Letting Go to Receive What Is
After cruising through southern Colorado, visiting Mesa Verde, soaking in the Durango Hot Springs and cresting Wolf Creek Pass, I was finally heading towards my home state of New Mexico.
I intended to make my way to Wild Rivers Recreation Area near Questa, NM and camp along the great gorge of the Rio Grande, the river at whose edge I spent my first 11 years. I would have a sacred ceremony and burn the Artemesia Tridentata (sage/mugwort) I had stumbled upon and harvested on the way to Utah. I would set sacred intentions for this next decade of my life.
But as my good buddy Joe Campbell keeps reminding me, “We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
What waited for me was not a single available campsite. And smoke from a nearby controlled burn fire. And after a long day of driving and an expectation of ceremony, I was not prepared to drive the remaining three hours home.
Wild Rivers is where the Red River meets the Rio Grande, both in their wild states. I had never seen my river in it’s wild state, raging 1000 feet and 300 hundred million years below me. It was humbling to have this view of a river that had only ever ambled by. A river that at times down south is nothing more than a dry bed.
Hoping to find a place to sleep for the night, I made one more pass through a campground on the Red River. Which led to the final adventure on my quest.
Spirit had led me right into the welcoming arms of a merry band of artists who had gathered from near and far to support their retired art teacher, John Wenger, in filming the puppets he had created. A celebrated painter, Wenger has been bringing students to Wild Rivers for over 30 years.
The next thing I know, I’m stirring the pasta pot and we’re exchanging stories of expeditions into Utah, sacred indigenous sites, and the circuitous journey I’ve made from art to spiritual healing.
John had famously led painting students into Utah for 2-4 week excursions. He had befriended the local Mormons who told him where to find water. He knows the locations of incredible sacred indigenous sites, has experienced the way certain rock overhangs will distort sound, a ceremonial tool used by the ancients. He has a deep reverence for the desert and her indigenous inhabitants, evidenced by his wrinkled and tanned skin.
Rather than my intended sacred solo ceremony, I shared a true heart to heart with Wenger and several of his students. We communed over dinner and then breakfast, shared stories of our adventures with nature and art. We shared our hearts.
Wenger lives less than an hour away and has invited me to his studio. If the arthritic pain in his hip will allow it, he’d love to lead an expedition into Utah this fall and he invited me to join him.
When we truly allow Spirit to lead us, when we sense those nudges and follow the breadcrumb trail we never know what to expect. Letting go of what I want for my life, for my marriage, for my business often feels like a major challenge. I tell myself I’m not good at letting go.
Perhaps rather than focusing on the letting go bits, the antidote is simply allowing Spirit to lead. I say ‘simply’ even though it’s not always easy when all the cultural messaging tells us to lead with the mind and override our intuition.
Truly getting out of your own way is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and it doesn’t need to be a milestone birthday to do it.
I continue to practice tuning in deeply to the cues Spirit is sending. As a result, my work is starting to shift and change as I hone my vision for what’s possible in my life and soul biz… and in yours, too.
I can’t say yet what it will look like exactly but I invite you to stay tuned for the journey of unfoldment.
I thank you sincerely for following along on my quest for inner knowing, for Snake, for divine connection and for the allowing of soul spark to lead the way.
My wish for you is that you listen deeply and allow Spirit to lead the way to your highest and best unfoldment.
Big Love,
Anné
P.S. If you’re feeling stuck when it comes to leading a Spirit-led life where you freely share your soul gifts, we should talk. My approach to holistic energetic healing allows your soul gifts and your path to purpose to emerge. Whether you’re stuck on visibility, clarity or permission to thrive, healing your past will open the door for your gifts to change your life, and possibly the world around you, too.