Olly Olly Um Free! Coming Out of Hiding

“Olly olly um free! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

Summer nights with the crickets chirping and fireflies blinking off and on. All the kids in the neighborhood happily tired and giving up on rooting the last one of us out of hiding. Remember those days?

These days so many of us light workers, healers, and spiritual junkies are coming out of hiding . We’ve completed our yoga certification and have begun teaching our own classes for the first time. We’re starting to get paid for our intuitive healing abilities when we used to give them away for free. We’re dreaming up collaborations that bring us all together and make a bigger impact on the world. We’re standing up for ourselves in relationships that don’t work. And we’re waking up and saying that we deserve a better job, a more loving partnership, or deeper self-care.

This impetus to move out of the stuck and small and frustrated and no longer pretending and no longer ignoring our true gifts and heartfelt desires is imperative. Our spirits are demanding nothing less from us. Life is conspiring with our spirits to give us a swift kick in the pa-tootie to get us moving in the direction of shining – relationships ending, old ways of making money drying up, accidents, and also serendipity, energy work, new connections, and soul sister support.

I have been feeling the pull to come out of the spiritual closet so strongly. I can no longer deny that I’m a shaman. I can’t discount the energy that has been coming through me during coaching sessions and egg cleanings. When a client asks, “Did you start praying for me the night before our session?” and I had sat down to meditate with her and she felt it all through the night, I have to admit to myself that I’m working on a level beyond what my mind understands. I feel an acceleration in my work and see that I will have a thriving practice.

And then there is my human saying, “Hey! Stop! What about me?” The swift kick has to be accompanied by gentle nudges, understanding, and support.

In the midst of offering sessions and being a wife and mama and running the house and supporting friends last week, I felt myself start to lean into feeling it was “too much.” A subtle clenching within. I was tempted to run and shut the door.

As I worked with clients, the same message kept coming through for them – which was just as applicable for me: rest & receive. Yes, take action as needed, but it’s vital to also rest and receive right now. [That’s your Tweetable! Click to Tweet.] Spend lots of time in that expansive, quiet space that comes with meditation and napping.

My people, we are taking on so much right now. I listen to stories of crumbling marriages with kids and a new career and a family that’s a handful and [fill in the blank] in the mix plus this spiritual mandate to come out of hiding and we wonder why we are tired? I hear stories of plans to undertake a once in a lifetime spiritual journey and we aren’t tempering that with lots of downtime? We are sitting in our vulnerability in brand new ways and we aren’t giving ourselves a major break, inviting in more compassion and gentleness, and “this is all I can handle right now”?

It is so important to acknowledge what you are tackling in your life. Really see all the elements you are juggling – self-care, relationships, career, money, family, friends, service work, plus your spiritual journey.

Along with the light comes the doubt and the darkness and any small fragments of our self that haven’t been loved into wholeness. Our beliefs and stories about not being good enough or talented enough or safe enough are coming to the surface, into the light. The shame monster and doubt demon are knocking at our doors asking to finally be seen – whether it’s around money or power or sexuality. Unless we embrace and heal these small bits, we can’t hold our light and our visions as big as we are dreaming.

So, please, be gentle with your precious self.

Make space to integrate. Lots of space to slow down. Rest. Nap. Receive. Talk to supportive girlfriends. Get body and energy work. Let go of doing, doing, doing, especially what doesn’t absolutely need to be done. Ease off. Breathe.

After nearly every activity I do these days, I stop and sit still for a few moments. Watch a webinar. Meditate. Prep for a session. Meditate. Do a session. Meditate. Clean up from a session. Meditate. It doesn’t have to be for more than a few minutes. And yet my whole being is craving this time to let it all land, to allow the swirling to settle within myself.

My spirit is of so ready to come out of hiding. I see my full potential and have finally stopped resisting. And yet my body and mind need some time to catch up, get used to more energy moving through me, adjust mentally to a bigger vision of myself.

The old way of being would be to push, push, push. To want to be at the top of the mountain NOW. To judge myself for not being “there” yet.

The newer me? Is a softer, gentler soul. She knows that energy is often more important than action. And she respects the needs of her mind and body as much as her spirit.

I’ve been imaging that I’m a bear coming out of hibernation this spring. It’s been a long winter. All my internal systems are coming back online after months in sleep. It’s enough to open my eyes and lie there, allowing myself to awaken at my body’s pace. Eventually, hunger motivates me to lumber toward the mouth of my cave. Then I sit blinking in the sunlight for a good long while. There is no doubt that I will make my way out into the world, confident of my true nature, and find exactly what I need – when I’m ready.

Olly olly um free! May all of us come out of hiding, wherever we are, at our own pace.

And you? Are you coming out of hiding? What are you encountering as you do? Leave a comment below please! It’s so reassuring to hear that others are experiencing the same joys and frustrations too.

A big hug,