amount of Future Confidence in dance (I plan to excel at this so LOOK OUT, WORLD!), in the moment there are still all these bits my body isn’t able to integrate. Sometimes I get very impatient with this. A breath for trusting the training montage sequence.
- I said this last week and it’s still true: frustration and resentment about all the ways I don’t take care of myself. A breath for patience, healing, remembering that I am doing the best I can.
- Intense moments of panic about a thing that is actually really good. Sometimes there is nothing scarier than knowing what you want and getting it. A breath for recognizing that the growing pains are the sign of growth.
- If a week waiting for Wednesday felt like two weeks, what is two weeks of waiting for Wednesday going to feel like? We’re talking previously undocumented levels of excruciating tantalizing anticipation right now, not even sure what this is going to be like. A breath for the big unknown.
- Inhale, exhale. Goodbye (and thank you), mysteries and hard moments of this week.
Eight breaths of good, reassuring, delight-filled.
- It was really hard for me to come up with a list of hard this week. This has been a spectacularly pleasurable week, with Disney magical animated landscape levels of sparkle. A breath for pleasure, hello.
- Everything about my Seattle trip was amazing. Wonderful people took care of me and made all the arrangements to ensure I had delicious food and a ride to all the dances. The Swing Science workshops were terrific, the dancing was even better. The Sunday night fusion dance was so great I kind of want move to Seattle, but only on Sundays. A breath for a grand adventure.
- Finished editing the latest YEARbook and it is done! The Book of Bridges & Crowns: A Wild Becoming. I think it’s my favorite thing that I’ve ever written. A breath for happiness.
- Anticipation is my favorite drug, and this week was a long, slow, tantalizing tease of waiting. A breath for play, pleasure, vitality, aliveness, delight in life!
- Worth Waiting For. Not just the slogan for Guinness. A breath for things that are worth waiting for (and waiting some more).
- “We should probably stop dancing or we might never stop dancing.” A breath for magic.
- Sweetness. A breath for sweetness.
- Thankfulness. New gigs for the ballroom, including a weekly dance that I can’t wait to attend. Wise counsel from Incoming me. Red lipstick. Lovely surprises. So many things are delicious. Nothing is wrong. Now is not then. All Timing Is Right Timing. A breath for deep appreciation in my thank-you heart.
WHAM BOOM! Operations completed.
Sent out the book of Bridges and Crowns! Next Sip Hint Learn book is happening. Operation 33 is going great. And I planned all of my events for next year so STAY TUNED because good stuff is going to be happening. Wham Boom.
Revisiting some wise words from past-me that are still important.
If I had to take down all the 1,323 blog posts I’ve written and leave just one, it would be this one about this is where I live.
Superpowers!
Powers I had this week…
The power of every song is somehow exactly fitting for this moment.
It was like life just chose the soundtrack for everything this week. Pretty sweet.
Superpowers I want.
More of the Boldly Glowing superpower please. And I could really use some extra Now Is Not Then, because there are some small parts of me whispering about how that thing that happened that one time could be happening now. It isn’t.
Superpower of Love More Trust More Play More Dance More, come in!
And I will add to that the power of Calm Steady Alertness along with the power of I Take Exquisite Care Of Myself Now. That should bring some ease to the fear that if I let myself love more and trust more, it will hurt.
The Salve of I Take Exquisite Care Of Myself Now.
The wonderful thing about this salve is that using it is taking exquisite care of yourself, so you get to feel its wisdom when you reach for it.
As this salve absorbs into your skin, you suddenly want to treasure yourself all the time. You touch the back of your hand like it’s the most beautiful, fascinating thing you have ever seen. You take a slightly fuller breath and notice that oxygen is kind of delicious, kind of a miracle. You smile at yourself in the mirror because smiling just feels good.
You begin to feel which words feed you and which are unnecessary or untrue. You begin to feel which foods taste like love and which do not, and when. You begin to welcome sensations that are pleasurable into your life.
This salve leads to many, many good things, including but not limited to: cat naps, saying no gracefully to things that are unappealing and optional, bringing new friends into your life who treasure you and everything about you.
It took me a while to get used to this one, and how it tingles. I’m glad I gave it a chance.
If salve does not appeal, you can have this in tea form, as a bath, cocktail, whatever works for you. Not only is there enough salve, there are also enough ways to receive it.
Playing live at the meme beach house — the Fake Band of the Week!
This week’s band comes via Noelle, and it’s called Laser Bees, they play cello elevator music (cellevator!) that is mostly covers of Frank Zappa songs, and of course it’s just one guy.
Attenzione! Attention, AGENTS.
While I was in my deep panic this week, I used the thing I always use: the Emergency Help Me Calm The Hell Down Right Away techniques.
So I want to seed a reminder that this is a thing, and it helps, a lot. Not just with calming down in the moment but with building the kind of habits that allow you to change your relationship with the scary things.
I hardly ever recommend these because I need to rewrite the page, it’s several years old. But copywriting aside, this is one of the best things I have ever made, by a lot. I have two shoeboxes full of thank you notes from lovely people, and honestly most of them are for this.
Come play if you like…
Join me in the comments. Some of us share hard and good, some of us say hi, or maybe we’re on silent retreat. My ritual doesn’t have to be your ritual. Whatever works for you. Almost three hundred weeks of this and there still isn’t a right way.
Everyone belongs. We let people have their own experience. We’re supportive and welcoming. We don’t give advice.
Wishing you a glorrrrrrrrrrrrious day, a restful weekend and a happy week to come.
p.s. It’s fine if it’s not Friday anymore. There’s complete chicken amnesty — join in whenever you like, it’s no big deal. And I am blowing kisses to the Beloved Lurkers. I love that you are here too.