Yes, it’s true. After a lovely run with my sweetheart of a mutt, Dozer, I came into the kitchen and realized I had left the back door open. As the family gathered to begin dinner, a rat scurried out from under the refrigerator right across our kitchen floor. YIKES! Now what you may not know about me is that rats are one of my all time WORST fears. At that moment, I became the stereo-typical 50s housewife. I jumped up on the counter and squealed at the top of my lungs.
We quickly vacated the premises after my hero of a husband, Rob, tried to get it out the door…we spent the next 4 nights at my parents’ house as Rob and my Dad made daily trips to our house to deal with the rat.
Now, being the Wake-Up Call Coach and all, I knew I HAD to look at the deeper truth about this event. It was like my FEAR and ANXIETY about 2011 was let loose, standing before me in rat form. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been feeling extra emotional, very vulnerable, and even trepidations about the year ahead. I’ve been bracing for what the year will bring…like being on the roller coaster ride on the way up. Click…click…click…wow…uhhh…this….is…going…to…be…one…helluva…ride!!!
2011 is set to be a HUGE year for me. And I know it to the core of my being. I feel my CUP RUNNETH OVER professional power mantra coming on strong. I have my first book, Big Fat Lies Women Tell Themselves, due out in the Fall from New World Library and I’m busy doing edits, an intensive program called The Inner Wisdom Circles launching this month, and a big partnership on the horizon with a company I LOVE (details to be released when it’s all official-stay tuned!). Add to that my SEXY BACK personal power manta for the year (oh yes…it is ON for me to reclaim my body, my physical strength, my beauty, my sensuality and MORE this year!), being a mom of a rambunctious 3-year old and the wife to an incredibly talented, cutie pie husband and I have one full plate.
So how can I be fully present to all the amazing things I’ve created (these are all FABULOUS things to celebrate and I feel incredibly lucky!)?
Is there a way to approach a filled to the brim schedule with joy?
How do I process the vulnerability and fear of getting my message out in the world in a bigger way?
One thing I know for sure…my Inner Mean Girl is NOT the right person to ask. She is just so… mean! So I’ve turned to my Inner Wisdom instead and she is delivering the goods. (Remember to do your 3-step process, ladies and gentlemen, to uncover your Inner Wisdom’s truth!) She is telling me things like:
- Continue your Daily Practice—make it a top priority to sit quiet each day
- Find and speak gratitude each and every day
- Build more support structures
- Be 100% REAL about the way you’re feeling…hence this post
- BE with the fear as it comes up…and watch it dissolve
So I’m doing just that. And I’m happy to say we’re finally back at home and Rufus the rat (yes, we named him) is gone. But the wake-up call he gave me remains (and I admit, I’m still a bit jumpy!).
How are YOU feeling about YOUR year? Please post your comments below!
Amy,
If anyone can do it – YOU CAN!! You made Rufus a teacher! Brilliant.
You rock it out wonderful woman! I am proud to call you my coach!
Aw shucks, Shiloh. I’m HONORED to have you as my friend and client.
Love,
Amy
Hey Beautiful Woman,
Luv all the amazing things you’re up to and LUV this brave, honest, raw post. I think the more honest we can be in our message, the easier it gets to be OK with all the emotions and feelings and just “hang out” with them.
You are brilliant! So so excited for your book!!!
xoxo,
Christina Dunbar
Christina,
thank you so much for the response. YES to women fully expressing ALL their feelings!
Love,
Amy
Amy,
I am happy you took time to look into it. I have been communicating with animals and nature for 18 years now and it was “no accident” the rat showed up. I sincerely hope it got back outside, because it was bringing you a message. I got bit four times in five years by a brown recluse spider inside the same four inch circle on upper part of my leg. Since it was not the same spider, I finally realized the chances of that happening were more than one in a million, and I had help conversing with the spider to find the message which shifted something drastically in my life, and no more bites.
I found your story amusing considering the messages rats bring. They are about shrewdness, restlessness and success. Are you restless about the coming year? Rats are very adaptable as they are still here despite all our efforts to eradicate them. Are you adaptable? They socialize and help each other. They often succeed despite the odds. Just some other things to consider.
For me, every face is the face of God, Source, Divinity. Every single things “speaks” to me. I just need to be really Open to hearing the message instead of just trying to kill the messenger which people often do with insects on plants or animals in their homes or their garden. They each are an aspect of the Divine speaking the best way they know how. We need to take time to BREATHE, connect Heart to Heart and listen quietly. We all can communicate if we take time to become a blank slate and listen quietly.
