On Receiving

On my journey of mastery, there are many ways I’ve cultivated receiving in the past year. Everything from spiritual practice and exploration of what more is there in this moment to receive to the simple full acceptance into my heart of a simple "thank you" given to me from another human.

There are many reasons why and a big one is, as a giver, to restore my balance of giving and receiving.

There is a thematic interconnectedness to life. If I’m not fully open to receiving, say, a thank you from someone, that same crimp in my receiving is likely showing up in other ways. (Uh, did someone say money?)

I have become more attuned to places I can open myself to receiving and much of it has been a very conscious process of slowing down, becoming observant of and removing the walls that get in the way: deflecting, minimizing, turning attention off of me and turning the acknowledgment back onto the other person, are but a few example.

There is a passage in the learning process when something goes from conscious competence to unconscious competence. This is always something exciting to me as this means all of the work has sunk in so deeply as to become part of my being…a natural, unhindered self-expression coming through me.

Towards the end of last year, I was recognized as rookie of the year at my gym. When my name was announced, I raised my arm and pumped it in the air as I walked up to accept the award.

Check it out:

I’m so in love with the way I received this award because it is what naturally came out of me as my name was announced.

In the past, this is something I would have tamped down, been humble about (and perhaps even slightly embarrassed about, if I’m honest.) I would have tried to accept as quickly as possible so as to get any attention directed towards me, off of me.

Watching this is my feedback that the passage from conscious competence to unconscious competence is taking place. It is feedback that receiving is at an integration point.

If you are still with me, below is the part that I really want to share, because it probably sounds kind of crazy but I want you to know about it.

There’s a huge difference between knowing something intellectually and knowing something in my bones. The body and mind are both are important (it’s the same system really.) I am always look for creative ways bring my physiology into my learning process.

Here is one of the processes I used in my cultivation of receiving.

I began looking for something that gave me a felt sense of what I imagined receiving to feel like. I wanted to find something that was bigger than any context that I would find myself in on a daily basis.

I ended up seeing a video of world champion athlete Annie Thorisdottir being cheered for. The first time I watched it was an intense visceral experience for me, it still is actually. I knew I had found what I was looking for.

You can see it here:

I would go on to take this video and as a starting point, view it while highly attuned to what was happening in my physiology: any flow of energy, any sensation, any ripple in my experience, really.

I would then begin to breath into the feeling, fully allowing it into my body while getting to know more and more of the felt sense of it in my body.

Over time, I added a layer of visualization to the feeling, imagining that the roar of the crowd was for me. I would do this while also getting a sense of how my body wanted to move in that visualization.

As I spent more and more time doing this, I would notice some of these same feelings, though not as intense, generated while I was accepting an acknowledgment from someone, or a thank you from someone in real time.

And this is the exact process I used to burn this feeling into my being and cultivate a more open receptivity.

The mind is so incredibly powerful.

The learning process can be so incredibly creative.

There are not many people with this commitment to mastery and learning. There are not many people who would go to this length to cultivate themselves. I offer that in this world where everyone is trying to find the best hack, the path of mastery is a super power. In this world where everyone wants a short cut, the path of mastery IS the shortest way.

I am committed to mastery as it is a way that helps me squeeze every last drop out of every single moment and experience of my life. It is a way that, dynamically, my best becomes my baseline, which then has an exponential effect on the way I create impact.

While the path of mastery is not always easy, it is worthwhile as a beautiful way to be in love with the depth of every moment and every experience life has to offer for us.