infinite possibility

As humans we have a tendency to limit ourselves to what has already happened in this world.

When we show up free from our past, then anything is possible. As we heal the patterns that we keep recreating, we step into infinite possibility. Infinite potential.

The trick is we need to let go of the expectation of what will happen and allow ourselves to experience what is happening fully. We need to trust that as we let go, we will be guided to the people, places and things that are meant to be ours.

Every moment that we remain in a place of trust, allowing what is to be present, acknowledging what is present and appreciating the gift it is, then a whole new world opens up for us.

To me this world of infinite possibility is indescribable.

You end up standing in a place where anything is possible. But this place is only in the present moment because everything only exists in the present moment.

There came a point in my life when I knew I needed to let go of the home I was living in. It happened actually quite innocently. My father-in-law decided to sell his house and split the money between his two boys. When I purchased the home I knew it needed work and even though it was spacious and beautiful as it was, I wanted to add more. So this small inheritance was the first wave of money showing up in my life. As soon as the money hit the account I began doubting whether or not we should invest in the house. As I sat with the feelings, I knew with every ounce of my being that I would not be there long. I knew that there were other things that we could invest the money in and the house was not one of them.

I tried to sell the house a few times in the following years but not one offer came in. As the years passed, it became more and more clear that I couldn't keep up with the demands of the house. I loved it. It was my dream house but it always felt incomplete. There was always a project I envisioned for the house but any time I would highly consider it, my heart would say no.

As the years passed it became harder to take care of it. It was this final sense of knowing that not only did it not serve me, but I couldn't serve it that allowed me to release it fully. It deserved someone who could take care of it the way it needed to be taken care of. Finally the house went on the market and within a week we had an offer we couldn't refuse.

Trust me when I tell you that this was not easy. There was so much I had to let go of in the process of letting go of the house. I had to let go of my dream of what I knew this house could be. I had to let go of the memories I had created in the space and all the nooks and crannies that brought me joy. I had to let go of my sense of failure for not being able to make enough money to make it work in the day-to-day things that needed tending and not only money, but energy. I had no energy to take care of it.

Trust me when I tell you that I cried. And cried. And cried some more.

I had to trust that innate knowing. I had to trust my inner guidance system that told me it was time to let go.

We sold the house without anything else lined up trusting that something would show up for us.

We decided to rent until we figured things out but nothing was available and what was available, was not being rented to a family of six with a dog.

A month passed. Then two months passed. Then three and four. We were staying at my mom's house over the summer, two hours away from the town we lived in.

At this point in my journey I'd done the practice. The practice of letting go. Letting go of the things that no longer serve me so I can make room for what is meant to be mine.

This story ends with me purchasing a townhouse in a neighboring town in the same school district as my old house which was the intention all along. If I tell you that I could have never even have imagined loving a townhouse as much as I do right now. When I walked in the door for the first time I let out a deep sigh of relief. It was as if I was holding my breathe during the whole journey. From that moment on, everyday that I have spent in the townhouse has brought me so much joy, peace and love.

Maybe this story doesn't sound like infinite possibility to you.

The thing is, that we tend to exclude what is possible when we have this preconceived idea of what think would make us happy. The first house that I had to let go of came from an idea of what my dream house would look like. It had it all. I can totally match up my vision board with the actual house. This time, I just let it go. All I asked for was that I could take care of it and that it was light, spacious and beautiful to me.

This experience reminds me to keep letting go. To keep trusting. To allow what is mine to enter in without any preconceived ideas and to experience things that I can't even imagine at this moment can happen.

Only when we let go and trust the guidance (and timing) can we discover what is possible for each of us.

With love,

Maria

the unknown

The unknown can be scary, leaving us feeling stuck in our past unable to take any action in the present moment.

We want to know that if we did A and B it would lead us to C.

We want to know what the outcome is going to be before we take the next step.

We want to know that we're going to be okay and not just okay, better than where we are now.

When we're in that place of wanting to know then we are not coming from our Higher Self.

Our Higher Self is curious about the unknown. It is curious about life. It is curious about what is going to happen. And it knows. It knows that no matter what, we are going to be okay.

When we are in that place of wanting to know the outcome, we are in a place of judgement, judgement that something good or bad can happen to us. We're also in a place of expectation. Expecting it to occur the way it has always occurred or expecting it to happen the way it happened to someone else because there is evidence for it. Both judgement and expectation put is in a place of predicting the future instead of allowing to unfold.

