Reflections on Dr. Joe in San Diego
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The Marriott convention center at dawn, as all things come to light.
Four days of change. The Dr. Joe Advanced Follow Up retreat in San Diego delivered in every way. I met the Unknown in several hours of meditation daily. I found new friends and reconnected with old. I felt inspired by stories of people like Shawna who healed Stage 4 breast cancer, both sides, by turning away radiation while she learned to find calmness, gratitude, and the willingness to receive love. Her cancer, which had metastasized into the bone, can no longer be found on a PET scan. She’s in the clear.
I walked away with so much. A new me. That me is relaxed and unhurried. I’m open to seeing and moving towards the most efficient and effective paths to get what I want. I’m open to changing what I want. I’m open to guidance and committed to cultivating peace and joy so that such guidance finds me easily.
I’m not going to lie. The night we finished the retreat, I sat at the edge of the bay, looked at my calendar, and winced. How would I maintain my new state of being in the face of that? I’d already lost it. Meh! I breathed. I reconnected with what mattered to me behind what I wanted to do — the Universal needs of joy, contribution, meaning. I went to bed.
In the morning, I made my way to the bay again, joining hundreds of people for an impromptu post-retreat walking meditation. I “changed boxes” again, embodying the joy, ease, gratitude, and flow that define my new self, calendars aside.
And I’ve got it back. Yeah, there’s a lot I want to do. I don’t have to know how or even whether it will all get done. The things I most want to experience in my new self are spontaneity, self care, and choice. Those, in addition to the wildly creative and connecting work I do with you here. I have a list of strategies to meet these needs, but I’m no longer attached to them. My sense of freedom, appreciation, love … that’s the all.
In the hours that followed my return to self, clarity emerged about how the pieces would work together and which I could happily let go of. Yeeeesss. This is the efficiency and flow I’d gone to find. I am committed to living my new self moment by moment, and I have all of you to hold me accountable.
It’s a new season. Who are you ready to become?