I’ve been sharing my my new year’s transformation process which requires no striving to become something you aren’t, no forcing yourself to do things you think you “should,” no “trying to motivate” yourself to bring about your soul’s deepest desires. It involves three very simple, gentle, accessible steps, and today I am focusing on the third:
1. finding your learning edge,
2. calling in a mantra, and
3. working with intention.
The first two steps happen with such ease and grace when we ask the Higher Self to give us the answers instead of trying to figure it out or have our ego set our path for us. The Higher Self can also give us step 3, but I prefer to invite the mind to participate in this step because this is the one it owns. We have to consciously set our mind to this task, so this is really the only piece that might feel like “work.”
There is a 99.9% chance your mantra will make little sense to your mind because it will come in the language of your soul, rather than logic, reason, common sense, or conventional wisdom. Your Higher Self isn’t purposely trying to overwhelm your mind. It is just speaking its truth. But when the mind gets stumped it cannot hijack the process, and you can fully give yourself over to the higher wisdom of your brilliant system.
I mentioned how the mantra that came to me when I was moving through grief and burnout was “to rest in the palm of God,” and when I heard it I immediately recognized it in the deepest part of myself, but quite frankly, a much louder part of me was like, “How the fuck do I do that?”
My mind then decided that it would work on surrender. And I let it, because it wanted to feel in control even as it was learning to trust. So I researched and talked to anyone I could about surrender to keep my mind occupied, while a deeper part of myself let the mantra do the real work.
The mantra piece happens automatically once your mind chooses to put it into action on account of its magnetic quality and intelligent flow. Like an intuitive body worker, it homes in on all the right spots, releasing resistance and bringing in more flow. And just like receiving good bodywork, mantra work feels so good!
But we are human, so sometimes we hit a limit. Sometimes life brings us challenges that knock us off center. Sometimes we forget. This is where intention comes in. When the mantra is not enough to keep us grounded and centered, we bring in intention with conscious breath.
So whenever I felt guilty about resting, or had the urge to go into overdrive to “get things done” or “plan things out,” I’d use my intention to surrender to the flow, to breathe myself back into “the palm of God.” Intention is the mind’s choice to reunite with the energy of your mantra.
When I first started practicing this process five years ago I marveled at its magic. Back then I was not only grieving the loss of my father and on bed rest for months due to adrenal exhaustion. I was also battling anxiety and depression. I had little to no energy to “turn my life around” or “make myself feel better.” That is why so much of this process is based on letting my Higher Self do the heavy lifting while I literally focused on conscious breath. (And boy did I have to repeatedly face the monster of feeling like I wasn’t “doing enough.”)
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