That’s why intuitive listening is a practice.

It’s a practice we keep returning to over and over again.

Noticing and letting go.

Noticing expectation and letting it go.

Noticing judgement and letting it go.

This requires practice. The kind of practice you do everyday, in the most mundane tasks, like letting go of judgement when you want a second serving or letting go of expectation when you're invited to the annual Christmas party. These might be mundane and ordinary but trust me when I tell you, in each of these choices we are steeped in history and fear. There is as much fear in eating the things we want to eat as there is in letting go of the job we hate to pursue a career we love.

Letting go takes practice. Tons of practice.

But once we get there, life will take on this magical feeling.

Then instead of worrying or wondering about what will happen, curiosity will come in. That level of curiosity brings excitement to our lives. We know that regardless of what happens that we will learn. We will gather our gold because we now have the tools to go within and see what part of ourselves shows up, who inside of us needs to be seen and heard. And as each new experience emerges, we discover more of who we are and integrate those aspects of ourselves into our whole self. We call our pieces back home to us with each new experience that reveals a childhood wound. This knowing that we have the tools to do this work allows us the freedom to step into the unknown knowing that we are capable of being with what comes our way.

True Story:

When I first started to trust my inner guidance system I practiced daily during my meals. Food and my body was one area in my life where control took over especially when I felt out of control in my life. I had been in a pattern of gaining 10 pounds every other year and unable to lose it no matter how hard I tried. I remember standing at my kitchen counter one day and just pleading with God to heal my relationship with food and my body. I was tired of going to bed feeling bad about myself and calling myself all sorts of names because I couldn't stick with a diet. I honestly believe that was the moment when my healing journey began.

I didn't realize in that moment how much I would be supported by the Universe to heal. Along the way the most amazing people in the form of professionals showed up in my life to help me heal. I say this because I know that this can be really challenging. With help, I began to listen to my body and eat the foods it wanted to eat and to the point of satisfaction. Trust me when I tell you that I was scared. I was scared to eat all the cookies I wanted to eat. I was scared every step of the way. Sometimes it came out with thoughts and actions about me and other times it came out in words, thoughts and actions about my children. For the first time in my life, over the course of 8 years, I had not gained weight. I stayed within two to five pounds of my weight through the years. And this is just my story. Your story may be different. You may need to gain weight if you've deprived yourself. Regardless, whatever shows up in the form thoughts and emotions, gets healed along the way.

Through the daily act of eating meals in the form of invitation which I will teach you here, I learned how to tune in, listen to and act on my inner guidance. I became in tune to what my body needed and how much it needed. And every once in a while I would want to lose weight, try to go on a diet just to feel how not in alignment my soul is to losing weight. My intention has always been to heal my relationship with food and my body. I wouldn't trade the freedom, unconditional love and beauty that I have found in the process for anything in the world, including weightless. I trust with my whole heart and soul that when the weight no longer serves me it will come off.

What would happen if we let go of all that history and the comfort and safety that comes with it and instead, let it all go, stepping into the unknown with a new sense of freedom? Knowing full well that no matter what happens, we're going to be alright? That we're going to grow and expand from taking action?

MY INVITATION TO YOU...

During your next meal practice tuning in, listening to and acting on your inner guidance. And then practice again during the next meal, and the next. I know this can be scary. But trust that you will be supported each step of the way. Notice what comes up and just be with it. See if you can be with all the fear that comes up in those moments. Set your intention to listen to, act on and trust your inner guidance. Soon you'll be aware of when you are not in alignment with that intention.

good luck. bad luck. who knows?

Did you ever hear the story of the Zen farmer? This story, once I heard it, is a constant reminder of how there is no way of knowing what our life circumstances will bring. Good? Bad? Who knows? Here's how the story goes...

There once was an old Zen farmer. Every day, the farmer used his horse to help work his fields and keep his farm healthy.

But one day, the horse ran away. All the villagers came by and said, “We're so sorry to hear this. This is such bad luck.”

But the farmer responded, “Bad luck. Good luck. Who knows?”

The villagers were confused, but decided to ignore him. A few weeks went by and then one afternoon, while the farmer was working outside, he looked up and saw his horse running toward him.

But the horse was not alone. The horse was returning to him with a whole herd of horses. So now the farmer had 10 horses to help work his fields.

