Learn the Lesson and Then Teach What You Know

 

Revisiting some old blogs recently to celebrate my time as a blogger, I have been able to see so much of my history and growth. I've been able to see all the times that I put myself out there. Love is like that. We just keep offering ourselves to It. 

In February 2016, I wrote a blog: Intuitive Coaching for a Bread Crumb. I invite you to read it. Then, I was offering intuitive coaching for free for the month of February. I was thinking, how can I help someone put together the breadcrumbs, so they can have a whole piece of toast, a whole experience of their life.

I remember thinking, just put yourself out there. You can show up and carry some of the load for someone in need, be some of their glue, stand in the gap; you can listen. 

People were already calling on me to do this. And I was willing and wanting to help. In most causes not for free but on this given February, I was willing to offer. I was going all out. 

But thinking back to it now, having five years maturation, at that time in 2016, I was not doing a good job intuiting for myself. I was stepping out, knowing that I'd do anything I could to help someone else, but not knowing how because, I was not doing my own work. 

Don't get me wrong, I was doing work, but there were things that I still was not ready to see or deal with. Do you have these moments of recollection? Do you remember the time, moments where thinking back you knew you would, even that you could, but something was missing? Maybe parts of you were missing?

We have to show up for our own problems and take action. We can only overlook our own needs for so long. And, now I know, I was missing the most important piece of the puzzle. I was giving away pieces of me hopeful that someone would find value in what I myself was not valuing. Who wants that?  

I always tell my students: "The lesson is for me first." The call is for me and sometimes, I don't even hear it till much later. So, I'm calling people to intuitive coaching when I needed it for myself, to be my own ear, my own glue. 

Or, how about this: during my teacher training, one of my teachers taught: "Teach what you know, not what you don't." Simple. It took me a while to get that one. 

Things can line up harmoniously. 

But we have to be willing to listen and hold fast to what we know so that we can get in line to answer the real call for our life mission. 

I have spoken a lot over the years in blogs about how much I believe service matters. In October 2020, I wrote a blog called: Serving Others is Serving Yourself. Maybe you've read it? If not, and you are not sure how to help yourself today, take a step: read it. Little steps matter too.

If you are familiar with the word dharma, you know that our practice beyond the yoga mat is about many things, one of which is to show up for your duty. Start somewhere valuing what you know and seeking what you do not know so that you can learn the lesson first, and then help others. 

In yoga, we offer our duty to Source and thus to the source in others. We put ourselves out there to be used for Source by Source. We realize our life goes beyond us to those whom we can support. 

This does not mean doing everything for others, however. Unless you are modeling or rearing your bitty baby, it is best we allow others to do what they can for themselves. Just as you have to take steps for you, so do they. This way, they are learning and valuing too, able to do their duty when it is time. And yet, still, no matter how much we do or not for another, we must do what we can for ourselves first.  

Look back this week over all that you have accomplished over your years in relationship (job, marriage, practice). Look at ways that you have stepped out. Celebrate those things that you have been able to do. But don't stop there. Is there a lesson in your journal or photo album that you can use as a reminder of what you now know? Is there a way that you can value yourself and thus more of what you have to offer? 

Use the email on the bottom of this post to share your successes, and if you are comfortable share what you need to value more about you. I'd love to celebrate with you, or click here for my schedule, let me remind you of all you are worth, so you can use all that you know now.