Be The Light

I was recently invited to a business training meeting held by a very successful woman who represents a direct sales business.  She is the top producer in the entire world-wide company and makes money most people would never consider real, let alone attainable.   Cynthia was a very generous host, cooking a holistic and healthy meal of a traditional congee dish and accompanied by a gorgeous salad.

As we ate she chatted about how Asian people stay healthier than Americans (she is Filipino) because they use plants and herbs all the time, in their food and in daily rituals, and this keeps their immune system healthy.  She pointed out the fresh ginger and garlic in both of the dishes.  Then she pointed outside to show us the Melaleuca trees growing around her property (you may know it by its common name tea tree) and the mint growing beneath them.  Every day she and her husband gather leaves from these plants to do a steam, sweating out toxins and breathing in the antimicrobial and other healing properties of the plants. 

What really caught my attention though, was when she said that Asians understand the importance of “grounding.”  She explained this to mean the practice of getting outside and touching your bare skin to the ground by walking barefoot or lying on the ground and having direct contact with the earth.  She told us that we are living in an atmosphere of polarities; the air and sky carrying a positive charge, and the earth and water carrying a negative charge.  Cynthia went on to say that when you touch your skin to the earth, we are actually letting our positive charge seep into the earth while we drink up its negative ions, thus “grounding” ourselves, creating a sense of calm and stability.  I knew that the ocean air is calming due to the negative ions it emits, but I will admit that in all my years of holistic training, I never understood the practice of grounding to be much more than a way to get into nature more.  Nothing wrong with that of course, but this new knowledge kind of blew me away!

Did you already know all this?  Or are you blown away by this too?!

It got me thinking that I really need to start doing this on a daily basis; after all I do live in San Diego where I can access the outdoors almost any day of the year. 

Will you start this practice with me?

Let’s make a pact to walk barefoot outside a few minutes every day (weather permitting of course).  I would encourage journaling your experience—just a quick sentence or two—so you can track any subtle changes you may notice over time.  I am so excited about this!  I don’t know about you, but I never walk around without something on my feet, be it slippers or flip flops!  This will be a good way for me to challenge my patterns and step outside the (shoe)box!

I went to Cynthia’s to talk business, but I came away with so much more.  Not only did she talk about holistic health (my roots!) but she also started the training by telling us the only reason she is successful is due to her strong connection to God.  She leads every day with prayer, followed by meditation, asking to be in Gods glory.  She believes that living each day with the intention of shining in Gods glory will not necessarily lead to a life without struggle, but rather lets you take life’s daily ups and downs with the understanding that it is all by design.  Whether you choose the word God, Source, Spirit, etc, is up to you and your belief system.  The lesson here is that when you believe in a higher power, you can put down the heavy load you’ve been carrying and know that what will be will be. 

Your only job is to show up and be the light in the world each day.

Doesn’t that sound better than wearing 15 different hats each day and feeling the pressure of each one?  No longer attach yourself to the titles of Woman, Mother, Sister, Lover, Entrepreneur, Secretary, Research Assistant, Soccer Coach, and on and on. 

Tomorrow, focus on your most difficult “hat;” mentally take off your name tag and replace it with “Light Worker.”  How does it feel?  Do you view your role differently?  Do you interact differently with coworkers or your children?  Does the phone call with your father feel a little easier?  

Play around with this.  Pray.  Meditate.  Give yourself a break.  Take your shoes off and go outside.  The universe has your back.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!  Feel free to comment below on your experience.

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What stone do I wear when I need extra energetic grounding?  Check out my Ground Yourself Set here!

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