You might remember the tale of when I spilled my breakfast smoothie as I was rushing out the door to work (How To Spill A Smoothie). And despite some old, outdated thinking trying to creep in, it did not turn out to be “one of those days.” Unless “one of those days” means paddleboarding on your lunch break and having one of your closest dolphin encounters yet, including legit eye contact with one of them. Yes, prolonged eye contact, with a freaking dolphin. It was amazing.
So a client and friend came to see me, and she said she’d had her own spilled smoothie experience. She was still waiting for the dolphin eye contact, though, so I said that’ll come later… Anyway, it was a super cool experience, and she said it was okay to share it here if it might help others. I thought that it definitely could, because it illustrates how our energy and emotional fields can just be super full when we’ve had lots of stuff going on. And sometimes it’s like a big balloon that needs to be popped. Here we go…
So she was hustling to get in the car and off to work. Her “get to work” scene is much more involved than mine, though, because it involves… kids. Or kid? (I don’t remember the quantity). Either way, it’s more than the plant I have, which I water once a week. And it thrives. So I have the utmost respect for parents, in case you’ve ever wondered… So not only is she getting her kids ready, and herself, and the clock is ticking, and she has her favorite breakfast smoothie, but she was also super happy with how she looked that day. She was wearing one of her favorite outfits, and her hair looked especially great. She was glowing. And she set the smoothie on top of the car and forgot about it in the buzz of getting the kids settled in. And it spilled. All over her hair. And all over her favorite outfit. Have a great day!!
Amidst an eruption of tears, she got cleaned up, changed clothes, and got off. She got the kids to school and got herself to work, worried about a long day with no food. As she sat in her car in the parking lot at work, she started to feel funny. What on earth was happening? She realized she must be having a panic attack.
Note that panic attacks come in all flavors, shapes, and sizes. She was wise to see that’s what was happening, because many people think they’re having a heart attack or a stroke, so they go to the emergency room. And this is one of those times when I wish I’d written this up right after the session, because I checked my notes and I didn’t write down the details. But I do remember that her symptoms were pretty wild! Some panic attacks feel more like heart attacks, but this one sounded more like a stroke. Like maybe her vision got distorted, and there was tingling on one side of her body? Something that would make almost anyone freak out. I was proud of her, though, because she did her best to breathe and relax into it, enough so that she was able to get out of the car and walk into work. She saw a good friend that works with her and asked her to come to the break room. The friend saw that she was distraught and asked, “What happened, what’s going on?” “I spilled my smoothie!” she said, in between sobs. The friend was able to console her to some degree, and she was able to calm down and get to work. And the day turned out okay, although it was emotional. And maybe there will even be some dolphin eye contact another day. But do you know what? Even without the dolphins, I think this is a super cool story, and a rich one at that. Why?
The question is, why did the universe want that smoothie to spill? Because to give you a preview of where we’re going, we’re learning how to shift from what am I (or someone else) doing wrong to what is life doing right? We’re shifting from blaming ourselves or others for our predicament to asking how life is getting it right. Because it’s actually all happening for our highest growth, for our highest evolution. So what was the purpose of the spilled smoothie, and in spectacular fashion at that?
NOTE: I’ll be totally honest, I’m not sure how this applies to super awful, traumatic stuff. That seems unnecessary to me. You know that I do my best here to share exactly where I am with my understanding of how things work. After all, we’re all on this strange journey together. So I imagine that I’ll understand how the big traumatic stuff fits in when it’s time for me to understand that. Actually, I’m going to another Matt Kahn retreat in Portland in April, so maybe I’ll have the chance to ask him. Because that sure is a reasonable question. For now, though, it definitely makes sense with the more manageable stuff. Back to the story…
The purpose of the spilled smoothie was to release all that pent up emotion from the previous months. It was to trigger the living hell out of her, upsetting her with lots and lots of tears. It was a HUGE emotional release. Do you know what that weird stuff was in her body, the vision and tingling in one side? It was a massive amount of energy moving. And leaving! Because she’d been dealing with several major situations over the course of many months or more. These situations were finally unfolding and being resolved, but there was still a ton of feeling, a ton of raw energy, a ton of emotional debris, that she was carrying around related to these stressful situations. And this energy was ready to be released. When the energy is ready to move, it’s going to move; it’s not our choice. What we’re all about here at A Clean Mind is learning about the laws of nature and then flowing with them. And the spilled smoothie, while very unpleasant and inconvenient, was part of the laws of nature. It did a very good job, in fact, of allowing that energy to move and leave. Because that level of anxiety, with all of those symptoms, is A LOT of energy! And it moved through her system and left. And as we know here, when the sludge leaves, it leaves more space for light, soul, and all that is good. Bye bye!
As we talked, she said she was still carrying some of it in her field. I said don’t worry, it’s on the way out and you’ll be feeling lighter and lighter as time rolls on. Some of the situations are still playing out, and there are some upcoming external changes that will help speed things up. And then she’ll really start feeling lighter. And we can thank the spilled smoothie. Plus it makes for quite a story! I mean, mine was not dripping down from my hair onto my clothes; mine didn’t even touch me at all. And no kids in the car. So wow, major respect for her and her smoothie experience.
To close, I’ll share what I asked her after our talk was done. “So… what’s your smoothie recipe?” Breakfast smoothie people unite! My body has been telling me recently that mine is too sweet, so the intelligent universe hooked me up as well. Peace out, and be careful when you set the smoothie on top of the car. And if something goes down, maybe there will be peaceful, playful dolphins in your future. Oh, one more thing. I forgot to tell her that I got a big smoothie sippy cup after mine spilled, a very wise purchase. I mean, not to throw salt in a wound or anything. But I’d consider it… Peace out!