By Amy Slattery
So I'm in love, it's not what I would call a romantic love...but a very strong feeling of affection ;)
We recently had the opportunity of a one-day workshop with Marianne Williamson while she was on tour in Australia, if you know of her then you could possibly feel the same way!
Marianne is an internationally acclaimed spiritual author and lecturer who has published 11 books (6 of which have been on the New York Times Best Sellers and 4 have been #1), her charity work on top of all this is truly amazing.
It is a little confronting when talking spirituality and what you believe in, as throughout my life I've always a thought that there is 'something' out there bigger than us, but I haven't ever been a religious person in terms of following Christianity, Catholicism or Buddhism for example and with that I have always admired people who did have that faith or belief. That's another thing value with Marianne, she does believe in a God (she is of Jewish faith), but when Marianne speaks it's very clear that you don't have to take this from a religious place - its what you decide. There is more of a focus that EVERYTHING is a RELATIONSHIP.
I first came across Marianne through her audio workshop - A Return to Love...which to be honest I loved. To say she is a straight shooter is an understatement! So much so that it took me a little while to get used to her "sometimes love is a big fat 'NO' ", where to truly love and give love might sometimes mean saying "no".
Marianne's teachings always come back to 2 limits - that of FEAR and LOVE, in that we are acting, behaving or experiencing from either Fear or Love, where the ultimate goal is to always come from a place of LOVE. I now considered any thought, action or experience I have if its not favourable as asking myself where is this coming from - a place of LOVE or FEAR, am I or this person having a 'reaction' from Fear? What is my belief at that point in time? Its fascinating once you start playing around with these concepts and thoughts!
So in the spirit of all things 7 I thought I would share my 7 key takeaways from the workshop:
1. "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." Blaise Pascal, Pensees
I think we all know what meditation can do for us, but hearing this quote at the workshop really made me think about not just meditating but just how fast paced and crazy life is for people at the moment, we want it all and we want it now! Personally I am a recovering FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), I spent a long time just not wanting to miss out on anything, so of course I said yes to everything, filling in my time with activities! Don't get me wrong they were all fun activities and things to do, but I just found myself getting burnt out and then cancelling things because I was just too tired! I'm still a work in progress on this one but I'm getting there. If you have trouble meditating really persist - its my goal for 2015 to make this a habit! Maybe start with slowing things down a bit, just try sitting alone quietly for 2 minutes, then 5 then 10 and so on, you don't need to be a meditation guru from the get go! It's also great to give this a go in the mornings...in the morning our minds are most open to new impressions!
2. "Words are just symbols" Friedrich Nietzsche
The whole quote is actually “Words are but symbols for the relations of things to one another and to us; nowhere do they touch upon absolute truth.... Through words and concepts we shall never reach beyond the wall of relations, to some sort of fabulous primal ground of things.”
I loved this idea, what I took away from this is that a word is just a way of explaining and idea, action, person, object etc and different words bring about different images and ideas for different people - we get this a lot even with Jodie and I in the business - we associate different meanings, visuals and beliefs to certain words so sometimes when we are deciding on 'words' for our tools, courses and programs things can get a bit confusing! So I'm now using the follow up "what do you mean by that?" when words don't connect the dots in my head...try it!
3. The EGO is suspicious at best and vicious at worst
Ego - a person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance. With Marianne I understood this to be the concept of just thinking and 'being' of only yourself where her concept is that EVERYTHING is a relationship and that the ego is a false belief that we are separate from each other, so all things are a relationship and this is the spirit or essence of life. So Marianne is very conscious to be wary of our ego in any situation and it does make sense to me...that little voice in my head sometimes could be my ego talking and its making me step back and think - right am I coming from a place of love or a place of fear in this situation?
4. If you are leaving to avoid learning a lesson, then that lesson will come back into your life
This is one thing I do believe in... Karma! This has been so true for me in this life - sometimes I have moved on from things knowing I am not taking 100% ownership and you betcha its come back with that lesson to learn. Be willing to see things differently and question the situations that come to you...you cannot rationally explain and irrational moment. Pause, reflect and question.
5. Your experience of a situation is determined by your own thoughts and beware the danger of an unrecognised belief
This is pretty self evident - sometimes we want to understand a situation so badly that we don't realise our experience is completely determined by our own thought and beliefs... and the danger of unrecognised beliefs can cause havoc! We do it everyday, we assess people based on that first 5 seconds of meeting them, but we don't know their story so whatever determinations we make are only coming from our own beliefs, and where are they coming from?
6. Don't act from the wound!
I love that in the office when there's a crazy situation we can move through things with laughter, so it has been a bit of a joke 'hmmm maybe I'm acting from my wound'. Marianne when talking about acting from the wound is really talking about all those past situations that we carry with us through life, they are all filed away in our subconscious and without realising that primitive fight or flight reaction can take over...so now when we are coming from a place of fear rather than love a common catch phrase is now "maybe I'm acting from my wound?"
7. We pay a high price for not taking 100% ownership of our experience
I am a big believer in this - I'm not perfect by any means but its the awareness I am now loving within myself and that is the concept of taking 100% ownership...of our experience, relationships, situations, feelings and reactions. Awareness I believe is the answer and it's one of my values, I think is easy to go through life without paying real attention to ourselves, what we are doing and putting out there. Marianne says "that which is unowned festers and poisons you", which I do believe! It is easy to stay below the line - blame, anger and excuses, however by taking full responsibility that is playing above the line and that's where we want to be! You are 100% responsible for your relationships and experiences so really be mindful of that day to day, it's easy to blame someone for their behaviour or make excuses - but remember you are 100% responsible for your experience - so why not make it from a place of love rather than fear?
There was so much I took away from just the one day, it really was amazing! So the above is a bit of a 'blurt' so feel free to get in touch and share your thoughts, or look up Marianne or A Course In Miracles and see what you think and what you get out of it!
You heal with the 'aha' moments
Live life by design... not by default!
**If you are interested in joining us at our next Ultimate Life Planning Workshop head to our programs page for dates near you!
