What comes to mind when you think of a buffet-filled weekend of gorging yourself? Is it an all-you-can-eat seafood adventure in Las Vegas? Maybe an oriental exploration to the Chinese buffet in San Francisco? Could it be an emotional escapade that’s fun, deep, playful, yet serious in Cleveland? For me, prior to the Design Your Life™ (DYL) Workshop, I would’ve answered the buffet at a casino. Post two-day Design Your Life™ weekend, I think of gorging myself buffet style in healthy, plentiful ways!
For example, by simply moving things around on my plate (the H’s – head, heart and hoo haaa (body)), it’s clear that I don’t have time for everything (I’m severely over committed to things that aren’t the most important for/to me). Instead, when I get heart-centered, I can rearrange the plate in order to do the things that are most important, meaningful and impressive to/for me in this magnificent life. My relationship to time is sacred, and I desire to raise the vibration on my love affair with dreaming and take it to a wholehearted new blissed out level. Boom!…now that’s diggable on my planet.
Why does it matter? Why do I care about the real deal of living my dreams? What do I want to inspire from this? Aside from liking it juicy, here are some insights on my experience and why it matters to me.
I believe it was a call from the universe for me to attend the weekend workshop. On many levels, I think I’m pretty dialed in on life; I have solid intuition, I love my work, I have loads of love, tons of fun…and the list goes on and long. I’ve done coaching before, delight in self-help and am present, open and accepting on many occasions. I’m a hella happy chick…that’s what I reflect into the world, and most often, that’s how I feel — happy, satiated, joyful. Yet, as life continues to progress, presenting more complex, dynamic and interesting layers, I know the universe is blowing up my phone with all sorts of different ringtones. Sometimes I’m quick to respond by pushing the call straight to voicemail. Other times I’ll answer for a quick, semi-mindful chat, and every so often I pull up a chair and sink into a thick, soulful conversation with a savory cocktail…or cup of tea. Let me be clear…the more chaotic my life seems to get, the more I’d been pushing those calls to leave me a message at the beep.
Like a beautiful bird delighting me in her song, I have a handful of eclectic, interesting and evolved friends (that I adore and am quite fond of — all from different walks of life) that were raving about the work they did with Handel Group®. Inspired by all the radical, remarkable and famed accomplishments, the DYL weekend was high alert on my radar. So when I learned they were coming to CLE, I wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity to delve into my own quest. I didn’t know what was in store, but I had a hankering for richer, fuller living that I trusted was available for me…to have, hold and mold.
So, I signed up! (DUH.)
During the DYL weekend, metaphorically speaking, I popped the tops of some very exquisite bottles in my cocktail buffet bar. These bottles are the ones that I typically don’t acknowledge when mixing a drink at the bar. It’s like I see them there, they’re spirited drinks, we’ve had a lot of outrageous and good times together, but now this bottle over here is my drink of choice. Translation: I am comfortable in the space I’m occupying. I am only finessing these specific areas of life because they’re smooth and go down easy. I know what I’m getting in this bottle. That bottle in the back…I was making excuses so that I wouldn’t have to pay attention to those delicious libations, because they weren’t as quenching like they were before. When we concerted together, it wasn’t fun. It seemed better not to entertain the hangover.
“You’re making excuses…hunting them is a sport. You can have anything you want, but you can’t get to it until you get to the truth,” states Laurie Gerber, Co-President of Handel Group® Life Coaching, Senior life coach and weekend facilitator for DYL. “If you believe your excuses, you will not create change.” How sublime, bonafide and simple that sounds…now for actual implementation.
Now, I know perhaps recognizing my vulnerability, truth, dreams, consciousness and clarity with a drinking-bar analogy is not the most ideal, but those details don’t matter. (Albeit true, I’ve always enjoyed a stiff martini.) What matters is being happy. What matters is that I’m able to be actionable and impactful. It’s the fundamental concepts, theories and principles that Laurie and her emotionally intelligent counterparts developed that matter. By practicing these methods, doing homework and dreamwork, I find myself in sync with how I’d like my life to work. The areas I’ve chosen to concentrate on are work, love, family and money. (Though there are 12 areas of life we intensely researched on ourselves to participate in the course.)
“Most stories will never be: Once upon a time…I was born, had a happy life and then died. Life is messy. When you’re putting lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. Go and fix and heal and deal. Make it great, get lessons and go on,” shared Laurie.
The weekend was an inspired, safe place to share intimate, private and personal secrets, discoveries and dreams. The chance for group and individual coaching was available. There was an abundance of respect, integrity and emotional capacity from all participants. People traveled from Toronto, Austin and Indianapolis…all to dial it in, gain a fresh perspective, be susceptible and learn about available tools to design their lives. Now, that’s a super rad-tastic voyage.
I am new to this shift, yet I can tell you that within just a couple weeks of being introduced to the Handel Method®, my approach to life has transformed. I use tools, concepts and theories I learned during the DYL buffet. Really, I’ve been bringing it into regular interactions with the people I adore the most, because those are the ones I’m least compassionate, empathetic and loving to (isn’t that bizarre?), and it’s all been very positive, radiant and awesome.
Laurie puts it so purposefully, “The planet needs some more freedom, peace, justice, love and sustainability. What would the world look like if a critical mass of human beings were to elevate consciousness? We are suppose to pass on to the next generation the newest, latest and greatest. This is what keeps humanity evolving, it’s the natural progression…this involves emotional maturity. Everyone will be on higher ground when you’re living your dream.” Now that’s something I want to endure.
In my experience, there are many wonderful things Handel Group® has designed for you to have the opportunity to do your dreamwork, learn happiness and begin the exploration of designing your life. They offer a free consultation for anyone interested. If Stanford, MIT, NYU and Columbia are diving in on this work, how fortunate are we to have it available without those tuition costs?
I’m a huge fan of Handel Group® on many levels. I completely think you should hit that free consultation up and find out if their method would work for you. See where it goes, follow your own brick road. Because it’s never too late and the journey is just beginning, sweet people.
[written by Kendall Embrescia-Hridel]