Spiraling Upward - Part 2!

Back in May, I shared with you that my theme for the year is "Spiraling Upward." For those of you that may have missed that article, here's a quick recap.

In February, we attended the annual International Regrouping Retreat in Puerto Rico. There was a different theme each day of the retreat. The theme that stood out to me the most was "Spiraling Upward."

On the day of "Spiraling Upward," we were offered the opportunity to go surfing. Immediately, my beliefs and concepts about surfing kicked in. I heard myself thinking, "Surfing is too difficult for me. I will never be able to do that."

But my angels started gently tapping me on the shoulder and making a suggestion that doing the surfing would be a good opportunity for me. They shared that I would learn and grow much more from that, than the other option to play golf.

I decided to take on the challenge and move out of my comfort zone. Surfing was physically tiring, but not as difficult as I had always thought. No, I wasn't riding the waves in one day, but I did manage to stand up on the board for a couple of seconds and I was getting the hang of it!

That experience really stuck with me. I began to question myself. What other concepts and beliefs am I holding about life that really aren't correct? How can I move out of my comfort zone more?

To me, the words Spiraling Upward mean giving myself new opportunities to learn and grow. When I do things that are outside of my comfort zone and outside of the box, I have a chance to accelerate my spiritual growth. If I stay doing the things that are easy and comfortable, I don't grow as quickly.

I'm learning that the experiences that bring me the most fulfillment in life are the ones that are new and challenging. I might experience some resistance and fear. But if I work through that fear and do it anyway, there is so much fulfillment and joy as a result.

This past weekend, I participated in Mudderella with my good friend Cynthia. Mudderella is a 5 mile mud run with obstacles. To even sign up for this event, I first had to move beyond my limiting belief about myself that, "I hate running." I decided that this event would be the perfect opportunity to practice Spiraling Upward again!

I learned so much from this opportunity, that I am going to share with you the key lessons I learned from participating in Mudderella. Each of the lessons is symbolic of things I need to remember in my life as a whole.

I signed up for the event back in May. At that time it felt totally out of my comfort zone. During the summer, I began training and doing some jogging. At first it felt really hard. As I trained more, I noticed that I started to change my view and seeing myself as a runner. Before then I would walk, but never run. I saw that the limiting belief that I had about myself was not true. I used to think, "I don't like to run," but I shifted out of that limitation and created a new belief about myself: "I can run!"

This feels much more positive, and shifted my energy to be lighter, instead of heavy and limited.

Lesson learned: When I change my thinking and my beliefs about myself from limiting to positive, I act differently and enjoy life a lot more.

On the actual day of the event I felt nervous. When I first arrived I felt overwhelmed, as there were a lot of people there and we had to wait 30 minutes in a queue to get a parking place. We missed our start time because of the parking traffic jam and then checking in was confusing!

All of these little details made me feel stressed and out of balance. Luckily, my friend Cynthia was relaxed and enthusiastic despite all the little difficulties with getting to the start line. She helped me to relax and get back on track.

Lesson learned: I can stay relaxed and enthusiastic despite any unforeseen difficulties along the way!

The actual run was awesome. They designed the course to gradually get more and more challenging (and more and more muddy!) So we got a good start and were feeling good about ourselves. There were some instances when we first saw the obstacle we said, "Oh no!" Like jumping into a pool of mud and climbing out of it five times over!! But when we faced the obstacle and completed it we had such a rush of adrenaline and a thrill of accomplishing the challenge.

Lesson learned: Don't give up when obstacles feel challenging. The feeling of accomplishment on the other side is sooo worth it! Growth and meeting challenges brings great reward.

There were some obstacles that were hard to do with just two of us. Other participants had larger teams. As we approached one particular obstacle, I saw that it would be too difficult to climb with just the two of us. We needed more than one person's assistance. So I asked a group of 3 women to team up with us. They immediately agreed and helped us through the entire obstacle course. I have a tendency to do things alone, and not ask for help in life. So it was great to give and receive help in this way and not struggle.

Lesson learned: Teamwork makes everything smooth and the accomplishing more fun! Why struggle alone when others are willing to assist?

And: It feels good to help others along the way too!

The final obstacle was probably the most fun and thrilling of them all. We climbed up a very high rope and then on the other side was a huge water slide. Let me just tell you, from the top it looked VERY high!

Luckily an assistant was saying, "1-2-3 Go!" and then it was time to slide. Without the prompting I would probably have procrastinated for a while!

Lesson learned: Timing is everything. If I feel fear I can throw off my rhythm and timing. Go ahead and slide down (or take action) when the opportunity is there!

Now onwards and upwards to the next opportunity to move out of my comfort zone and experience a lot more growth and fulfillment! How about you? What will you do to move out of your comfort zone and to shift your limiting beliefs about yourself?