The Experiment:

With our lives teetering on such an exquisite balance of existence in this cosmos, you would think the consequences of our choices would be more grave. But we can see life—nature, our bodies, a relationship, our business—respond with significant change with even the smallest of shifts. A decision. A belief. A kindness. Connecting with the Field. There is always a greater possibility.

 
“Our own life is the instrument with which we experiment with the truth,” said the Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. We’re on a perpetual playground called life, experimenting with the universal laws and the readouts on the instruments of us.

 
Like any experiment, some combinations will singe your eyebrows and stand your hair on end, coughing while waving the dense, black smoke away, grateful you came out alive. Some combinations expand and exhilarate you mind, body, and soul, excited to do it again. Still others will set you back in your comfy, leather chair marveling, pondering, sipping your tea in awe—for years.
 
You are the instrument and it is your senses that determine your next move. Like the navigational instruments of a ship or sailing vessel—radar, depth sounder, wind speed—you are taking stock of your surroundings and conditions with your own sight, sound, and feeling.
 
Life has its rules, its laws of nature and thriving. It’s up to you to find how and where and with whom you best thrive, adjusting along the way from changes in your readouts.
 
In the intentional life, a key practice is paying attention to life’s feedback. How any given choice plays out in your life and learning to interpret it in a way that is meaningful, moving you deeper, higher and more expansive rather than contracted, flat, or self-critical.

“A ship is always safe at shore. But that’s not what it’s built for.” ~ Albert Einstein

Veteran or newbie on this evolutionary adventure, you are discovering who you are even while you are making who you are. Experimentation is your vehicle. Self-love is your fuel. You are the instrument of navigation. Stay only in the experimentation from one thing to the next, and you may master nothing. Stay only in the lines of “this is how it’s done”, and you may miss a lot of life.

What is life’s feedback for you right now? Exhilarating? Flowing? Stagnate? Creative? Detailed? Broad brush strokes? Frustrating? Restful? Things falling apart to rearrange themselves? Wondering how it gets even better? 
 
What is your next move? Something super subtle? Something massive?

Ask how you can value yourself more and take your business, your leadership, your parenting, your relationships, your health and finances to new realms? Ask yourself, where am I not loving myself? Is there anywhere I’m getting caught up in the fears, thoughts and reality of others? Where am I telling myself I’m loving myself but holding love out?
 
We are the experimenters, the ones testing, and life responds. We are guaranteed feedback, even if it is silence. You are Thomas Edison discovering 99 ways not to build a lightbulb. And you are the golfer hitting a hole in one.
 
Make a move, and you will be met. This is the experiment and a universal law. 
 
Ask questions that invoke responses of possibility instead of limitation. Experiment with fear and faith. Anxiety and trust. Love and judgment. Abundance and scarcity. Light and dark. Doubt and certainty. 
 
What expands you? What causes your love to go deeper and wider? What brings relief? What draws upon your gifts? Causes happiness? Changes the world? Builds a better ship? Loves another better? Loves you better? Makes your body wake up to health and vibrancy? Liberates your creative juices?
 
This is the experiment. Artist Stella Reinwald said, “Only when you free yourself to be a mere beginner again, which implies experimentation, do you progress to the next level of excellence.”
 
This life really isn’t a test. You already have an A. So what’s your next level of excellence?

Here’s to more of You in this world, 

Shelley