Letting Go Of Outcomes & Trusting The Universe
Greetings Loved Ones,
In this matrix of a world, always having a plan, sticking to a routine, and being quite sure of any given outcome has kept us safe, but also limited. There’s always a yin to the yang! I have been experiencing that at an exaggerated level for the last two weeks. I started out on this road trip thinking I would follow an exact route and plan which is now totally laughable. I'm giggling thinking about how happy I am that my plans actually keep going awry in the best ways. For example, I was most recently in the Badlands of South Dakota. I arrived thinking of just staying for two days but ended up meeting some amazingg people (my 'camp fam') and stayed there for five days (in 102-degree weather I might add)! There were motorcycles involved, sunset hikes, blueberry pancakes, stargazing, storytelling....I am so glad that I just threw my plan out the window to make room for all the magic that came in. I am now entering the next part of my journey with the same mentality - totally flexible and open.
Always being sure of what’s to come doesn’t leave us much room for spontaneity. Knowing that every day you’ll get your coffee from the same cafe, go to work at the same office, see the same people, take your lunch hour at the same time…we start to embody the hamster on the wheel. While routine and consistency can be so good for us, we need a little flavor in there to really build character. Risk-taking challenges us to problem solve and get comfortable with the unknown. When I hear people talk about 'playing small' what I really hear is 'playing safe'. Often, what causes us to stay in that limited mindset is attachment to a specific outcome. Anything other than what we expect or plan for can be scary… but I promise you it’s worth it to get off the hamster wheel. It is safe for us to release control and loosen our grip on the reigns. In no way does releasing control equal laziness either. To me, it means absolute trust in your ability to adapt and absolute trust in the Universe.
An exercise that has always helped me leap into the unknown is logically thinking about what the worst-case scenario would be...because it's usually not that bad (or even plausible). You can go all the way down the rabbit hole with this one. For example, when I decided to travel/move to California it was a big risk. My worst-case scenario was: running out of money, losing friendships, not liking where I ended up, feeling lonely...etc. I wrote down that list on a t-chart with the solutions on the other side to prove to myself that I could handle it and that the risk would be rewarded! So, I made a reasonable budget for the trip and planned for new clients, made sure to cherish and give more attention to my existing friendships, remembered that I am never stuck in one spot and could even return to NYC if it came down to it, and finally built up my confidence and people skills to approach strangers more easily.
It's only when we get out of our comfort zone that we truly grow. In fact, I don't necessarily believe in failure. Literally everything can serve as a lesson for our highest evolvement. It seems crazy, but I think a lot of us are scared of how powerful we actually are! We get scared that if we up-level, we'll lose everything familiar to us. But I'm here to encourage you to take that leap and to be brave while trusting that when you improve, you also help everyone else around you to be and do better! There is no need to dim your own light anymore to make everyone else feel more comfortable. Go BIG - start that business, transform your health, launch that podcast... Do something that scares you every day and flex that trust muscle.
And can we take a moment to go cosmic? When we are more comfortable facing the unknown, we don’t fear ‘death’ of the physical body so much…we start to get curious instead. We start to train ourselves to act in love instead of in fear while allowing ourselves to be open to the magical, serendipitous gifts from the Youniverse.
Sending you love from Wyoming! Off to Yellowstone today. Connect with me on IG @helendenham_ in the meantime!
