Step 5: Practice Makes Perfect

Hey Transformers,

Remember that retreat you went on? Maybe it was one of mine? The one where you found yourself and aligned your chakras. You ate only organic food and shouted, "I love everyone," as you fell into the arms of your trust-fall partner.

Do you remember how you promised to apply every aspect of that work to your day-to-day living...?

What happenned?

Life happened, Amigo.

But that doesn't mean everything you learned about yourself and the nature of the world was a total waste of time or money. Quite the opposite. Life, is in fact, the opportunity to practice all of those lessons. It's an opportunity to advance from practicing your scales, to performing on the grand stage of life. (Oh come on! I totally nailed that analogy!) And that is exactly the point we have come to in our Beginner's Guide to Transformation: Time to practice.

Look, I know it would be easier to release, affirm, practice radical authenticity and surrender from a secluded mountaintop, but real life is a topless mountain, and so we have the opportunity to use every day, every encounter as an opportunity to practice transformation.

So what does that look like? How do you find time to practice mindfulness, and challenge yourself to grow and transform when you've got work, and relationships, and conflicting commitments stressing you out???

Take a deep breath...

Step 5: Practice

The first part of every practice is to start the work. If you are waiting for things to slow down, or when you have more money, or less commitments, then you will spend your life on the sidelines. To transform your life you must first muster the courage to participate. It is time to step into creation, Dear One.

Second, open yourself to the 'growth opportunities.' You might know these 'growth opportunities' as stresses, arguments, failures, weight-gain, and etcetera, but they are really just growth opportunities in disguise. They are messages from your true self that something is out of whack. The practice is in learning how to decipher these messages AND courageously allowing your true self to emerge.

Third, learn how to ask for guidance. If you cannot answer these questions:

1) Who are you?

2) What do you want?

3) What are your goals and desires?

Then it is time to seek out guidance. Try to find a 'guide' who is not invested in your answers. Friends and loved ones are always willing to 'help', but that is not the same thing as guidance. A guide is someone who will challenge you and support you as you nurture and reveal your true self. They will encourage you on your journey and reveal a more meaningful and deeper experience of life and love that you may never have known existed.

Practice. Practice. Pratice.

And then, practice some more.

You have never been more free to live and pursue your goals and desires. All it takes from you now is the courage to get started. When you falter, as we all do from time to time, please return to this Beginner's Guide To Transformation to get you back on your path up the mountain.

I will not lie and tell you I will be waiting for you at the top...

Rather, I thought I would ask if we could hold hands on the way up, together.

xoxo,

Lindsey