In the first weekly video message, I speak to this concept/tool that I call “managing your middle”.  What this means is that instead of constantly striving and reaching for your ideal future, you first deal with the blocks and then take advantage of the opportunities that are right in front of you.  The idea is that when you stay present and take advantage of each stepping-stone, you move yourself one step closer to your ideal situation and you give yourself a break in the process.

The concept of “managing your middle” came to fruition one day after I completed a deep meditation. I was tired of praying and seeking spiritual guidance and being frustrated because I felt that the answers were not coming fast enough.  In this frustration, I heeded guidance to do the deep meditation and my Goddess was it powerful.  This meditation allowed me to create the mind space to let the messages that spirit had been trying to share for a long while to come through.  The main message was that “we have been answering your prayers, just not in the ways that you think or even see.  You are so busy focusing on the future…on the far away vision, that you are missing the lessons and the opportunities that are showing up in the here and now.  These lessons and opportunities are the actual answer to your prayers.  Take action on the ideas that keep coming forth and that you are resisting. Have gratitude for the current projects that you do have (even though they are not the ideal) because they provide you with the financial means and the freedom to stay on this path. Deal with the challenges that keep coming up in different ways because they will only stop when you are really ready to move on.  Once you deal with the stuff that’s right in front of you, the path will be cleared for the grander vision to come to fruition.”

When I came to from the meditation, my mind was blown and for the first time in a while, I was at peace. While reflecting on the meditation, the phrase “manage your middle” came to my consciousness.  I immediately knew that this meant that in order to co-create my future, I needed to master the opportunities in front of me.  No more wasting energy on being frustrated because I did not feel that I was where I was supposed to be.  No more of the procrastination and beating myself up because my life did not look like how I wanted it to look.  I needed to focus, follow through and finish the important stuff on my plate and leave the rest.  I needed to prioritize my life and experience mastery with “saying no”, “setting boundaries” and “standing in my worth”, etc.   I had to fortify my spirit and cultivate practices in self-validation and self-love because my right work would involve a very public aspect of myself and I needed to be able to deal with both the fans and the critics. Most importantly, I needed to consistently be and be myself with no apologies.  It was only when I consistently cultivated the practice of “managing my middle”, that bigger opportunities would show up in my life.

All of this inner work gave me the fuel and tools to start making life easier for myself and to start taking myself less seriously.  I was also able to see how everything that I was doing was contributing positively or negatively to my future.  This is not new information but my awareness and experience of it in that moment was eye opening.

To start the process of “managing your middle”:

• Get clear about where you are right now. This includes understanding how your past has brought you to the present moment and the future vision you hold for yourself and your dreams.
• In relation to your future vision, what have you prayed for?  What have you asked for guidance about?
• Take a moment and commune with your higher self.  How have your prayers and calls for guidance been answered to date?  How does this match up with how you thought the answer would come?
• What is that one thing that you are resisting, that if you did it, it would change the course of your life for the better?
• List out the opportunities that are right in front of you, that you are not taking advantage of…that unanswered email; the contact from a networking session that you have yet to follow-up with; a call to submit an application or a piece of work. Commit to taking advantage of the opportunity so that doors to greater opportunities will show themselves.

Pay attention to:

• The situations that keep showing up in your life repeatedly, as they are lessons that have to be experienced and integrated into your being.
• What’s going well and give thanks for it. Acknowledge the current circumstances.  If it is helping and supporting you, keep going. If it is not, it’s time to make a change.

Until Next Time -E