RELEASE THE RESISTANCE

I just returned from an amazing trip to NYC.  It was full of flow and serendipity.  Everything worked out beautifully, despite the odds being stacked against it.  

Let me tell you everything that went wrong… 

 - I returned from a trip the week before and came down with a serious cold. 

 - Then the “Bomb Cyclone” descended on Denver grounding all flights. 

 - Southwest's phone, web and app all crashed due to the inundation of rescheduling attempts by the hundreds/thousands of travelers. 

 - It became impossible for me to attend the Women to Watch awards ceremony where a dear friend was being honored.  

 - I finally rescheduled my flight for the next day (I had other plans I couldn’t miss).  

 - The FAA grounded all 737 Max aircraft in the US, causing Southwest another wave of chaos.

 - My flight got rescheduled by 3 hours, becoming a red-eye getting me into NYC at 3AM. 

Can we all agree that that is a serious list of things to go wrong for one trip?  After all that, how was it that it became my very favorite NYC trip of all time? 

As I contemplate what made it go so right, I think back to the first thing that went wrong.   

I came back from a week away and I immediately got sick.  Part of me was angry to be burdened with illness during such a busy and demanding week.  I started to feel sorry for myself.  

I thought back on the Buddhist concept of pain and suffering.  

The pain was real...   

I had a cold, my body ached, my head was stuffy, I was losing my voice and coughing.  

But the suffering was optional... 

Telling the story of how hard my life is and how unfair things are was a choice.  

I told myself that I was not going to resist what was happening.  I was going to accept the pain and manage it to the best of my ability.  I was not going to allow it to become suffering. 

So, I didn’t. 

And as each new obstacle came up, I didn’t indulge in the suffering.  I accepted what I could not change and moved forward.  I was determined to just make the best of it.  And it was amazing! 

I landed in NYC at 3AM and enjoyed a swift and serenely quiet drive into Manhattan.  I slept about 7 hours and met a friend, his wife and new baby for a leisurely lunch.  (We sat next to Ben Stiller! 😎) 

I met one of my best girlfriends for dinner and we were comped half of our dinner before we took our seats with a perfect view of a Broadway show.  

We got to bed early and I slept incredibly well before we had to get up early to get to our spa appointment.  8AM had been the ONLY opening available for two months.  

It was the most exquisite ancient bath experience I could have ever imagined.  We descended into a dark cavernous room lit by hundreds of candles.  We floated and soaked in the 8 pools of different temperatures and salinity before our massages.  They comped us another hour afterward to enjoy the baths.  

Feeling serenely relaxed, we grabbed brunch, without a reservation, and once again experienced a flow of free drinks. 

We took a luxurious afternoon nap and headed out for dinner.   The restaurant was closing, so we missed the mark.  But we found a brand new place around the corner where we enjoyed the perfect Italian dinner. 

The next morning I flew out and had a spacious flight with no one in the middle seat.   

Everything went right.  Everything was easy.  Everything flowed.  Everything was better than I could have imagined.   

My friend turned to me on the last day of our trip and asked me how I was doing it.  Everything had gone wrong on the run-up to the trip.   I was sick.  I should be tired…and I wasn’t complaining about anything. 

I realized in that moment that my commitment to non-resistance was what changed it all.  I committed to not suffering with my cold and I continued to not experience suffering with everything else that went wrong.  

It was all working out for me, in my own mind, and it ended up all working out in reality! 

You may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with The Intentional Advisor and business?   

My answer is this… 

-Things will go wrong in your business and you will experience that pain. 

-It is your choice whether you then experience the suffering that comes with your story about that pain.  

And I believe that when we release the resistance, we allow the universe to align for us and create an experience we could have never imagined.  

Pain will occur, suffering is optional!  And your life and business will reflect the choice you make! 

With Purpose,

-Lucila