Well, Joel and I are going to Utah on Wednesday for a week and a half. We are both really excited because we’ve wanted to go to Utah for years – specifically, mountain biking in Moab. While both of us have always liked mountain biking, it was me who really dreamed of Moab because of a picture I found in a magazine.
It All Began With A Picture
It was about 8 years ago and I don’t even remember what magazine it came from. All I remember is seeing about 3 people mountain biking on these amazing red rock trails with outrageous canyon views in layers of reds, oranges and browns – colors I don’t see much in New England. The mountain bikers appeared to be traveling along a ledge that was just big enough for biking or walking – probably no good if you have vertigo or hate heights — but it got me dreaming.
Part of The Inspiration
You may remember the posts I did on Carol Tuttle, Master Energy Therapist, Author and Spiritual Teacher. Well, she’s teaching her last ever boot camp in Sandy, Utah – just outside of Salt Lake City. After speaking with Carol, I was inspired by her – how she overcame her struggles with bulimia, depression and financial concerns and created a successful business helping others heal. I feel like I’m on a quest this year – to learn as much as I can and bring more solutions to my clients.
Emotional Freedom Technique Successes Piqued My Interest
I’ve been experimenting with the Emotional Freedom Technique since Carol talked about it as a way to clear core issues that keep us stuck. The success I’ve had with myself and my clients got me curious – I wanted to learn more. After talking to Joel, we decided to use this opportunity to go on vacation, which we have not done yet this year. The more we talked about it, the more excited we got. Sandy, Utah is right outside of Salt Lake City and only 4 hours from Moab – how cool is that?
Moab, Here We Come!
Joel and I are planning to head to Moab after my seminar with Carol. So far, we’ve read a lot about the area and are planning to visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. While in Canyonlands, I really want to see Great Gallery, where there are life-sized rock art figures. Our plans include hiking, a 4×4 trip (in honor of my sister and her husband who love jeeping and would kill us if we missed it!), whitewater rafting and of course, mountain biking.
Now I’m A Beliver
It’s funny, how dreams and visions work. I never believed in them before a few years ago – thinking what I truly wanted was impossible or who was I to want that dream. Then I did an experiment with writing my vision and was amazed at how the details just took care of themselves. Now I realize that if there is something that’s really important to me, I can focus on that thing and bring it into my life. We all have the power to do this — but sometimes, we get stuck focusing on the things we DON’T want. Once this habit changes, life changes along with it. Not that it’s easy in the beginning, but with practice, life really takes a new direction.
A Simpler Life
These days, it’s not about what I want to “have,” it’s a whole new ballgame. These days, I live a much simpler life – smaller house, less stuff – but somehow, it’s richer. Instead of taking business trips and going to business conferences where I put on my suits (and pantyhose – yuck!), pass out business cards and lose sleep while trying to keep up with the office – I can truly relax. On these “business” trips, I can be myself – with my longer hair, my casual clothes and ME, with no armor, no “corporate role.” Going to these events and trainings, I get to spend time learning what makes my heart sing – discovering ways I can walk my talk better – and how I can bring things back to my clients. It is so much more fulfilling.
Impossible Possible
If you’d have asked me years ago if this was possible, I’d have said maybe in 5 or 10 years or maybe not at all. I’d have been terrified, afraid of what could happen if I followed my dream. Even after I left my job, sold my house and all my stuff, changed my life around (thank heavens Joel was into it too!) — I was terrified for a good 6 months. What the hell was I doing? Why? Was I crazy?
And then it happened. I started to trust – realizing the sky didn’t actually fall. Realizing I didn’t have to feel guilty for not having a lot of work at first while I got my business off the ground. Realizing that coming to know myself – to BE myself – was worth more than my last company paid me. I felt life for the first time.
Getting Away From It All
Joel and I picked a little hideaway in the White Mountains of New Hampshire for our home – surrounded by 60-foot pines, where bears, deer, rabbits and turkeys roam through our yard as if we weren’t here. We take walks by the winding river or up a hill overlooking a 3-layered mountain with caramel-colored, horned Highland Bulls, eating hay and watching as we pass.
