“Relinquish your attachment to the known, step into the unknown, and you will step into the field of all possibilities.”~Deepak Chopra
Being intentionally in the unknown is like a vacation.
You suspend expectations of everyday life and its routines to welcome in a new experience and perhaps some respite.
I am in that void now, embracing the three, life-shifting words my friends and clients are uttering these days: I don’t know. Many tell me how uncomfortable or disoriented they feel. Yet, underneath their words, I also hear whispers of new lives seeking to emerge, and long-lost expressions of their authentic selves unfolding.
I sense the same for myself.
After months rebranding my business, pulling together a media plan and creating new strategies for developing online classes, I am stopping briefly–choosing to be fully detached from all outcomes of these efforts.
Instead, I booked a thoughtfully planned trip, which I am calling, “A Journey of Love.” As proud as I am that my son just got a job at Amazon in Seattle, I also feel a pang in my heart. I know if I don’t see him now while he is in Boston, it will be a long time before I make a trip cross-country again. And, it’s already been 10 months since I last saw him. We would have been together, along with my daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter and former husband, at his college graduation in May. That event, like many others across the world, was cancelled due to the pandemic.
LET GO AND OPEN TO GRACE
Loosening the grip on the known to enter this often, grace-filled space of uncertainty is no easy task.
Take it from me. The same day I booked my vacation, I slipped on a root while hiking and sprained my right wrist. One friend immediately sent me a note from Louise Hay’s book on healing, which read: “The wrist represents movement…and handling all responsibilities with wisdom, with love, and with ease.”
Another friend, an energy healer, shared that spraining my wrist was symbolic of no longer grasping and stepping more fully into my power, by leaning in and receiving. She also noted that the wrist represents circulation, and that I will be in the world in new ways.
Like many others, I am unsure what those new ways will look like. I am creating the space for expansion without defining it, by first balancing myself with play, unstructured time, rest, quiet and special moments with those I love, including lifelong friends in Massachusetts.
You may not take a vacation like I am doing, and opt instead to soul-search at home. Instead of fearing the words “I don’t know,” or trying to control the next steps, I encourage you to become curious. Ponder open-ended questions that help ignite the brain for new outcomes. Here are some examples:
- What would my life look life if I knew I was worthy?
- How will this urge to paint, garden, write a book, sing a song or indulge in creative inspiration fulfill me—and/or serve someone else?
- Is there a nudge to do something different that keeps coming back? When is the “right time” to honor it?
- Is there a lost part of myself longing to be expressed? What am I waiting for?
- What would a life living without regrets look like?
- If I were to take one small step, toward the thing I fear most, what might that be?
- Where is my tribe (of like-minded others) who give me a sense of belonging?
- What does living fully feel like?
Come up with some of your questions about not knowing. Be still and patient as you wait for your intuition and grace to guide you with clues, messages, signs, and synchronicities.
And, please make time to play. For many of us, it is long overdue.
To beach walks, bike rides and summer sunsets,
Gail
P.S.–Anybody else see a heart in that cloud above? I sense it’s a sign for a lot more heart-centered living–what a way to start a vacation:).
Barbara J Hopkinson, who is generously hosting me for the next 12 days, captured the stunning photo above, from the deck of her beach home in Plum Island, MA. Her home has become a sacred healing place for herself and many others. Barbara is an author, Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist, and Founder & CEO of A Butterfly’s Journey ™ (a nonprofit for resilience after loss). I was once her publicist. http://abutterflysjourney.org
Gail Kauranen Jones is an intuitive coach, gifted wordsmith and inspiring teacher who has been leading others through transformation for more than twenty years. She is the author of two books, Cancer as a Love Story: Developing the Mindset for Living, and To Hell and Back…Healing Your Way through Transition. Both books were met with rave reviews on Amazon and elsewhere.
She recently appeared as a guest “worthiness coach” on CBS TV’s award-winning talk show The Doctors and on Sirius FM Radio. Her articles and “tips” on worthiness have also appeared several times in Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper.
She has taught many leading-edge workshops at top spas and wellness centers. She now leads Zoom group coaching programs and is a guest speaker at many related events.
Gail lives a passionate and simple life writing, hiking, connecting in meaningful ways, aligning in joyful collaboration and thriving in nature.