Take the Medicine Fast.

When life offers you a lesson… do you take the medicine swiftly?

As a teacher and deep student of transformational work, I’ve come to expect that when I’m ready for my next big lesson, the medicine will appear.

What do I mean by “medicine” here?

While this metaphor comes from traditional shamanic work (for example a healing that happens when a shaman ingests a traditional plant medicine with a deliberate intention) – it can equally be applied to the Western medical context. You suddenly have a headache. Your friend happens to have an aspirin in her purse.

Think of the medicine as the antidote – a key the ingredient you need to ingest in order to learn the lesson and progress to the next stage of development.

But as the metaphor subtly suggests: just because it’s good for you doesn't necessarily mean it tastes good.

The medicine could look like:

• The team member who gives you a piece of feedback that you hate to hear about yourself but secretly know is true
• An opportunity you’ve been longing for, but are also afraid of.
• A mandatory request to surrender a part of yourself, your tendency to control, or something else you’ve been holding onto to tightly, that is actually holding you back.
• Or even a person (or type of person) that constantly triggers you suddenly showing up again, and again, and again.

Whatever it is, it has arrived for your refinement. It can (and does) show you your blind spots. It puts pressure on your hot buttons. And ultimately invite you to grow in EXACTLY the way you need to, in order to show up for your divine plan.

When the medicine arrives, it offers us a choice: take it now, learn its lessons, and move on to what’s next… OR drag your feet now, resist it, control it (or any other strategy we may have to ultimately avoid it) and skate by unscathed…

so that you can take one more trip around the sun in the same old way, only to be offered another chance to take the same medicine again soon.

As a teacher of this work, I’d like to tell you I always take my medicine willingly.

The truth is, I teach (and study) this type of work because I’ve always been so darn good at resisting.

Not long ago, over a perfect cup of tea, I was offered a beautiful gift – the insight that I still have a habit of “taking the medicine” slow… while moving through life too fast.

The lesson came, quite literally, through the tea. Observing myself, I noticed how long it takes for me to swallow the first sip, and to bring the cup to my mouth a second time. And as I sat with that noticing it struck me that THIS was the answer that I’d been seeking.

THIS is the habit that’s been holding me back.

As we say in embodied leadership & somatics: You’re always practicing something. And the way we practice in one domain will typically show up in many. The good news is: once you become aware of your unconscious practice (habit), it’s changeable through deliberate practice.

While I could go deeper here on the Art of Intentional Practice (and I may again soon!), I want instead to draw your attention back to the medicine at hand.

Taking the medicine fast.

Check in with yourself for a moment: When life offers you a lesson… how quickly do YOU let it in?

If you share any of my default programming, you may notice that you wait: yes, ok, I’ll do that. I will. I’ll get back to it just after I… ah sorry, got busy. I promise I will.

Meanwhile, you may find yourself filling up your days with fast-moving to-dos that check a lot of boxes but don’t necessarily require (or allow!) you to face the one thing that’s patiently waiting to set you free.

What would change if you took the medicine fast?

What could be possible if you slowed down your life to make enough space for so-called disruptions that MIGHT actually be the main event, rather than the side show?

What if you stopped trying to be in charge and let yourself be into the deeper waters?

A part of you might be longing for it – or even have ASKED for this – no?

This week I invite you to enter a study (IF you choose) of your own availability to life.

‍Pay attention to how you take it in. Notice the moments where something is offered that you typically tend to resist.

• What is it?
• How does it come to you?
• And how do you avoid it?

Notice the details of these moments. Whether it be in a cup of tea or an interpersonal interaction, study your own habits – and witness the direction this disruption or opportunity is inviting you to take.

If you pay careful attention and are willing to read between the lines, you just mind find that this medicine is attempting to bring you exactly what you’ve been longing for –

as a gift.

You’re welcome (wink),

LeeAnn

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