This life is farther from the surface and closer to the Earth. It is simpler, with more time to reflect. So this is the year I am going into myself and learning to allow, rather than to control. And I was SO good at controlling, so it takes constant awareness to remind myself that its okay not to know the outcome.
Another Dream Comes True
This trip to Utah makes me feel like it’s another dream come true – that magazine picture set firmly in my mind. I feel blessed to be able to have inspiration from people – like Carol Tuttle – and then from the land – in Moab. I will go with beginner’s eyes, since this is my first time – and return with beginner’s eyes for my already-familiar life. That’s what I love about traveling.
While there, I believe I will have access to the internet – so I can further be blessed by bringing you along with me. And if my spirit does not call me to write, I will find comfort in visiting my favorite blog-places, if only for a moment, sharing a virtual cup of tea at the end of the night.
If anyone has suggestions for where to go or what to do in Utah, please let me know!
Have you ever heard of “Holosync?”
Comment by palmtreechick — July 23, 2006 @ 9:21 pm
Hi PTC, I have heard of Holosync — I got a couple of CDs a few years ago when Joel and I visited Kripalu for a weekend seminar on something else. Then I put them on my shelf and never listened to them — but kept meaning to! Do you like it? I’m interested in hearing what you think…
With love,
Heather
Comment by Heather — July 23, 2006 @ 9:50 pm
Hey Heather,
I have the first cd. I’ve been listening to it for a few months. I really haven’t noticed anything, but half the time I am listening to it when I’m falling asleep at night so I fall asleep halfway through it. I’m sure that doesn’t really help that much.
I do get very antsy and anxious when I listen to it (when I’m not going to bed). Like, I feel like I can’t sit there the whole time and listen. I just want to turn it off and get up, but they say that’s when you need to sit there and listen more. I don’t know. I have taken to the “let whatever happens happen” attitude a little more. I’m working on it. I don’t really think I want to spend 200 bucks to get the next level. It’s an expensive program.
Have you read “It Works?” I have the pdf I can send to you. It’s a short little pamphlet. You’d love it, if you haven’t seen it already.
xo
ptc
Comment by palmtreechick — July 24, 2006 @ 8:43 am
Heather, I am so excited for you about your upcoming trip! It sounds wonderful! Soak in all that beautiful energy and bring it back home with you!
lots of love,
Emily
Comment by Emily — July 24, 2006 @ 2:25 pm
Hi PTC, Thanks for letting me know what you think about Holosync. I’ve kept carrying the CD around, planning to listen to it. I’ll let you know what I think of it when I try it. I can completely understand what you mean about feeling antsy when listening to something relaxing though. I was always that way in my corporate life — and when I was overexercising. I hated anything slow or relaxing — felt like it was a waste of my time. Are there other forms of relaxing that you like or is it pretty much like I felt?
Over the past maybe 8 months, I’ve really changed that — I stopped overexercising almost a year ago and it was a big reliefe, although it was a struggle with my mind — believe me! Once I did that, it got easier and easier to relax and meditate. I didn’t know this until I did my certified body ecologist training with Donna Gates — but it actually helped me to slow down and relax. It helped heal my adrenals and thyroid — adrenals play a role in muscle tone and energy. Thyroid in energy and metabolism. So unwittingly, I was undermining my body by overexercising and helping it by relaxing — wild, huh?
Funny how our beliefs get created. Anyway, I’ve never read It Works and would love to — especially if you like it!!
I would appreciate a copy — thanks! heather@transcendbulimia.com.
With love,
Heather
Comment by Heather — July 24, 2006 @ 11:07 pm
Hi Emily, I definitely plan to soak up the sun and be amazed by the rock formations! I hear it’s getting extra hot over on the West coast — I hope you are surviving the heat! We’ll see if the same unseasonably hot temps are in Utah…100 degrees already sounds pretty hot to me. I’ll take lots of pics and we’ll see if I’m wilting in them!
