I knew that going to the Crystalline Conscious Retreat in Uxmal was going to be a huge shift for me because my everyday life had gotten very chaotic the week before and I was all over the place with emotion and stress.  In the thick of of the chaos, it was hard for me to see that though.  I was much too mental at the time but when I discovered that my passport had expired just 3 days before I was to leave I started to pay attention to what else was happening around me.  I struggled to anchor into the quiet place within so that I could move through the storm but it wasn’t easy.  Luckily (or was it luck?), the new passport I had rushed to me arrived the day I flew out but I wasn’t out of the storm yet because I hadn’t completely surrendered to the process that was unfolding.  I had cast aside my soul self and my ego mind and shadow self was continuing to navigate me into more challenges.

The next one was in the very early morning hours of the next day.  After spending about 5 hours that night in the Mexico City airport waiting for my connecting flight, I double checked the board to make sure I had the right gate and headed over to it.  I patiently waited for my flight to be called.  Time ticked away and I realized that they should have called the flight already.  It took me a few tries to find someone who spoke English and then was shown I wasn’t even at the right gate.   I made the mad dash to catch my flight but the gate was closed and I was sent away.  If you have ever missed a flight you will know that trying to catch another one is not easy and even more difficult when you are in Mexico and can’t speak much Spanish. I was sent over to office of AeroMexico.  As I begged and pleaded for help to get to my destination several different customer service reps searched the computer and all told me in broken English.  “Muy Pardon Senora, there are no seats on flights!”  One option I was given was to fly into some small town and take a 3 hour bus ride to Merida, my final destination.   A vision of me on an old Mexican bus with locals and chickens crossed my mind.  I was so desperate I was considering it.  I stepped away from the counter to think.   I was on the verge of tears, completely defeated and by this point I just wanted to throw the towel in and go home.  I was alone, tired, and devastated.

Then, thankfully, as I surrendered to the situation, a feeling began to wash over and I found the calm in the storm.  I intuitively moved through a 5 Step process and found myself in place of calm, gratitude and trusting;  ready for whatever adventure I was to be guided to.  So here is where it gets interesting.  I stepped back to the counter and there was a totally new person at the counter.   I explained my problem, she spoke rapidly to the others in Spanish and I saw them shake their heads “no”.  She looked at me directly in the eye and said “Uno momento, let me see”.  Then a fury of activity began on the computer – she tapped rapidly at the keyboard, took notes, tapped more took more notes.  Then abruptly she said “I think I can get you on the 8am flight, one moment”.  She took off, out of the office and scurried across the airport, then I saw her scurry off in another direction.  A few minutes passed and then she returned.  “Ok, Senora, I got you on the 8am flight.  Let me get your baggage transferred over.”  One quick phone call and it was done.  I was on my way with a boarding pass in hand and headed to the right gate.

I am sure this story would illicit a lot of explanations as but I only see it one way.

There are no coincidences in life.

Every moment, every experience is going to bring you to a place that will give you an opportunity of growth and you can choose for that to be easy or difficult.  

Here is how I shifted it from being that difficult flight to an unknown city and a 3 hour bus trip to having  a seat on the next plane out even after I was told by several people that there were no seats until the next day.

1.  SURRENDER –  When I realized that my fear was driving the experience, I stopped trying to navigate and I let go.  Using deep belly breathing I quieted the fear and told my mind that it was okay.  Everything was going to be okay. Even if you are not 100% sure of that you need to tell yourself that anyway and you may have to say it a few times or out loud.  Surrendering to the process can be really scary because your first thought is that by surrendering you have lost all control.  That is the furthest thing from the truth.  As a private pilot I learned that when I am losing control of the airplane I needed to actually let go of the controls for a brief moment so the airplane could do what it knows to do and that is fly.  Without me fighting to control the plane, it would stabilize itself enough for me to gain back control.  This is what surrendering to the moment does.  You aren’t really letting go, you are just allowing a natural flow of spirit into the experience.

2.  GRATITUDE — Expressing and feeling gratitude for a challenging experience is crucial to moving through it in a gentle way.  You don’t need to know why you are grateful — you just need to be grateful.  Once I was able to quiet my fear and SURRENDER.  I expressed gratitude.  I simply said “Ok, God (Spirit, Universe) I don’t know what this experience is going to bring me but I am trusting that it will be good and am grateful for this.  I am open and surrendering to whatever adventure is best for me.

3.  INTENTION — Now that you have SURRENDERed  and are GRATEFUL, you can begin to set an intention for something better.  In my case I continued on by saying “ I am open to whatever adventure is best for me, but I intend for it to be easy and graceful.”  Your intention here is not so much for something specific (that comes next) but more of how it is going to feel for you.   By expressing your intention, you are now gaining back the control.  The fear is no longer navigating and you are back in control.

4. ASK —  By this time you should be feeling more in control and in a higher vibrational place.  You have SURRENDERED (let go so Spirit can return), are GRATEFUL (raises your vibration higher) and set INTENTION of feeling (stepping back into control).  Now it is time to ASK.  If you tried to ask earlier in the process your energetic vibration would not have been high enough to give you an easier shift.  You would have still been trying to scale the mountain that your low vibration had created.  Once I had gone through steps 1  to 3, I simply stated “… I intend for it to be easy and graceful and that means being on that 8 am flight.”

5.  COMMAND NOW — When we “command” (not demand) we step into knowing that we are powerful creators.  COMMANDING is hard for us because we weren’t brought up that way. We get command and demand mixed up. Demanding is wanting something that you may or may not have a right to.  The energy of commanding brings us into the place of self-empowerment.  It may take you some time to be comfortable with the word COMMAND so you could use CHOOSE or CREATE.  Using the word NOW is important because it brings it into this moment of linear time.  So my prayer went on like this “… I intend for this to be easy and graceful and that means being on that 8 am flight and I command that now.”

So that’s the 5 STEP PROCESS!  For me, this process took less than 5 minutes.  For you, it might take a bit more time or even less.  It will depend on the depth of the “roots” the challenge has hold within you.  Challenges with deep roots, especially those with karmic or lifetime patterns may take several times of using the process or you may need outside support.   Either way, it’s much easier than trying to conquer and scale the mountain.

I would love to hear how this works for you, so please comment below or email me about your experience.  As always, I am here to support you through your life’s changes and challenges.