All the villagers came by to congratulate the farmer and said, “Wow! This is such good luck!”

But the farmer responded, “Good luck. Bad luck. Who knows?

A few weeks later, the farmer's son came over to visit and help his father work on the farm. While trying to tame one of the horses, the farmer’s son fell and broke his leg.

The villagers came by to commiserate and said, “How awful. This is such bad luck.”

Just as he did the first time, the farmer responded, “Bad luck. Good luck. Who knows?”

A month later, the farmer’s son was still recovering. He wasn’t able to walk or do any manual labor to help his father around the farm.

A regiment of the army came marching through town conscripting every able-bodied young man to join them. When the regiment came to the farmer’s house and saw the young boy's broken leg, they marched past and left him where he lay.

Of course, all the villagers came by and said, “Amazing! This is such good luck. You're so fortunate.”

And you know the farmer’s response by now…

"Good luck. Bad luck. Who knows?

If everything is neither good nor bad then life's experiences become neutral. If everything is neutral then what happens next doesn't hold as much weight as it used to. Life becomes something you experience from moment to moment instead of everything being about what will happen next and how it will make you feel.

Judgment holds us in an endless loop of repetitive patterns. If we like the way something feels then we want to keep repeating that same pattern. When we don't like the way something feels, we try to avoid that experience. Judgement is not only based on something we deem "bad" but judgement is also placed on things we deem "good". In order for something to be deemed good the opposite of that thing must be bad. It's really such a slippery slope. Something we need to bring awareness to in our everyday lives.

This has taken me a long time to learn.

I don't know about you but for me, I would get scared. Scared that my kids would not live their best life if a particular behavior or experience continued. I would get scared that not having friends meant they would suffer loneliness their whole entire life. I would get scared that when they sat and played video games all day that they would end up being unhealthy and isolated. I would get scared that if they didn't do well in school that they would not have the opportunities that would allow them to succeed. I would get scared that if they ate too much candy then they'd get sick or "worse" fat!

It was only when things were going well that I would feel like I could breathe. When the kids were active, socializing, and engaging in activities. There was a sense of having arrived. These days I'm aware that the idea of having arrived never happens. Life will continue to ebb and flow. There is a time for everything in our life. Now we can just sit and be with what is and allow ourselves to feel it fully and trust that whatever unfolds is exactly where we need to be.

My kids, now teens, are all healthy and thriving and it's not because I let them do all those things, both the good and the bad. It's because I learned to be with the part of me that was showing up in those moments. I got to heal the part of me that was scared and would say things out of fear. When you release the judgement, which is based in fear as well as history, then what you are left with is love. And from that place whatever we say or do will be expressed as love. Love transcends the moment we are in and allows us to be present to the experience as

Here's a true story that also reminds me that we don't know where life will take us...

My grandmother had three siblings. At the time when the inheritance needed to be split my grandmother and her husband (my grandfather) decided to let everyone else pick what they wanted first. They loved their siblings and didn't want to argue with them. One sibling picked the store, another picked the house, another took the money and they gave a plot of land to my grandparents up in the mountains that was hard to farm or build on back then. This plot of land was the least valuable of all the inheritance. Fast forward to the present moment and the land became the most valuable of all the assets. Good? Bad? Who knows? Things don't always turn out as you think.

This story about my grandparents is so meaningful to me. As my parents were separating their own property I always believed that "I got the shit end of the stick". Well guess what kind of experiences I was collecting evidence for with that mindset?

It took a long time to heal that.

That was the most painful yet the most powerful experience I've ever had and as I allowed myself to feel and heal what was showing up for me and now I get to experience the freedom and fun of stepping into the unknown in a space of curiosity and compassion as I watch my own life unfold in mysterious and magical ways.

MY INVITATION TO YOU:

We've all had the experience of being in a situation that felt "bad" when we were going through it but ultimately was the best thing that could have happened to us. We've also been in experiences that have felt amazing when it was happening only to bring sadness and grief as it unfolded. Life is made up of all these various experiences. Noticing this in our own lives will help us to see it in our children's lives.

Reflect on some of your own experiences in life. Notice how life ebbed and flowed. How one experience brought you to another. How you discovered your own innate wisdom and courage through the "bad" experiences as much as the "good" ones.

Learn to look at your children's experiences in the same way. Good? Bad? Who knows?

With Love, Maria