The journey is never ending. There’s always gonna be growth, improvement, adversity; you just gotta take it all in and do what’s right, continue to grow, continue to live in the moment. ~ Antonio Brown
Recently I signed up for the Duality course at Mindvalley Academy. It’s all about how to better connect with the energy that is all around us so that I can clear old patterns and beliefs, ground myself better, set better boundaries, set intentions and send energy to projects I’m working on and so much more. I’m half way through the course, taking it at my own pace, since I’ve worked with Reiki and done other energy work before this class. I love it, because Jeffrey Allen, the instructor, is so positive and many of the techniques he teaches are helping fill in the blanks in my knowledge that I didn’t even know were there.
One of the things he says is that when we’re making a growth step, we are often off balance, which makes us irritable and hard to live with. The reason for this is because our inner landscape, as I call it, is changing. What was familiar is shifting and we’re getting a new perspective so that the world around us begins to look very different. This can be quite unsettling. And it can draw situations to us that help us use the new knowledge and skills that we are learning.
This week I’ve been having one such challenge with a growth spurt. A set of supplements that I take for my health did not arrive when they were supposed to. I got the email from the company informing me they had been delivered Friday a week ago, but they were not in our general delivery box. I thought perhaps they had been delivered to the post office, but not to our box yet. It was the weekend. When they weren’t in our box on Monday, I sent and email to the company telling them that I did not get the pills. It has been a week of consumer hell.
Instead of apologizing and either sending me a new bottle of pills, or giving me a refund as other online businesses have done for me, I was told to canvass my neighborhood to see if we could find out who had received the package. I won’t go into all the details but that is just not a feasible thing for us to do because we live in the country. I wrote and explained the situation. I got a thank you back for my response, then a day later got an email telling me the matter had been resolved because the pills had been delivered.
This went on for two or three more rounds. Finally today, feeling very angry, I acknowledged that I must be going through a growth period and was being presented with an opportunity to set my energy boundaries. So, I sent one final email telling the company that I didn’t blame them for the item not being delivered. It was clearly my mail carrier’s mistake, but I was not going to go to the post office to see if they had it, because if they did, they would deliver it to my mailbox. I also asked for my money back and told them that depending on their response, I would be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. Furthermore, I was not going to continue to do business with them.
This kind of response has not been like me in the past. In general I try to be cordial, but am sometimes a door mat. I guess those days are over. I don’t want to be unpleasant, but I have tried to help this company understand that them asking me to track down the product that has obviously gone astray, is not my job. It feels strange to stand up for myself and to declare that I don’t think they have very good customer service and that they’ve lost me as a customer. But part of me feels that it is important for me to set good boundaries for myself so that I don’t let my energy spill out into meaningless exchanges like the one I had this week.
A counter point to this episode is an exchange I had with a young woman at the Cochise Expo last night. Cochise College has events throughout the year trying to attract graduating seniors, or even juniors who are eligible to take college classes. I was manning the theatre, Cochise Actors Troupe (club) table at the Expo. Almost all of our club members are involved in the production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by my co-sponsor and co-teacher, so I was going to be alone. Barry graciously came to sit with me.
About halfway through the evening, a young woman came by our table. She was striking with a frizz of hair, that we used to call “a natural”. She was dressed in a sleek black outfit with a tie, vest and slacks. I complimented her on her hairdo and she came to speak with me. I told her a silly story of when I was young working in a school that was about 98% African American children and how one day they asked me why I didn’t wear my hair in a natural. I thought about it and said, “Well, this is how my hair grows, so this is a natural for me.” To which they began to chant, “Miss Sage has a natural.” She was gracious and smiled and then we began to have a conversation about the theatre program and the club. She didn’t take her eyes off of me and I remembered one of Jeffrey’s lessons about being present behind our eyes so that we can be more focused in our listening to the person we are talking to. She was definitely present in our conversation and I was too. It was an amazing moment in an evening that I had considered to be a chore. (I’m really ready to be finished with teaching and all that goes with it.)
So stepping outside my comfort zone to learn new ways to be present in the world has its ups and downs. I guess that’s life, isn’t it?
I am definitely looking forward to more lessons about how to manage the energy around me.
Have a blessed week ahead.
Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2022
If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know that I’m passionate about stories. That’s why I created Story-Power and now my Patreon Community. Here are some upcoming events.
May 21, Live chat with author, Moshe Mikanovsky about his book, The Resurrector about the Levi family during a dark time after the death of middle child, Nir. I found the book riveting because I learned so much about the rituals of honoring the dead among orthodox Jewish families. I will post the unedited version of Moshe’s Story-Power episode from 2021 where we discuss his life and his book this week.
June 4, Live chat with author, Teri M. Brown about her book Sunflowers Beneath the Snow, about three generations of women in one family living in Ukraine from 1973 to 2016. The book is timely, but I found it fascinating because I felt like I was living in Ukraine first under the Soviet Union, then as they struggled to create a viable democratic government. My unedited conversation with Teri is already up on Patreon.
As many of you know, I’ve been busy with my podcast, Story-Power, which I started in July of 2020. It was going great for about 10 months. I had lots of former students, colleagues, friends, and family to have as guests, but eventually I ran out of guest ideas. I was feeling a little bit of panic. My one year anniversary was approaching. I loved doing the podcast so much, but I needed guests. Fortunately, out of the blue, I received an email from PodMatch inviting me to join their podcasting “dating service” as I call it. I loved that they suggested matches for me and made it easy to schedule guests. Soon, I had so many guests lined up that I was working several months out. It’s been like that ever since.
I also liked that I could sign up to be a guest on other people’s podcasts. I’m so happy to be a member of PodMatch that I want to share this wonderful platform with all of you. I love their mission to help promote conversations. I have been able to chat with people from all over the world, learning about their cultures, and points of view.
If you are a podcaster, or have a message or fantastic product you want to share with the world, I encourage you to check out PodMatch. Use the affiliate link and tell them, Lucinda sent you. Then contact me so we can set up a chat.
Sage Woman Chronicles 