This is the sight that greeted me Saturday at the World Domination Summit, which tries to answer the question, "How do you live a remarkable life in a conventional world?" Here, my top three ways:
1. If you tell someone "no," and they react in anger, it means you made the right decision. Oh wow, where do I start with this one? How many times have you said yes because you were afraid to upset someone? And you went against what your heart was saying because you were avoiding a difficult conversation? What if instead of fearing that reaction, you decided that it was validation you made the right choice? I like this quote from Jon Acuff because it's another way of looking at fear. It can teach us and direct us in what is our true path. But we have to lean into it, and try to explore what it's teaching us instead of avoiding it.
2. Apparently, I have the characteristics of a healer. Lissa Rankin talked about the characteristics of a healer - hearing a call to help others at a young age, to want to take care of animals and the earth, and having empathy. Check, check, and check. What is your calling? Is it justice? Service? Order? It was nice hearing someone speak to what I've always felt deep in my heart, that teaching Pilates changes people's lives for the better, and that's what motivates me to keep investing in learning more and more about this work. Joe said that if people practiced his work, there would be less war. On first hearing that, I thought it was a little far-fetched. But think back to that last time you were in pain. I certainly had a short fuse and was pretty miserable. It's difficult to not pass that negative energy on to others. Sure, I might not start a war, but I'd certainly want to cut someone off in line. Healing the body heals the soul. Movement heals. Those of us who get to practice Pilates should remember how lucky we are to be part of this healing energy in the world.
3. No Mud. No Lotus. This is actually a quote by Thich Nhat Hanh, who wasn't at the conference, but this was shared by Vani Hari. I love this quote because it reminds me of the struggle that is involved in transformation, and that we don't need to fight the struggle. We can love the struggle, we can love the mess, we can love what makes us imperfect. And it reminds me of one of the first things I learned: don't run from the hard stuff. Embrace it. Know that it's teaching you something. Maybe the resistance you're feeling means you're on the right track, that you're breaking through something deep in yourself that's been holding you back - maybe in your career or your relationship. But we can also think about this with our Pilates work as well. How often do we "hate" an exercise? Avoid doing what's uncomfortable? What if we embraced the mud? The messy, sloppy exercises might be what we need most to break through.
So thank you, WDS. I learned so much. I learned I'm on the right path. I learned to embrace the struggle, and I learned how to hug a few strangers in the process.