Yesterday, the sky was clear and it was 74degrees. Right now, it is storming hard enough the house is vibrating and it’s 44degrees. Welcome to Utah.
Living in Utah has taught me a very powerful lesson: be with what is RIGHT NOW.
There are many aspects of Utah life that require immediate adjustments of directions and beliefs. Things like ongoing road construction detours on so many streets at once, the very straight-laced and patriarchal overall logic, the dominating and outspoken religion, and the weather. Each of these things can be maddening on their own – if that is how I choose to interact with them – and, combined, they can be overwhelming – again, if that is how I choose to respond.
As I’ve prepared for this week’s show regarding feedback in The Fundamentals series, I have had the opportunity to really look at the meaning of the word “feedback” and how feedback forms a person’s life. Everything you are able to take in, experience, and absorb through your senses and everything you think and feel is your process of living. It is also feedback. Feedback = being alive!
I haven’t always been friends with feedback. When I was younger and solidly running the “I’m not enough” program, everything that I experienced was, somehow, proof that I wasn’t enough. Even the good comments like, “You did a great job.” or “That looks awesome.” or “You are so beautiful and kind.” Even that sort of feedback was received as though it was a kick in my face, or I looked for the other person’s ulterior motive. I could not receive their loving kindness because I was not lovingly kind to myself. The Utah situations that I listed are all experiences that are going on around me here. How I experience them is about me and that is feedback. What I choose to do with that feedback creates my life.
I invite you to listen to our shows today, as Jen and I discuss this topic. We are so passionate about this series of shows and how each of us have witnessed them playing out in our own lives. It truly has been a transformational experience. Everyday Joy is at 10:00am and Moments of Awakening is at 10:30am. I invite you to spend an hour learning about how feedback creates your life, as well as the lessons we have learned separately and together as we have healed our relationship with feedback. (The show links take you to the show pages where you can listen live or to the archives at any time after the shows air.)
No matter how tumultuous your internal atmosphere is or how terrifying the weather outside appears to be, it is all feedback and you have the choice to willingly respond in a way that will joyfully build you up and lovingly move you forward. That is my hope for each of you… that you choose to live a life that is full of love and joy.
