In my last post I said I would share a practical example of how the heart’s wisdom can effectively handle life challenges. This is both very simple and complex at the same time. I’m reminded of learning to tie my shoe as a young child. It was then the most complex task I had attempted. I remember how simple it looked and yet I couldn’t seem to figure it out when I tried to do it. Then suddenly I did it, and could see for myself just how easy it was.

Over the years what has become apparent is that many tasks are made more difficult when my intellect tries “to figure it out.” When my body-mind takes over, the task suddenly becomes so much easier. It’s taken me years of trial and error to learn to drop out of my head and inhabit my entire being, beginning with tying my shoes for the first time.

So what does that mean practically speaking? I’ve chosen the topic of  job loss, and financial stress in the midst of a surprise career transition.

In the mid-80’s I had been successfully creating very large events in hotels where people met to connect and share knowledge and resources. That career abruptly ended even though the events were packed. From the point of view of the story, it looked like a bad move on the part of the hotel and most unfortunate for me.

In the midst of a time that often felt unsettling and chaotic, I was drawn to a basic class in conflict resolution given by Danaan Perry, the founder of Earth Stewards. Six months later, with unexpected money, I attended his advanced training in Washington State; there I met a man who was nationally known, as a very successful, and charismatic corporate trainer. To this day that was the most profound training I have ever attended. At the end we received certificates as Peace Makers, and I realized that was exactly what I had always wanted to be. I also had a deep desire to work with the man I had met, while intellectually that seemed impossible. He had his Masters degree from Stanford and twelve years of successful corporate training to his credit.  I had only completed my first two courses.

When I returned to California, there was a message on my phone, asking if I would act as a mediator for a fairly large group of people. I had to listen to the message several times; it was such a shock. The person who left the message told me that the mediator he knew was unavailable and that he trusted me. I did that mediation without any formal mediation training by spontaneously moving out of my intellect and being fully present to my body-mind, while following the cues it gave me. Happily it worked, and years later after being trained and certified as a mediator, I am very thankful that I learned to do that first. Now my intellect knows the “correct procedure” and also knows how to listen to wisdom that can’t be taught intellectually. A huge gift!

However, I was still a long way from being hired as a mediator or corporate trainer. I was still just barely getting by financially with no clue how to gain the experience I needed; so that I could find myself on the career path my heart had such passion to follow.

One day I suddenly had the impulse to call a consultant I’d met a few times, and I asked him, if he knew of any available work. He told me to call the General Manager at a large local hotel, who needed help initiating a new customer service training. The training turned out to be so elementary that my young children could have taught the course. I was hired and six months later the hotel changed hands. It appeared I would be out of work again and no further along my chosen career path.

Here’s what happened instead: While some former employees were let go, the new management offered me a six month position training staff in leadership skills. I had to study a very basic training myself and be video-taped giving a lesson, which really pushed all my fears of public speaking to the surface! Somehow I managed to pass inspection, and was officially hired. After six months the job was over, and the opportunity to work for the corporation presented itself. In the end, I was told that I was “not corporate enough,” and was once again without a job–only this time I had just moved into a lovely garden apartment and had recently bought a new car.

It had clearly been time to move and my former car had expired. Both the new car and the apartment appeared in ways which were unusual enough that I knew neither had been a mistake. I also had no idea how I could now afford them.

It had become my morning habit to ask a question and then clear my mind and wait for the answer, however and whenever it came. My intellect kept pointing out that I couldn’t go on much longer without steady income and I found it challenging not to pay attention to it. However, when I let those thoughts go and became internally quiet, the message I continued to receive- day after day- was ” Do nothing.” This was the first time that had ever happened. All the other times I had to internally quiet my thoughts until my whole being knew what action to take. The knowing came in either an intuitive flash or a strong body feeling which my intellect learned to translate as “do this or say that.” Until now I had been more focused on the action which followed the stillness than the Stillness Itself.

In this case, months went by and I continued to hear “Do nothing.”  To be clear, I did manage to get some minor free lance situations which brought in a bit of money, but this was merely treading water and nothing that looked as though it could lead to my dream of training in corporations or resolve my current financial situation.

In the midst of wondering how I could avoid losing both my car and apartment and wondering if the “Do Nothing” message was a sign I needed serious therapy, one morning the phone rang. Who do you think it was?

Two years had now passed since I met the man I had such a strong desire to work with; I hadn’t thought about him in quite a while, and yes, that’s who called! He said that one of his clients wanted him to do a three-year training for a company consisting  mainly of women. They wanted him to create and give the trainings with a woman. He said that he thought of me, and asked if I was doing anything?  The message I had been receiving at last began to make sense!

Now you have to imagine my resume’ positioned next to his!  I often wondered, if he was aware of how totally unprepared I was for that level of training? I don’t remember mentioning it either. I made an appointment to be interviewed and was NEVER asked for my resume’, which in itself was a miracle.

I forgot to mention that in the midst of my intellect’s continuous images of  me becoming a bag lady, my oldest daughter called to ask if I would help her financially, as she finished her last semester of college? Her dream was to spend it studying in Granada, Spain. She had already been putting herself through college and this was very important to her. All I could say, without revealing my dire circumstances, was that if I had the money when the time came, I would be glad to help her. I believe it was about $500 a month for the semester. You can probably imagine how impossible that felt. It also gave me the extra push to leap where I was afraid to go!

I have deep gratitude for all the teachers, who taught me that whenever a situation looks impossible that’s where the greatest opportunity lies. This is where many people give up because they believe it really is impossible. What I now know is that it must APPEAR impossible and we must go for it anyway because that’s how we can live lives where miracles become a natural part of how we live. They become natural when we live from our wholeness rather than stuck in the confines, the prisons of our intellects. My heart led me unerringly into a position for which I would, under “normal” circumstances, never have been interviewed, let alone hired. It was one of the happiest days of my life when I was able to tell my daughter I could send her monthly checks.

When I access my heart’s wisdom, I connect through my heart to my  Essential Self, and It in turn infuses and informs my body-mind. Ideally one is always connected, and being human, we begin by identifying with our bodies and personalities, and it can be the journey of a lifetime to remember one’s true Self. Even those who know through constant experience that we are more than our physical forms can forget when challenged, and try to solve our “problems” with our intellects. We’re all experiencing personal and/or global challenges that our intellects cannot successfully solve.

Personally, I think that all challenges, whatever the scale of importance, are an opportunity to become what we truly are and have forgotten. If our intellects could solve all our problems, how would we learn that we are so much more? We’re faced with impossible challenges right now, and our possible future is magnificent beyond anything our intellects can imagine!