You’ve heard the famous quote that 80% of success is showing up. Personally, I believe that percentage is even higher when you consider ALL that showing up entails.
I used to think that showing up meant being seen at events, putting myself in front of people (either in person or online) and doing what I said I would do. My former self believed that’s all it took.
Little did I know about the full extent of what showing up truly means. Thankfully, just over two years ago that perception changed when I experienced my life crumbling around me. I was forced to ask myself what “showing up” looked like then… in the middle of losing my business, my home and almost my sanity.
At that point showing up meant sobbing uncontrollably sometimes, being present to the suffering I was experiencing, not sweeping things under the carpet and pretending everything was “fine.” And it also meant opening myself to seeing the grace, miracles and abundant blessings that emerged and rose from the crumbled structure I used to believe was who I am.
Showing up is about being PRESENT. It’s about being WHO you are, WHERE you are and HOWEVER you are. It’s about living life as life IS, not how you have constructed it to be in your own thinking mind.
Let’s take “One Direction” for example – seeing that I’m in the middle of party preparation for my daughter’s “One Direction” birthday party. Here you’ve got 5 boys who didn’t know each other hoping to pursue their dreams of becoming pop singers through the show “X Factor” in the UK. One by one they were rejected as individual singers.
5 minutes after they were basically booted, Simon Cowell put them together in a boy band and asked them if they wanted to continue the journey together. And, the rest is history. Sold out shows, chart topping hits, a world-wide sensation – and birthday party inspiration.
Not one of those boys envisioned being in a boy band together. Heck, they didn’t even know each other. But, they allowed themselves to be fully PRESENT to what WAS unfolding in their lives (as different as it looked), and the miracles flowed from there.
The same is true for you. If you give yourself permission to show up in this moment… and this moment… and this moment to truly SEE and SEIZE what life is presenting to you right now, you’ll be amazed at what unfolds.
Sometimes what happens will be tremendous healing and releasing of old destruction patterns; sometimes your next book or talk reveals itself to you in a millisecond; sometimes it means simply noticing the beauty of the moon perched in the sky; pr holding that hug or kiss just a little bit longer than usual. You get the picture…
Life is what happens in the moments. If you’re always focusing on the past of planning the future, it is very difficult to simply BE HERE NOW (as Eckhart Tolle would say… be in the now.)
Showing up in about presence; plain and simple. It doesn’t take external effort or as I used to think “looking good.” The effort occurs within to keep asking yourself “where am I right now?” And, if you discover that you’re not “here” but rather in the past or future… remind yourself to come back to right here, right now. This is where you’ll discover the greatest gifts of your life, your heart and your soul’s mission on this earth at this time.
Why would you want to be anywhere else? Here’s to showing up!
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