Changing your Definition of Thriving:

I counted 26 goslings roaming and feeding, with their parents guiding, guarding, and hissing at me as I walked by. The whole thing puts a smile on my face, the hissing protective parent, the soft, fuzzy goslings oblivious to their environment (so far), and that I get to be part of life’s cycles at all.

The goslings don’t know it yet, but they’re being shown how to manage the conditions they need to thrive. Eat your fill, but don’t lose sight of what’s around you. Pay attention to what’s around you, but don’t lose sight of what you need to eat.

We are a little more complex in our needs as humans, sort of, and yet we can take many cues from our avian friends. That our awareness be both broad (what is around us) and specific (what we need within—physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) at any given moment.

Your needs to thrive include conditions that are unique to you as well as conditions you share with others. These conditions go deeper than your 3D (this physical plane) needs. They have to do with what makes you thrive energetically or spiritually or esoterically, emotionally, or however you refer to the non-physical part of you projecting your holographic existence on this planet. What makes your spirit soar?

Often, we don’t know what we need to thrive, or even what else is possible, until we get really uncomfortable. The discomfort tells us what we don’t want and what we need to remember is, that is enough to go on, for now. The goslings may not know what they need, but they start honking until they get their parents’ attention and the parent has to figure it out and fulfill it.

In this analogy, the gosling is like your earthly self and the parent is your higher self, if you will. Your intuition. The quantum field, Source energy, cosmic awareness, the universe, that you can connect with as your growing awareness of what makes you thrive. Of what would elevate your joy, your employee satisfaction, your revenue, your friendships, your health, your organization, to new heights of experience.

How would you currently define the conditions you need to thrive? I mean really thrive. Not maintain status quo. Not what you think it is okay to ask for, command, affirm into your life next. What you authentically desire and get a buzz with when you think about it. What must you release to make room for that, internally and externally?

What do you need in terms of food, work environment, relationships, physical activity, nature, material possessions, money, joy, play, rest, creativity, music…Not what your ego needs. What You need. What inspires you to be greater and greater versions of yourself materially and non-materially. 

For example, your ego may need to look rich, while your deeper self loves wealth for its freedom. To surround itself with beauty that overflows as goodness into other people’s lives as well. Your ego may compete, while your inner wisdom wants to see what it is possible to create and become next.

I recently attended a live weekend of concerts with friends in The Gorge Amphitheater in Eastern Washington. The setting in the dry eastern part of the state overlooking the Columbia River Gorge looks as if the whole thing is a painting. Then the music begins and the sun sets and the stars come out—the ones on stage and the ones in the sky.

Live music, really good music in general, feeds my soul and reverberates through my being. I thrive in the beauty of outdoor settings and dry weather. Pandemic notwithstanding, I had let this part of my life wane on half-fulfilled for too long. I received a jump-start and awakening this weekend of how much this fills me, especially when I get to sit at the feet of inspiring legends.

Joni Mitchell was the second day, with Brandi Carlisle. The vibe was palpable, to be in the outdoor room with the legend herself at 80 years old after recovering from an aneurism. Love wins, she said repeatedly. I wasn’t even aware of what all Joni wrote in her first heyday, but her influence became apparent in her second heyday as song after song after story rolled out and she repeatedly reminded us, love wins. 

That’s it. Love wins. Filling ourselves with it. Surrounding ourselves with it in all its forms. Becoming aware of what those conditions are and are not for you in particular. And settling for nothing less in a universe designed for you to thrive. You may become pretty uncomfortable before you take a stand or become aware of what it is you really need next to thrive. And when you do, please, please have the courage to say yes to this thriving call. To more of You in the world.

“Gratitude for all that is and all that isn’t.” ~Bumper Sticker

Here’s to more of you in the world ❤️

Shelley