Sunday, October 19, 2008

Look, See, Move - Are You Ready?

What happens when you are faced with an opportunity to do something different? Do your palms sweat? Does your mouth go dry? Do you feel like you are going to be sick? That was me - the queen of indecisiveness. Not making a decision was easy and I could blame the results of my inaction on everyone else. "I didn't do anything. It was them."

For those of you who are regular readers of LifePrints, maybe you noticed the absence of posts in the last two weeks. There is a reason for that. I've been making decisions and all of them kept me away from my blog. Let me explain....

Two weeks ago I left for a seven day seminar in the mountains above Napa Valley, California. I went to PSI7, the second course offered by PSI Seminars. Along with 95 other people on my team, I learned what it meant to trust myself and to trust others. I left tons of emotional baggage in the valley below a spectacular cliff line. I figured out why I do many of the things I do that slow me down and get in the way of my goals and happiness. I also figured out I don't have to be that way.

We make hundreds of choices everyday. We decide between thousands of options, mundane things, really. But for me, the choice to speak up with a solution or join in a conversation were paralysing moments in time. I knew if I just stood still the opportunity would pass and I'd be safe.

Something interesting happened to me on the third day at the seminar. I'd been confronted over and over with the clear knowledge that based on results, the way I normally ran my life wasn't working so well. I decided to do something different and throw myself completely into the events and lessons that remained during the week. Every chance I had I chose to do what my heart told me was right...I made friends - I spoke up when I knew what I had to say was important - I contributed to the events instead of hanging in the background. And here's the clincher, when it all came together...

I have never been an athletic person and I have an intense fear of heights. Ask anyone who knows me. During one event, I harnessed up and climbed a 30-35ft telephone pole, balanced on top and leapt for a trapeze bar hanging out in space. I caught it and I found myself when I did. I literally danced as my belay team lowered me to the ground. Best of all, I have pictures to prove it. My favorite is me, perched just below the top of the pole. I love the look of determination on my face as pushed past my terror and I set my mind to standing up.

"This is the look, see, move seminar people! Didn't you know that?" I can still hear the staff shouting those words. Well, my life is the same..."Life is look, see, move, Lisa! Didn't you know that?"

I do now. I get it. So since returning from this transformative, empowering week, I've been using my time to reconnect and truly connect with the people in my life. I'm learning that it takes much more effort to "be engaged" in each day than it does to just trudge through it, head down, eyes cast on the sidewalk.

So I'm reordering my priorities. I have some great stories percolating for LifePrints. They will be up very soon but computer time now falls squarely behind family time.

Here is in a nutshell what I want to convey to you, my precious blogging friends - When you look at a situation, see the potential, and move before the opportunity passes you by. Be it as small as a smile to a stranger, a kind word to the checkout clerk or as risky as starting a business you know will make you happy or telling that special someone how you really feel about them.

Follow your heart. You'll be glad you did.

3 comments:

SwordBrujo said...

Boy! You sure never know what lurks inside those mild manner looking people. Do you own your own phone booth, also?

Lisa McGlaun said...

Haha...yes, you never do know what's underneath our mild-mannered smiles.

No phonebooth but I do own a Wonder Woman suit.

Lisa

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