With great love, Morgine
Hi Morgine,
I love what you wrote. I do believe it, and that we and everything else are all connected, a wonderful unity.
I wish you health and happiness.
Amira
Morgine,
What a BEAUTIFUL response to my post. Thank you so much for letting me know about what rats symbolize…yes…I am restless about this year and I do consider myself to be adaptable (MOST of the time). And I do I think it is really an interesting thing to have something that so vividly symbolizes fear come into my house. It was very tough trying to get it out of the house—we tried to get him to leave and were quite surprised when he decided to stay for 4 nights. It was a tough one, because we couldn’t just leave the back door open for him to leave (as that might have made the situation worse–we don’t need a full family living in our living space). And given that they are nocturnal and I couldn’t sleep in the house with the bugger–especially with my dog and 3 year old. We did, indeed, have to resort to traps and, for full authenticity, Rufus did transition to the other side due to one. I only wish he could have made his way out of the house instead!
With much gratitude,
Amy
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve been feeling extra emotional, very vulnerable,…”
OMG, I know!!! I’m going through some deep soul searching, delving deeply into my psyche, trying to get to the cause of my “issues” and am feeling raw, exposed, vulnerable, as well as physically, emotionally, and Spiritually exhausted. I realize that now is the time to really start taking better care of My Self, to truly listen to my Inner Wisdom, but sometimes that is easier said than done. I will make this promise to you and to My Self, that I will resume my Daily Practice and make it a top priority to meditate every day, that I will find and speak gratitude every day, that I will build more support structures (3 friends and I had our 1st group meeting today to read and discuss “Women, Food, and God” and to offer each other support as we continue our individual Journeys to Balance and good health.), and I will be 100% REAL about the way I am feeling. I also promise that I will do my best to BE with the fear as it comes, acknowledge it, and then watch it fade and transform into Love and Support for My Self.
I have also been considering a career change and becoming certified as a Traditional Naturopath. However, the fear of not being able to make a living with that as my sole soure of income is overwhelming and has stopped me from pursuing that path. I am simply too afraid to move forward in that direction. My Inner Wisdom hasn’t been very forthcoming. It is overshadowed by the fear and self doubt. So, what do I do?
Thank you so much for your Good Works.
In Love and Light,
Debbie
Debbie,
I’m so touched by your response…thanks for standing with me.
I recommend that in your daily practice you begin asking your Inner Wisdom to show you signs for when the time is right to pursue your dream…only she can truly know when the time is right.
With much love,
Amy
Thanks, Amy, and thanks also to the commenters, especially Morgine, what wonderful insight. Typical of you, Amy, to attract such insightful people to yourself! Way to go!
Thanks so much, Julianne. Yes, I feel SO blessed to read responses from such INSPIRING, SMART people!
I continue to be amazed at how these ‘no accident’ kinds of things occur in our lives —if we can just make ourselves LISTEN. Love Morgine’s thoughts.
Indeed!
I love what our inner wisdom tells us. Breathe. Relax. Ask for help. Be one among many. Yes!
How wonderful and interesting to see, in front of my own eyes, that other women are going through the same kinds of things I am right at this moment!
I am facing my own animal totems and looking at my life in all it’s big and wonderful and sometimes, intimidating glory!
Thanks for the humor Amy!
I’m right there with ya!
Love and all good things,
Patricia
Thank you for sharing your story Amy – resonated with me as I have been living with mice in the house for a couple of years and I did not want to kill them. I know mice are easier to live with than rats!
I loved reading Morgine’s response to your post. You have given me some wonderful insights Morgine – I shall reflect on them – send Reiki to them (this is where my Reiki practice comes in beautifully handy) and hope that I get the message that the universe is trying to send me through the mice.
Thank you all.
I am really very grateful.
Mamta
I just had a wakeup call of my own and by you sharing yours, it confirms that we are all in this together to survive well.
thank you for your guidance.
Dear Amy ;What a great post!A rat in the house, Goes to show you we aren’t supposed to BE in the Rat Race. We aren’t Rat’s and who in their right mindmine would want to compete with them ? At our own pace is the timing of our Spirit Flowering. Sounds like you are doing fine. Morgine, You have gotten to the essence exactly! Time to” Choose” our owning Spirit Pace.
Of course, how insightful you were to pick up on the “RAT-race” we are meant to get off of! Loved that! I once had a squirrel in the house and learned that squirrels’ message is to get prepared for what’s coming. That was very true, since within that year, my husband who had been facing ALS for more than two years, eventually breathed his last. I was prepared and thank God, it was in peace.