With love,
Heather
Comment by Heather — July 24, 2006 @ 11:10 pm
Hey Heather,
I guess I fall into that overexercising category as well. I find it very hard to relax, unless I’m floating in my pool or am at the beach, but even then, sometimes i get very antsy.
I’ve actually not wanted to be at the gym at all the past three days, and my workouts have suffered because of that. I know I should take a day off because the last day I took off was June 19, only because I had the stomach flu and was throwing up. Before that, I don’t know the last day I didn’t work out. I had to teach this morning (i teach aerobics) and I always workout before I teach, but I so didn’t want to be there today. My body needs a rest, and logically I know that a day off is good for me, I just can’t do it. I’m playing field hockey tonight
I love that, so it’s okay that my workout wasn’t that great this morning.
Oh well, I just totally babbled. I will send you “It works.”
Comment by palmtreechick — July 25, 2006 @ 8:51 am
I hope you’ll post some of the pictures – can’t wait to see them! The most I’ve ever seen of Utah was Salt Lake from the plane when J and I had a layover in Salt Lake City. It had the most beautiful aquablue color – I was in awe! It’s an image I’ll always remember!
Yes, it’s been unusually hot here! It was 95 degrees in Santa Cruz this weekend, which was very high for our coastal town — in Silicon Valley, it was 113 F!!!! I was in the valley both Saturday and Sunday, and, let me tell you, we were wilting! We spent close to 3 hours in the pool Sunday afternoon to cool down and finally went out to dinner to an air-conditioned place, as it was just WAY too hot to cook!
big hug,
Emily
Comment by Emily — July 25, 2006 @ 12:12 pm
Hi Em, I took a bunch of pictures today in Temple Squre — the Mormon church and Mormon Tabernacle Choir center, etc. It was HOT out there today — 100 degrees, but Utah is a nice place. The mountains are beautiful and the sunsets are pretty fantastic too. I guess anywhere I can get a view of mountains is good for me.
Tonight was my first night with Carol Tuttle and the class is excellent so far! I’m learning a lot and meeting really nice people so far. I’ll be taking pictures at the training too, so that I can do a post on it when I get back.
With love,
Heather
Comment by Heather — July 27, 2006 @ 10:52 pm
Hi PTC, Your babbling is great! Well, the good news is that you already know what would be right for you — so now it’s just a matter of making that happen!
Easier said than done, huh? One thing to ask yourself is what’s the issue that is keeping you from doing it? And keep asking yourself that until you get to it. The easy answer may be fear of being fat or desire to be thin. There must be something else beneath that. Once you have that, some affirmations — or even the Emotional Freedom Technique — might be helpful to clear it.
It’s great that you listened to yourself about working out when you really didn’t want to go in though! Your life is already so active, it sounds like you deserve to listen to yourself when you want to rest.
With love,
Heather
Comment by Heather — July 27, 2006 @ 10:57 pm
Ha! Glad you get a kick out of my babbling, Heather! I am finally going to take a day off from the gym tomorrow. The thought of it actually freaks me out. I’m not really sure if I can do it. The only thing that will help is me is the fact that I am leaving early in the morning to go surfing. I could get up and go to the gym before I leave, but I don’t want to leave my friend here with my family by herself. That would be a little rude. I did however lie to her and tell her that I had to teach in the morning because I was planning on working. How bad is that that I lied to her about that? Does that make me a bad person? I’m just so obsessive about working out and freak if I can’t workout for some reason. I figured if I had to teach she would understand me having to leave her here sleeping. My quads are sore and my knee is still a little weird from pulling my IT band at field hockey on Tues. (It runs from my butt to my knee, the pain that is. Although, now it’s just in my knee a little. It’s gotten much better.) So I figure I may be okay taking tomorrow off because it’s not like I will be sitting on my butt all day. And, I probably won’t be eating that much if I am at the beach all day.
I think I think too much.
Have a good night.
love, ptc
Comment by palmtreechick — July 28, 2006 @ 5:26 pm