SEPTEMBER GUIDANCE: THE BEAUTY IN REPEATED PATTERNS

2013 SEPTEMBER GUIDANCE…
Feel your experience deeply, knowing with full presence. Each moment is enriched with unfolding newness. Share your innate wisdom with each moment, one with your spirit and the tremendous reach that exists everywhere. 

When we go through consistent lessons, and drag ourselves through the mud on multiple occasions, we start to feel a little beaten up, bedraggled and disheveled, not necessarily walking with faith in our hearts toward the next big move. We can end up confused and feeling lost, not necessarily seeing any additional options or mustering the courage to choose differently.

There is beauty in repeated patterns. It is beautiful when the trust we have in our ego’s ability to navigate and discern gets a little weary, because this is the point we often wait to get to before we ask for help. After several stumbles and broken pieces, we finally lean into the divine opportunity to ask for clarity, direction, and truth, dusting off our knees and preparing for a more guided approach.  Surrender is beautiful and it is not the same as giving up. The more we repeat a bad pattern, the more we know it won’t fulfill us, and the more wisdom we earn to help us make different choices. It is when we solidify the belief that this is all we have the power to attract, or that we are unworthy of making different choices, that we often get stuck.

Here are a few patterns I have caught myself repeating:

• Saying yes when my heart and intuition says no.
• Speeding up instead of slowing down.
• Setting myself up for disappointment by having astronomical, superhuman expectations.
• Letting my ego defend me.
• Emotionally reacting.
• Denying my basic needs for the needs of others.
• Breaking my own helpful boundaries.

“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” -Albert Einstein

The repetition of hurtful or negative patterns can be maddening. However, when we want to try it one more time, the umpteen times it has already happened can eventually serve as back-up, aiding us in making a better decision this time, trying something different. The challenge is in finding the beauty and the wisdom that comes from falling down, rather that choosing to believe the negative pattern is the only option that we are capable of creating for ourselves, based on the proof of our experience. We can always change our experience; we can always change our patterns. We have the power to create the opportunity to move through a repeated lesson. Look at nature for proof. Nature’s gorgeous repeating patterns, cycles, movement, growth, all demonstrate constant adaptation. Nature changes in the direction of the highest expression, for the highest good.

Here are some steps that can help you dive into your inner wisdom for help to move through a lesson, rather than having it repeat. (The focus of this post is on the negative patterns that we want to change for the better, but these little steps can help us emphasize, clarify, or magnify a really positive pattern that we know we want to repeat as well. Just use the same principles with a little different purpose!)

Identify the pattern
What are the patterns that are consistently repeating in your life? Look deeply and recognize the repeating patterns that you would like to change. Have you consistently chosen bad partnerships? Have you been in multiple negative work scenarios? Do you always feel taken advantage of? Have you been swimming upstream instead of in your flow for too long? Have you stuck with the safety of going with the crowd instead of taking a leap outside into alignment with your soul’s calling? Have you consistently stifled your own creativity?

There may be a dark and deep-seated concept or belief that is keeping you stuck attracting the same circumstances in your life, so once you have the pattern identified, check in and see if there is an underlying belief fueling the pattern into motion:
“I am a failure”
“I will never get ahead”
“I have to be perfect to be loved”
These tricky beliefs can show up at work, in your home, in your friendships, in every area of your life, or in isolated ones. Wherever they are, they need the light of exposure, and the willingness to shift the belief.

Take time to see the truth
The truth is, we are responsible for our experience. It is easy to feel like a victim when we consistently experience negativity in our lives, however we need to start taking responsibility if we are ever going to move through our lessons. We have choice in each scenario we find ourselves in. In particular, if we are experiencing a scenario multiple times in a row, this is a siren sharing with us that it is within our scope of choice to change course. Take gentle responsibility. If you notice that when you examine your patterns, or old beliefs, that you end up pointing fingers of blame at your parents or your partners or your finances, stop for a moment. Ask yourself: What in this situation, this pattern, this belief, is mine? What am I responsible for? Am I willing to make a change? When really facing the truth in it, that we are responsible for our experience, it can be easy to self-condemn or feel guilty. These emotions will not help the situation, so wrap the truth in love, compassion and deep acceptance.

Ask for help
Getting to a place of deep acceptance can be extremely challenging. If you are consistently finding yourself repeating patterns, knowing that there is a lesson for you, but maybe you can’t see the deeper truth or belief, start to become deeply inquisitive. Start asking the questions. Ask your guides, your angels, your Higher Self, Spirit, God, the Universe, Mother Earth, Creative Intelligence, Buddha, an intuitive friend, a wellness practitioner, a loving spouse, a mirror in some form or another…you get the point, ask for a deeper understanding. Be patient and keep your heart open while receiving the lessons. I remember one of my college professors saying that no question was a dumb question and if asked in earnest, each question would be answered to the best of their ability. I feel this is how divine communication works too. If we really ask the genuine questions we truly desire answers to, the answer will come and will be as clear as we need it to be to move forward. The divine inside of us truly wants our highest expression and knows it is possible, so trust it.

Check perspectives and find gratitude
Are you seeing this from all angles? Can you use the compassionate eyes of your inner wisdom to see this scenario objectively? If you have received truth and you’re feeling like you still don’t get it, if it still stings or is confusing, or there is still more to learn, ask for the gift of seeing from all perspectives. Ask for the perspective of your higher self, and for the highest good for all parties involved. Ask if are you in integrity. Ask if there is any fear in the way of moving forward. Lastly, find gratitude for those that have shown you your own lessons. Express gratitude for the circumstances that ultimately delivered growth and expansion.

Cultivate the courage to choose differently
Choose differently and/or change directions. When we’re in a dark room, we can’t get out of the dark by scratching through it, talking about it, complaining about it or dwelling in it, we must turn on the light. One choice that always exists is acceptance of what is. It can be a challenging choice, but it can also offer freedom from the burden of our own condemnation and judgment toward ourselves, others or situations. Lift the burden, as it is most likely not your highest good to carry it with you. Choosing different actions, different perspectives, or choosing to handle the same situation with more grace and compassion can truly help us move through sticky situations. We always have choice, and we are empowered to make choices around others’ choices. Ask for courage, and see the outcome. Make the shift with trust.

Recognize this human life as your playground, your stage, your blank canvas
To me, dance has often represented hope, it is an expression of the light we carry. Physical movement is given as a gift of demonstration. It is a communion with the divine, of connected wisdom and feeling. You may dance through your experience, with courage. We tell our bodies to dance, and we allow the movement to happen, we express. Explore your freedom of choice, and your freedom to move. We create our experience, so we must take responsibility for the things that happen “to us.” Ultimately we are painting our canvas, we are driving our boats, we are writing our stories, and we are creating our dreams. So choose with the wisdom you carry from past experiences, so that you can leave them in the past and have a different, more vibrant experience now.