Filed under: Life

Moving into a Kinder, More Gentle Reality

When Rumi Visits in the Troodos Mountains

Its rooms were scattered throughout the village, so you had to walk up its meandering backstreets or ascend an outdoor elevator hollowed in a hill to reach your quarters. 
 
I loved how well-integrated this hotel was into its locality. It didn't try to dominate or hide its ramshackle past, but connected it like beads on a string. 

There were vintage Pepsi signs from the 80s, plastic chairs flung out without a worry, entire floors of buildings propped up on questionable stilts. 

One of our dear Unravelers once said: "Here is my mess, thank you for receiving it." I felt that exact sentiment echoing through this place, which gave it its charm. 

Good days are always available to us. We just have to walk towards them.

But we're not taught this, so we stay in our places of fear and suffering. We keep the beautiful day waiting, who dressed up just for us, like a forgotten date at a restaurant. 
 
Then, I saw even deeper. 

Beyond every day, every moment is a choice. 
 
It's like a gameshow. You have two doors.

Door number one. What's behind? 
 
Repeated pain and suffering. Living in a trance of every fear and worry as if they are the very reason for your existence. Denial. Disconnection. Uphill battles. Not enough. Spinning in circles until you become so dizzy that your entire life passes by in one blur. 
 
Then, there is door number two. What's behind? 

Unconditional joy and gratitude for your life. Reality as it is. Waking up feeling kindness upon you, stitched into the very fabric of your bedsheets, the very weave of your hair, the very creases of time. Surrender. Trust. Loving every emotion and thought that comes and goes.

A good friend once told me: emotions are just love changing clothes.  

While it can sound as easy as choosing door number two, it isn't. It takes devoted practice. 

But I don't think perfection is the aim here. I think it's just choosing door number two more than you choose door number one, which takes some learning. It's choosing to walk towards good days, even when it's storming inside.
 
And I say this with so much love and compassion. I know how easy it is to continue choosing door one, especially when we get the wind knocked out of us by life and fall into the quicksands of negative thought. I've been there.

In these times, I think walking towards good days means being gentle with yourself and taking one step towards receiving help. We weren't meant to climb out alone. To ask for help is one of the greatest strengths I know. 

After practicing this walk for many years, which has included a lot of stumbling, I've noticed this ease, this joy that accompanies me, even during the deep challenges. Now, gratitude has become a stream of being, not an isolated act. It's easier to bounce back from life's tumbles.
 
If you look at all the people you admire, they didn't stay. They walked towards beautiful days. They made the first move. 
 
You can do this too.

This past weekend, I had the delightful chance of exploring the Troodos mountains in Cyprus. For those of you who don't know where Cyprus is, it's a small country-island in the Mediterranean, with Greek and Turkish hues.
 
I stayed in a unique hotel in a mountain village amidst folds of black pine and gnarly olive trees. This place had a special story at its heart. A man who had grown up there returned after many years abroad to find his beloved village turning into a ghost town.  
 
He then spent the next 15 years rallying the locals, transforming crumbling buildings into a boutique hotel. He not only restored the life of this town, but also brought back livelihoods to its locals.

Local village scene and the coolest hotel elevator

Local village scene and the coolest hotel elevator

If you struggle to choose door number two, I've got you.
 
I've built a clearly marked path for you to enter, which has consistently brought people from all over the world to good days. Not only that, I will be your personal escort along the entire path and bring you the most amazing community to enjoy the journey with, one even introverts love.

This path is my Unravel Mastermind, which will teach you how to step through door two and live your most aligned, enlivened life in 12 weeks. 
 
Want to talk with me to see if it's right for you? Book a free 20 min call.

The Journal

The Journal

Mysterious appearances

The Path to Door Two: Unravel

As I was walking down its cobblestone steps, graced by orange trees and stray cats licking themselves, I felt this heavy ball rolling through my chest, as if it was looking for an exit. With every step down towards the river basin, the rattling grew.
 
Then, boop, Rumi's words popped out of my mouth: "Good days do not come towards you. You have to walk towards them.” 

I find it fascinating how words completely forgotten can somehow re-emerge in our lives. It's like they are crouching in between the crevices, waiting for the low tide of our soul. 

Good days do not come to you. You have to walk towards them.
-Rumi

The Most Important Walk of Our Lives