Soul Purpose Experience

Okay, I fibbed on my last post, but not intentionally. I told you I'd resume Gary and my love story as soon as I returned from my 2-day "Spa for the Soul" retreat. What I didn't know then was how wonderful those 2 days would be and how much I'd want to write about it when I returned to my red desk! So, while it's fresh on my heart, I'd like to share some of what I discovered, uncovered and released during those two days.

My friend, Teresa Snider, who is also my "promoter" for this blog, :) asked me to check out the website for www.soulpurposeexperience.com/ as a friend of hers was encouraging her to attend. When I went to the website to read about it, I began crying while reading their website! Is that crazy? I thought, "what is going on here? why am I crying?" I don't really know the answer, except that, what I read, touched a tender place in my spirit. I wanted to go myself! I told Teresa it sounded great and definitely to go. I also emailed Kristin (at Soul Purpose) to find out what the cut-off date to register for the Sept. 17-18 retreat was. It turned out, there was one spot open, so I encouraged Teresa to go. The next day, Kristin called me to reveal that a woman had to cancel at the last minute and now there were TWO spots open! Oh my, I immediately got excited and about what? I don't know? My spirit knew!

Gary was still out of town hunting and I knew I wanted to run this by him since the cost ($525) was over our $200 spending limit (without mutual consent.) Gary called the next day and of course, he said, "sure Babe, go! Sounds like a neat deal."

Okay long story short, so I don't get bogged down with all the details, Teresa and I headed to Lubbock on Wednesday. Trinity Ranch is about 15 minutes south of Lubbock, owned by Margaret and Bill Couch...Kristin is Margaret's daughter and they work as a team for this retreat. There were six women signed up and Teresa and I arrived the night before since the retreat began promptly at 9 the next morning. Kristin welcomed us to the "bunk house" which is a beautifully, decorated home with a basement and three bedrooms upstairs, a full kitchen and three full baths, very nice accommodations.

Here's what I got out of the 2 days I was there: the motivation for going to this, deep down, was that I believe God has a specific plan and purpose for my life and I needed clarity in order to figure out what it is. I chase rabbits all day, helping in so many different ways with so many different arenas of life, but yet, I didn't feel I had "reached my calling." I've been reading, The Simple Life and it too, speaks about clarity and ridding our lives of "clutter"...things that occupy our valuable time, but don't offer anything to our life. Hmm? I can think of many things, especially technology, minus this blog, since writing is something I do feel called to do :)

Anyway, one thing discussed at the retreat was to figure out what our "limiting beliefs and scripts" are that others have put on us and we have labeled ourselves with. The one that came to my mind right off the bat, but proved to be untrue was this: I am not talented. Turns out, that is a limiting belief and is very unresourceful to my life. In the course of two days, I realized my "definition" of talent was skewed just a bit and I do have talent, am talented AND creative. Now, some may say, Dawn, I've always thought you were talented. That's great, but it doesn't help me, because 1) my definition of "talent" isn't the same as yours and 2) my limiting script, "I am not talented" does not serve me at all. Therefore, I walk around feeling "untalented"...

Now, think about some limiting script that you say to yourself or that someone has labeled you with....? Can you think of one? Is that resourceful or unresourceful? There can be both kinds. But its the unresourceful scripts that keep us in that "box" and keep us from our purpose in life or trying things for fear of failure. Listen to yourself talk during the day and see if you don't speak limiting scripts as well...you might surprise yourself.

A resourceful script for me is this: I am creative and love transforming things. This is very resourceful for me because it motivates me to transform projects, ex. the desk, the cabinet knobs, organizing an out-of-control closet, helping others with their wardrobes, photography, etc. I learned that what I call "creative" can actually be called "talent" as well. But I limited myself only to "creative." Okay, so you get the message on scripts...which, by the way, come from "Belief Systems."

Furthering our knowledge of "self", a little more digging had to occur. More soul searching and I must become much more "emotionally intelligent." That's where I identify my feeling the minute it occurs, take a "check" of my body, what's happening...blood pressure going up? breathing increasing? heart rate racing? digestive system acting up? Instead of squelching the emotion, I ask myself, "what is this? where is this coming from?" In order to be keenly aware of my emotions, I got inside a round pen with a horse I'd picked. There was one paint horse, Prince Caspian, and I picked him immediately. (I love paint horses.) Prince had been a "Play Day Horse" and ridden hard and fast by many kids during his "day." He had to re-learn how to just "be" and not be so high-strung and wanting to go-go-go and do-do-do... Funny I picked him since that is exactly how I feel about life right now.

I have such a hard time just relaxing, just being. I thought that people would admire, accept, love me more if I DID for them...DID anything for them. This is something I've been working on for many months, but something I learned in just two days with Prince was this...when I was in the pen with him...I was perfectly content to just be in his presence. He was a beautiful, majestic, sweet horse. I loved being in his presence. I didn't want to leave his presence because I felt utter peace and joy. He wasn't "doing" anything...he was just "being"...he did it well and it brought much pleasure to me. Was it possible that I could just "be" in the presence of others and possibly bring them joy? Just by being me? Not rushing around trying to "do" for them? With some people, yes, I do believe that is quite possible. But I've taught most that I will do anything for them, so they might wonder what's up when I just start "being" and quit "doing"...some may not like it, some may not notice, and some may be relieved.

Now, I know that just "being" is not my purpose in life...no, I'm too high strung for that, but I will need to grasp that so I can slow down long enough for God to speak to me and for me to hear Him clearly. I've thought a lot about my purpose and this is something Margaret leads us through...

Right now, I'm leaning towards this: My soul purpose in life is to promote, inspire and encourage personal growth for myself and others, with lots of joy! I'm listening to God on this very clearly, before I put it in stone. I love learning and growing and I never want to stay where I am, no stagnation. I want to improve myself to be the best I can be, whatever that looks like...that is definitely something I'm passionate about.

Clarity of purpose....finding that thing that you love, that you feel you were made for and you can't live without...then purposing your life around it, knowing God made you just for that very reason. Wow, that's seems to simplify things, doesn't it? That was my goal all along.

Check out the website: http://www.soulpurposeexperience.com/ Amazing! Thank You, Margaret, Kristin, Connie, Prince, Teresa, my group and God...You, Lord are simply amazing.

"May the beauty of the moment be forever imprinted upon your heart." ~ Dawn Wells

(I awoke at 1:51 a.m with this quote running through my mind, I'd never heard it before~no doubt, a gift from my loving Father above."