This weekend I had an adventure that I thought would be very solemn and meditative, but ended up being hysterically funny in the best possible way. And I came out of it with a ring. But perhaps I should back up a bit and tell you the story from the beginning… 🙂
The final assignment in the class I’ve been taking with KC Baker was to create our own commitment ceremony. The idea is to make a wholehearted, full-bodied commitment to my work in the world for the next year. To say that I know that in going full-out for my dream, fear and uneasiness might come up, but I’m not going to back off. I’m going to feel the fear and keep pushing forward anyway for a solid year and see what happens.
Side note – It occurs to me that I have never fully articulated the vision of “my work” here with you. Notice how weaselly I’ve been about making the commitment to my work, not even sharing with you what I envision? Yep, there’s a perfect example of how I have been backing off and not playing with my full deck of cards. So here is my vision – I am fully embracing my own power and courage to share my wisdom with the world as an in-demand life coach, speaker, and writer. I already AM all three of those things; I am now moving onto a bigger stage by claiming my gifts as a teacher more fully.
So, back to the story…
KC suggested that we do a commitment ceremony. And I spent two weeks trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do!!!! I had NO idea what to do, where to do it, how to do it, what to say, or any of a thousand other little crazinesses.
On Friday night, I finally had a conversation with God that went something like this: “Okay God, this clearly isn’t working because I don’t think I’d notice an idea if I tripped over it. If you want me to do this, you’re going to have to show me how.”
I woke up on Saturday morning knowing EXACTLY what I wanted to do…like magic!! Or, you might even say, a miracle…… 😉
I called my mom and told her to pack a bag, we were heading to the coast of Maine for an overnight. Once we were there, I combed one of the rocky beaches for a bunch of smallish rocks and brought them back to the hotel room. I then painted each of them in bright colors and wrote the qualities that I am choosing to embrace in the coming year. I went out to the rocks for a second time and found a big mother rock and painted my vision on it: “Supporting people in moving from GRAY to TECHNICOLOR.”
On Sunday morning, we went down to a sand beach. We were carrying a whole bunch of rocks, so we didn’t want to walk too far; I also wanted to be as close as possible to the water but far enough away that if the tide started coming in, we’d still be okay. My plan was to do the ceremony, then bring all the rocks home with me (including the vision rock) and make some type of altar with them in my apartment.
I set out the rocks – the vision rock in the center with all of the smaller rocks surrounding it:
So I started the ceremony. I was really focusing on the energy of each quality/principle and how I want to interact with it in the coming year. I was connecting with the energy of my vision. I was completely focused on the rocks and what they symbolized for me.
For instance, I got to the quality “flexibility” and talked about how I know that sometimes I make plans and the Universe has a different idea. And in those moments, no matter how hard I try, the Universe is going to win, so I’m choosing to embrace flexibility and allow myself to go with the flow…
At which point the first wave hit. Out of NOWHERE, suddenly the rocks were under water!!!!
We ran up the beach about 20 feet to stay dry while I hoped and prayed that all of my rocks would still be there when the water receded…because I wasn’t even a third of the way done with my ceremony! And surely this was just one rogue wave that came up that far – after all, just 10 minutes earlier, the waves were at least 40 feet away!
Thankfully all the rocks were still there a minute later when the water receded, although a few had been flipped over. So I threw off the hunk of seaweed that had gotten caught on the vision rock and went back to a much-accelerated conversation with my rocks.
And the second wave hit. Thankfully, I had JUST finished addressing each of the rocks in a rapid-fire monologue. In quick succession, the third wave hit.
As we watched the water bathe the rocks, I turned to my mom and said, “I just hope they’re all still there so I can take them home.”
And she, in her incredibly profound Mama way, said, “Maybe you’re supposed to leave them here and give them back to the ocean.”
I resisted for a moment, but then I realized she was right. The whole thing was absolutely perfect – I was in one of my favorite places in the world, the weather was perfect, I found the rocks there, I put all of the energy of my intention into them, and now I was sending that energy back out into the world from my favorite place. And who knows where they might end up?
I’m sure the little ones will travel, and perhaps the salt water will take the paint off of them so that no one will know what they are and what they hold inside. But I have a lot of joy thinking about someone seeing the big rock, the one that is least likely to move…and the one that holds my vision. “Supporting people in moving from GRAY to TECHNICOLOR.”
And without any knowledge of what that means or where it came from, what kind of shift could that cause for someone? Perhaps that’s exactly the sign from the Universe that someone was seeking. And thanks to the ocean (and my mom) I was able to participate in giving it to them.
I am unbelievably grateful for how everything happened. And for the fact that this sacred ceremony of commitment was punctuated by SO MUCH laughter! It truly couldn’t have been any better.
Today’s miracle: I set an energy and intention in motion, and now the ocean is carrying it to every corner of the earth.
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Sheila
April 30, 2013 at 12:40 PM (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Beautiful, beautiful story — as always. Every day you post to your blog you inspire me — that’s my miracle!
Sheila recently posted at their blog…Deepening the Spirit: Energy from Sight
Leah Carey
April 30, 2013 at 5:02 PM (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Thank you Sheila! And you are my miracle for being here so I can share with you. 🙂
Nicole
September 20, 2013 at 8:28 AM (UTC -5) Link to this comment
As someone who lives in the area, I have often thrown my troubles, my hopes, my dreams (via a rock) into the Atlantic. As I was reading, I flashed back to some of the moments. It is a wonderful feeling to release your thoughts and dreams to the powers that be!
I’m happy you found your ring at Atlantic Softwear! Thank you for sharing!
Leah Carey
September 24, 2013 at 8:22 AM (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Nicole, I was so happy to see you again last week!
I had an AMAZING experience the day after I saw you and wrote about it last night. Check it out here: http://www.themiraclejournal.com/2013/09/23/a-goose-bumpy-story/
Until next time…. 🙂
~Leah
The Miracle Journal | A goose-bumpy story
September 23, 2013 at 9:14 PM (UTC -5) Link to this comment
[…] The last time I was there was in April, when I performed a “Commitment Ceremony” with myself for bringing my work out into the world in a much bigger way (it’s a funny story that you can read and see pictures in the post With This Ring.) […]