The Effort of Control

“I can do nothing for you but work on myself … you can do nothing for me but work on yourself.” ~ Ram Dass

“Knowing others is wisdom; knowing the self is enlightenment.” ~ Tao Te Ching

Some years ago I learned a big lesson. The only thing I can control is myself. These past weeks and months have been rough since so many people are trying to control things outside themselves. They are trying to uphold the old institutions and maintain the patriarchy. But when we do that, eventually everything crumbles. Trying to control everyone and everything outside ourselves is like trying to put out the flames of a burning building with a pastry baster, or a syringe. The effort is futile. 

I think everyone comes into this world with a life theme. Mine is learning to love myself and I can’t do that without clearing out lots of old gunk. I’ve been working on this project for a long time and learned to use lots of great tools along the way. I thought I was doing well until I decided to start my Patreon Community. I have had money issues for most of my life, believing I didn’t deserve to be prosperous. I have enough money to live on, but nothing more and though I have done a lot of work to clear the blocks, I was still feeling stuck once I decided to try to gather a following of patrons who would be willing to support my Story-Power work.

For years I thought of money as one of those things that comes from my job and when I work I’m at the mercy of my employer. So, when I decided to break away from full-time work, I was convinced that less money was going to flow to me. I knew I needed help to flip the switch to a better view of money and it’s purpose in my life. Little by little I’ve been getting the help I need but recently I found a course that is helping me clear out the last remnants of my incorrect beliefs about money.

I’m a Youtube junky, in a way. I love to use it for meditation music, I follow spiritual teachers and sometimes news and entertainment on that platform. So, when a particular Mindvalley video ad came up with Jeffrey Allen advertising his Duality course, which is all about clearing and managing our energy, I decided to check it out. Now, mind you, I’m a bit suspicious of YouTube ads, so it took me awhile to decide to take his sample mini-class, but once I did I was hooked. His energy as a teacher is amazing. I signed up for a year subscription to Mindvalley that very day and will have access to their entire range of quests, as they call them.

Because I’m a Reiki practitioner, I thought I understood energy and how it flows through everything. Now that I’ve been doing Jeffrey’s course for two or three weeks, I realize there were lots of gaps in my understanding and practice. One thing Jeffrey emphasizes is that we can heal the energy within ourselves, but even though we can send healing energy to others, it’s up to them to accept it. We can’t control anyone or anything outside ourselves unless they allow it. And even attempting to do so creates yucky energy. I don’t want to do that. I want a clean flow of loving supportive energy to stream between me and my followers.

For the first time in my life, I don’t feel weird about sharing my creative journey. I don’t mind tooting my own horn and inviting people to listen to Story-Power and join the conversation about stories on my Patreon Community page. 

During the process of creating the Story-Power podcast and now the Patreon Community, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about why stories are so important to us as human beings. What I’ve come up with so far is that they are a way for us to communicate ideas, emotions, and insights with others. When we touch someone emotionally, that is the best way to effect change a lasting change. That’s why I want to foster more conversations about the stories that mean something to us.

In the outer world, it may look like darkness is creeping in and about to swallow us. But stories are a great example of how the world really works. The protagonists, us, go through dark times, but the light always wins, even if the protagonist dies at the end of the story, their vision of a better world lives on. (And so do they in another dimension.) Balance is restored. Don’t despair. If we want to, we can create a new happier story by healing ourselves.

If you want to join my Patreon Community go to Patreon.com/StoryPower. You can listen to episodes of Story-Power here or on Apple, Google, and Spotify every other week. The next episode will air May 11 where I will be sharing my conversation with the highly creative, Vinnie Neudorf an author, theatre artist and much more.

My work is supported by PodMatch. If you have a story to share, or a podcast of your own, consider checking them out. They have been a godsend for my podcast Story-Power.  

I hope you are all well. Thanks for reading each week, liking and commenting. I’m sending good thoughts for you, your life journey, and creative endeavors.

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden © 2022