There was a time I believed that when you put an intention out into the world, the setting of the intention would likely soon be followed by a “test” from the Universe . . . to see if you were serious and really committed to whatever it was you spoke into the ether; including letting go of whatever might not be in alignment with that intention.

But I have come to view this differently based on my own experience and my experience working with clients.

What if the Universe isn’t “testing” you? What if it is preparing you?

Time and time again, I have spoken things into the world and they have come to pass. This is where I gently suggest that you be thoughtful about what you speak into the world!!

Not on my timeline. Almost never the way I imagined.

And rarely (if ever?) without passing through what I am currently calling a “transformation tunnel”.

What is a transformation tunnel?

It is a series of invitations to do the work and/or healing–whatever might be required–to prepare your body, mind and soul to actually create or receive the thing that you have spoken into being. Often, if not always, accompanied by the resources you need to support you through it.

Maybe it’s a book. Or a podcast. Or a safe community. Or a new healing modality that someone offers up to you before you even realized you needed (and were ready for) just that thing.

In 2010, I said I didn’t want to be afraid anymore . . . I had recently become aware that there was an undercurrent of fear running through every aspect of my life.

That awareness was the result of my first foray into a 21-day meditation challenge.

I didn’t know what I was afraid of. And it seemed odd to my logical mind, given all that I had survived by that point in my life.

But once I saw (felt) the fear, I couldn’t UNSEE it.

This intention to no longer be afraid was subsequently followed by me literally facing every fear that I could conjure (except one) and some I never imagined were possible.

It turns out, when you are stripped, both as a result of your own choices and also things outside of your control, of everything you thought kept you safe— your health, career, marriage, family, friends, community, ego, almost your life, along with your ability to make a steady income, and at times even to pay for your medication, gas, groceries, a car, or health insurance for your kids—your “fear” thermostat is totally recalibrated.

I have earned life’s PhD in surrender, rest and stillness. Which has allowed me (ahem, sometimes forced me kicking and screaming) to break down and repattern some of my ways of being in the world that were making me very, very sick. This process has felt often brutal, sometimes beautiful, and always necessary.

For the last few years, I have been daring to ask the question: What does it look like to step beyond survival, into thriving?

And it turns out, just because we have survived the thing, doesn’t mean our nervous system is all caught up.

Your nervous system doesn’t know that you are here and now, far away from whatever threatened your survival (whether real or perceived), unless you gently do the work to recalibrate it.

In fact, even a hint of a former threat–a smell, a sound, a slightly familiar fact pattern–can send you instantly into fight, flight, freeze or fawn based on what your instinctive brain deems your best chances of making it out alive.

And sometimes the protective mechanisms in your body cut you off from the biofeedback loop that tells you that you are really alive—sensations of excitement, pleasure, desire and joy—even if your logical brain can register that you are “happy.”

I have been deep in somatic work for the last 5 months through a program focused on nervous system healing around money and receiving.

Briefly, somatic work is a body-based way for us to re-calibrate the nervous system; allowing the body to process unresolved past events. This is not “mindset” work.

I actually signed up for this program last fall, before I found myself in a two- month trauma loop around money, because there is a particular flavor of roller coaster I have been on for the last 8 years that I am ready to disembark.

While the focus of the program is money, what is also true about somatic healing is, once unprocessed energy moves through the body, those shifts apply across the board to the way the body experiences and interacts with the world.

I didn’t know how much of life I was missing. I mean, part of me knew. But I couldn’t really put language to it.

I will be sharing more about the shifts I have experienced in the coming weeks and months.

But let me end, for today, with this. Surviving is not the same thing as thriving.

Yes, we must survive first.

I honor every part of me, and you, that has kept us alive up to this point no matter what we have faced. Even the parts that now need to “stand down”, release or reorganize (as we have the safety, support and resources to do so).

And also, our fullest expression and experience of life was designed to be so much more.

So much more than so many of us have been taught or conditioned to claim.

Yes, there will be transformation tunnels to walk through. But not because the Universe is testing you or asking you to prove your worth.

You have always been worth the fullest expression of your essence and wholeness.

It isn’t something you “earn.” But it is something you have to claim. I am claiming my wholeness and the fullest expression of the beauty I came to bring to this earth. What are you ready to claim for yourself?

No matter what, you don’t have to walk the path alone.

Love,

Booth