Amy,
Sometimes things like this are necessary. I have lived in the same place for over 30 years and while my car is usually about spotless, my partner’s car a mouse could live in for a year. Yet my car, and there have been 4 now, attract mice and leave all his cars totally alone!! Talked to my teacher and she told me they absolutely LOVE my energy! Well I have tried catch em a alive traps which work for about two months and then break and catch the mice half in and half out. Gross! Now I have an herbal bag I put in my car and am going to an electronic thing I would never have in my house with other animals, however, away from the house in my car I feel is a safe distance. Sometimes we resort to things we don’t enjoy. Yet I do it with great LOVE and adoration. I talk to the mice and explain things. I bless everyone that happens to die, knowing it is all perfect. So blessing the rat for his message is the loving thing to do, rather than just “killing a pest” which most people would consider doing. I have helped many people with insect infestations and after the message was received by the people, they left. They come to help CREATE BALANCE when there is a disruption in the field. It is there very NATURE to do so, like breathing. Often however, instead of listening and “being with” our experience, we quickly kill the messengers and miss the message. Happily you did not miss the message.
I lived in California before and he had scorpions around our home and sometimes in. Trust me I did not pick them up and carry them out of the house!! I waited on a stool till my partner came home! I am humble enough to admit, there are still some things I am working at developing a loving relationship with. I know they are DIVINE and as soon as I can SEE them that way, neither of us will fear each other!
many Blessings, Morgine
Loved your insight Morgine.
Had an influx of bees last summer and freaked me out. I am also allergic so I was in a panic! What was that all about?
Thank you Amy for being so real and honest. I feel our human connection when we can laugh lovingly together like this. Connecting, collaborating, sharing authentically and mutual support seem to be themes of this time. You are a beautiful role model. There is so much value in sharing your feelings and asking us to look into our own feelings as we launch into 2011. I have a funny story to share too. Here’s how 2011 is feeling for me:
My word for 2011 is “Unfolding!”
For me this year has an expansive energy of blossoming into a new level of ease and authentic expression, breaking through all that has come before, including the messy, yet incredible cycle of growth I experienced in myself and others in 2010. I sense that a deeper level of courage is called for.
To honor this, I have created a new and powerful breathing practice for myself of gathering courage with each inhale and clearing obstacles (i.e. old stories, patterns and thoughts that don’t serve me any more) with each exhale, clearing the way for this beautiful unfolding.
A funny story: I often take advantage of driving time for spiritual practices, like gratitude, forgiveness, prayer and chanting. Right now, I’m in Southern California where the traffic is intense. So as I drive, I’ve been doing my new breathing practice and as I do the most amazing thing keeps happening. The traffic in my lane clears out. The cars in front of me just begin to move over to other lanes, allowing me to zip ahead in my little Honda (called “Little Divine Blessing” or “LDB” for short). Anyway, I take this as an affirmation that the practice is effective at clearing obstacles on all levels.
I will definitely share this powerful new practice and others from the past year with students on my Mexico yoga retreat in March. Let’s invite this unfolding to be fun!
Amy,
The energy of this New Year is good and thank you for holding that energy for it being a great one do transition into. I’m looking forward to the many full moons of the year, to the rays of sunshine when it peaks through the clouds and to the moody sky when it’s full of fluffy clouds. I am thankful for the enthusiasm around amazing connections. I am a poet myself and will be promoting a new book I just wrote in the New Year. take care… Thanks again. Mel
Hello Melanie:
I live with a writer and she is looking for work. Do you need any help with your new book?
Perfect! You’re bright, funny AND honest — You’ll definitely have a rewarding year!
I am also embarking on a very exciting year, starting my formal coaching training with IDC in Geneva in March! I’ve saved up the money for it and got rid of all my depts in 2010, so I could register! Wow – just like I had planed it in my dream… I have zero debt, I’m on track with a free mind, to learn and grow and it feels God damn TERIFIC! In 2012, I’ll be coaching for good. Wow! Love it.
Amy. You’re wonderful. And I have to tell you something: You’re the first person I read and listend to on Youtube, back in 2008, when I was browsing, looking for genuine coaches to connect with. At the time, I thought – “my, she’s so….REAL !” 🙂 I still think that. You have kicked started my desire to become a coach, so to speak. Thank you, Amy.
And please: Enjoy your year!
Always,
Marie-France
Thanks so much Marie-France. I’m sending you love beyond measure and am deeply honored that my videos and posts have inspired you on your path.
With love,
Amy
In this life, you cannot live like an island. You need a mentor that will teach you what should be the best thing to do. In short, you need the best coach who will teach you how to become successful. Thank you for posting. I’ve learned a lot from here.