Your EXPANSION Awaits You

Posted by on Feb 19, 2013 in Blog, Media | Comments Off on Your EXPANSION Awaits You

Your EXPANSION Awaits You

What do you think stops you first and most when you contemplate the possibility of being bigger and doing something to actually make a difference in the world?

I was asked this question a few years ago as I sat in San Juan Capistrano at a facilitator training for the World Academy For the Future of Women.  I went there out of curiosity; and quite simply because I had been invited to go.  Someone had told me that they saw great potential in me and what I could do in the world and I was curious about what they saw.  Did they really see it or was it a slick sales line to get me to show up?  I figured a weekend in a meeting room overlooking the ocean was a good place to find out.

By the end of the weekend I was still wasn’t sure.  They seemed sincere and the excitement of the amazing effort they were putting into the world to make it possible for women to rise out of both poverty of living and poverty in thinking was enough to get me to sheepishly say “this might be possible for me to get involved with.”

Embracing that possibility is all that is needed to get started.

Four months later I was on a plane headed for China for a five week adventure in facilitating women’s leadership to 125 Chinese women college students who were sacrificing sleep, time, social activities and family to expand themselves and improve the lives of others.

My sacrifice seemed small in many ways. I raised the money to pay my way over and back.  My food and housing was provided to me at no extra cost.  I lived in the foreign faculty dorm and had three meals a day, a bed to sleep in and a private shower in my room.  I planned my classes, facilitated the material  and still had time to wander in the city, get to know my way around campus, make friends with other faculty and meet with the students one on one.  My life was simple but the impact of my presence was profound.  I was focused, attentive and there to support the expansion of these young women and their dreams.  I changed lives.

My life changed too.  I lived without the distractions that I am used to;  Television,  Radio,  Driving,  Shopping for things I don’t really need,  Internet surfing.    I lived without the comforts I enjoy so much; Family, Pets, cooking, my circle of friends to hang out with, knowing the language being spoken around me, being able to read signs and menus, understanding how much money I still have, breathing clean air, having clean water, feeling secure that the hot water will work next time I shower, and more.   I planned, I taught, I slowed down.  There was time to ponder.  There was time to be homesick.  There was time hear myself thinking and feel myself feeling…and as I returned to my homeland, I discovered something about myself that had changed during this adventure.

I had expanded beyond what I thought was possible that weekend in San Juan Capistrano.  I was clear.  I was aware.  I was MORE.

For all of the “reasons” I originally thought going to China for 5 weeks was not possible for me, I had overcome them all and realized how small they were in the bigger picture of life.  They were based in fear, not love.  My expansion was born of love. 

So, what “reasons” are you telling yourself right now about why you “can’t” do something that has great potential to expand you?  For me it was mostly money and time and not wanting to be far from home…and what I found is this kind of personal expansion and potential put purposefully into the world is worth more than time or money and my relationships were stronger upon my return. 

The expansion has changed my language from “I can’t do that” to “how can I do that” to “I can do that”…and I can.  We can.  You can.

The next facilitator training is set for March 8, 9, 10th in Phoenix.  Email me for more info or to join in! lkbishop@cox.net

Women Change The World When They Embrace Who and What They Are and REFUSE to Be Anything LESS.